My first newsletter.....

This Saturday.....

we can be found at The Brentwood Road Gallery Craft Market. It's been a long time since we've done a craft market so we're back with a bang and will be there with our printing press offering a make and take all day long. 

So pop along and for £1 you can print your own card from existing designs (like my stag's head below) or for £3 you can buy a kit to cut your own lino and print on a variety of papers and card. 

So if you fancy a go at printing or are looking for a gift that's a little unique from the high street then come along.

See you there....

Romford Art Trail update.......

We popped along to The Brentwood Road Gallery today to see all of the artists involved in the art trail. The Gallery is the hub for the art trail so all artists are exhibiting one piece there and then more at their chosen venue. Here's my main piece above. In the background are drawings of the historical aspects of the Brewery building including the main entrance gates, the old gas lamp and the main signage. I then added texture and paint to reflect the buildings and colours of the ale and beer that was produced there. Then I created a lino print of the architecture of the new Brewery development and printed on top. Next I painted some detailing from the Brewery Centenary brochure, which really inspired me as it was created in the arts and crafts movement so it contained some beautiful drawings and prints. Finally I added paint to blend all the elements together and to reflect the old dilapidated nature of the buildings. 

Here is some of the other great work on show, including Dizzy Di's below.......

We then headed on down to The Studio in the Woods, a collection of sculpture, painting and mosaics set in beautiful grounds on the edge of Romford, it feels like you're in the heart of the countryside. This was the idyllic entrance.....

 Here's the entrance to the studio with one of Gill Pendreich's lovely mosaics outside. 

Inside was work from Martin Torrington, James Quinn, Paul Kelsey, Franta Belsky, Jean Cairns, Richard Packer, James Quinn and Kirsty Packer had her sculpture hanging in the garden outside.

Here's little Maisie, who wanted her picture taken next to her favourite pieces.....

This is Romford's first art trail, so although it's a little small there's been an amazing selection of work, hopefully it'll grow every year as more artists in the area learn about it and take part. Tomorrow is the last day for the art trail so try to head over if you can as there's a great selection of work on offer at amazing prices too!!

Kirsten

Romford Art Trail

This is the final week of the Romford Art Trail, which for us Romfordians is quite exciting as it means a little bit of artistic culture is finally being recognised. You can catch my mum's beading work at Dizzy Di's bead shop along with a whole host of Di's students and artists. Dizzy Di's Shop is next to the Shopping Hall and there a whole host of colourful artists inside as well.

Here's all the great work displayed in the window, along with my mum's Egyptian themed work, below, if there are any beaders out there you can probably appreciate the amount of work that went into these....

 

This is Di's work along with my little Eloise's foot. Di is an artist who works in glass and created the glass flower, babies feet and fused glass piece of a little girl in a meadow. She also made these amazing glass hats, below, which are the size of a 50p just to give you an idea of how intricate the work is!!

My work is being showcased in the Havering Museum which is based in the old Romford Brewery building so I based the work specifically around the Brewery. They are mixed media pieces with drawings, paint and finally lino prints on top. I was a bit apprehensive at first doing it on the Brewery but I found the history of the site fascinating and I didn't realise quite how big the Brewery was in its day, providing beer for the whole South-East of England. It seems Romford has a strong history for a love of booze!! This is different to any work i've done in the past and I really enjoyed it, drawing historic pieces of architecture from the site and combining old elements of the building with the new Brewery development. There was great symmetry of curves from the old to the new which I loved playing with.

Here's the piece that's in The Brentwood Road Gallery, above, the hub for the Romford Art Trail. I'm hoping to go and visit more of the great work on show tomorrow. So if you're in the area then pick up a trail map and go hunting for some of Romford's artistic talents.

Kirsten x

Birthday shenanigans and printing workshops....

Last week was my birthday, which I managed to spread over the long Jubilee week end without even meaning to, honest!

So I started off with a nice day in Walthamstow shopping with the girlies and bought some lovely material for my friends wedding. I'm making the table runners and her theme is 'English countryside' so I got these below, it was a bit of a gamble as when you're there you just have to go for it as it may be gone by the next week! Luckily she loved it too and i'm hoping I have some left over to keep for myself!  Plus I also got some birthday treats, lots of summer dresses which i'm itching to wear but with this rain I might have to team them with thermals and wellies!

