London Pride at Valentines Mansion......

This week end I was lucky enough to get a last minute table as part of the designer makers craft fair at the London Pride design festival in Ilford. It was a really great event that saw a host of donated art and design items exhibited around the Mansion and garden marquees. The Tate and Saatchi Gallery had donated a host of work from all the leading and great artists including Damien Hirst (dotty mini seen below), Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Barbara Hepworth (my favourite), Anthony Caro, Chris Ofili, Sarah Lucas and many more. It's not everyday you get to see great art and design on your local doorstep! The event was set up as part of the Queen's Jubilee tour, so was showcasing art and design from the past 60 years, and the artists in the studios at the house were in full spirits from her visit on Thursday.

The amazing sculptures below are Tom Hiscocks Queen's Beasts which really came to life in the sunshine.






There was a music stage playing live music all week end, really lovely in the sunshine on Sunday!


Here was our stall......
And some of the other amazing talent......


A London bus, one of my favourite iconic designs, celebrating the queens diamond jubilee....



There was also a local graduate artist showcasing her work in the gardens, she harvested the silk worms to produce this amazing piece.....



There was also a kids tent.... one half was from a knitting and felting collective, Materialistics from South Shields, who create childrens scenes all from knitted and felted objects. It's a group of 40 ladies who meet up and get crafting to create amazing pieces including this ginger bread house to inspire little minds into a love of literature...


Everything the eye can see was knitted, there was so much to take in that every time I went back to have a look you found something else.....
The other half of the tent was the Big Book Bubble, a children's grotto where little people could live out any fantasy from literature......


Story telling......



And to top it off the most deluxe portaloos I have ever seen : )


It's a small world as I bumped into artist Amanda Seljubac, whom I met at the Forest Gate Art Trail. She has a studio at the mansions, such a great place to have a studio at the top of the house overlooking the park and grounds! Make sure to check out their next open studio day and see a whole host of talent up there and a lovely visit around the garden and park.

Kirsten x

I have some pictures.......

We had a lovely weekend making and creating in our nice big new classroom with 11 lovely student.

We painted fabric and bondaweb......

we printed

we used transfer paint

we used free machine embroidery

we used machine soluble and did some hand embroidery and used beads.

Even sue, from the Essex Guild of silk painters, came in with silk and give a demonstration for us

This is the view from our window and a peaceful place to have a break.

We had a lot of fun

Thanks everyone for being so nice. Can't wait to see the finished pieces.

Sharon x

Upcoming events in time for Mothers Day.....

Just to let you know about some upcoming events. Firstly a fair in Wanstead this Saturday March 10th 11-4pm, which i'll be taking part in. It's next to Wanstead library, so pop along and say hello if you're out and about......



The following Saturday is a Mother's Day special from the e17 designers. I'm not doing this one but hoping to pop along as not only is it in a new venue, the Mill in Walthamstow which i'm told is lovely, but for your £1 entry you get a raffle for a goodie bag. Plus as i'm a mum for the first time this year I might treat myself : )

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

Defeated by little stitches........

When I was pregnant I had visions that I would be making lots of cute and quirky little things for my new baby and I started with a cute little kimono style cardi. So baby needles in hand and merino wool (pink for my little girl) off I would skip to work on the train and knit the whole journey there and home again. If anyone's ever tried knitting on a packed tube you'll understand it's impossible without elbowing the person sat next to you. So I didn't get that far, not to worry I thought, i've got a whole month off before baby comes i'll do it then. Then we moved into the new house, not to worry I thought i'm knitting the 3-6 month size i've got plenty of time to knit! Little did I know about new babies...... so one back, 2 front parts and half an arm later.......

All those tiny little stitches......


and my little girl, well she's not exactly little being in the 91% for weight and height, is now tight in her 6-9 month clothes and she's only 5 months old.

So the little stitches defeated me and I had no option but to.....

yep pull it apart, all those journeys knitting and in 1/2 hour all gone. So onto the next project which is making curtains for her room which I know will be done in no time and something that she can't grow out of!

art van go exhibition.....

yesterday we went to art van go in Knebworth to check out their latest exhibition. We squeezed into the car with a toddler, a baby, 2 car seats and a grandad but we made it in tact and it was definitely worth it as there were some really lovely pieces. We went specifically to see Gill Leary's work which was lovely, I wish I had taken some pictures now, and there were some lovely glass bead and felt necklaces too.

I got a really cute needlecase made from recycled vintage fabrics which was made from Gill, vintagerockchick....

I also got these lovely cards, made by Jenny Sandler a textile artist and quilter....



I also picked up some block printing paints in lovely bright colours so i'm hoping to get cracking on some kids prints soon.

sap studios collective exhibition.......

finishes this Friday so if you didn't get the chance to see it pop along before the last day. Here's some pics of the lovely space and artwork.

Here's Nellum's black and white photographs....



This is my mum's textile pieces......


Here was my wall next to my mum's work.....



Some of James' lovely colourful creations, including his painting