 

We went for pie and mash at Manze (one of my favourite places). You can't go to the East End and not have pie and mash! I gave the baby her first taster and here she is perfecting her cheeky cockney look, she even laughs like Catherine Tate's nan.....

  

Then the following night I got taken to PizzaEast in the Tea Building by Paul which was lovely, proper italian pizza's with real Italian ham and cheeses. Definitely recommend it to anyone who's in the area and loves wood fired pizza's or just loves good food!

  

Then on the Saturday we went to our Street Party for the Jubilee, all the family clad in red jumpers!! We have amazing neighbours who like to party so there was a children's entertainer, bouncy castle, DJ, party games, tug of war, fancy dress and tonnes of food and drink! Shame I forgot to take more pics.

  

 Then on Sunday we drove to Ockenden Manor in Sussex for Paul's friends wedding, after leaving baby with granny and grandad, for an indulgent adults only night away....

  

in a four poster bed, that wasn't made for really tall men!!

 

Then to top it off I came back to have a lovely Turkish meal at Alaya's in Hornchurch with the family. Again another place I would really recommend, food was great, service was amazing especially as....

  

they brought out a cake covered with cream, sprinkles and candles, got the whole restaurant to sing Happy Birthday and then gave me a birthday tipple of my choice!! The food was that good we even asked for a doggy bag as we didn't want to leave it : )

 

On Monday we're off on our first family holiday with Eloise and the rest of the Church clan to Norfolk. Fingers crossed the sun comes out!

 

When we get back i'm going to be running some lino printing workshops at The Brentwood Road's Summer Craft Fair. I'll be offering some kits, so you get to either print from pre-cut designs or design and cut your own lino and print them onto some lovely papers and a greetings card all using the printing press. I'll be taking my most popular prints and cards too for those that just want some retail therapy. There's going to be other workshops on the day too, I heard there's one for lazy fashion designers which sounds like lots of fun. So pop along and say hello and  join in some of the fun on offer.

Kirsten x

Knitted Miniature Village......

Love knitting and want to get involved with the Romford Art Trail? Then join The Brentwood Road Gallery in their quest to knit a miniature village......

 

THE BRENTWOOD ROAD GALLERY

KNITTED MINIATURE VILLAGE

The Knitted Miniature Village Competition is a challenge to help us knit our town!  We want to create a complete Knitted Village for the Brentwood Road Gallery’s Romford Art Trail in July.

We’ve got a few patterns for houses, cars and people to get you started but we’d also like your own additions too!  All you need to do is get in touch for an entry form and return it to us by 15^th June 2012.

The knitted miniatures themselves need to be with us by 6^th July 2012 so you haven’t got long to get knitting!

Judging will take place on Thursday 12^th July by a team from our Clickers Knitting Group and the winners will be announced on the opening day.

For an entry form please get in touch with The Brentwood Road Gallery by email: emountford@francesbardsley.havering.sch.uk or telephone: 01708 447368 ext 238

We’d really like to make this a big part of the Romford Art Trail – we need your entries!!!

Happy knitting!

Romford Art Trail.....

I've just been speaking to one of the lovely girls down at the Brentwood Road Gallery about the Romford Art Trail. The gallery itself has been taken over by some really innovative people who are very passionate about art & design and are transforming the gallery into a social hub. They've even taken on their first major challenge of bringing the art trail back which had been dormant for a few years. So this is a great opportunity for all local artists, designers and craft makers to get together and show Romfordians your amazing work. All you need to do is find a local business, such as a shop or restaurant, in Romford for the 14th - 27th July to display your work.

This is such a great opportunity to get art back into the community and to meet other local artists in the area. For more info about the art trail click here The gallery are working at full steam to introduce a whole variety of great exhibitions for the year along with some great events so make sure to follow to keep art alive and kicking in the area.


This is their next upcoming exhibition.......

This is one of the great events they hold.....

Talking of art, i've been trying to draw a bit more lately, here's a picture I drew of me holding Ellie's hand, for a new baby card and for her keepsake book. Next on the list are circus animals for her bedroom which she'll be moving into as soon as we've painted so i'd best get started.
My mum also managed to remember to take her camera and take pictures of the great weekend workshop she just did, but we've just discovered they've been deleted from the camera. So if anyone has some pictures from the weekend can you send them through to us so that we can share them with you all.

Kirsten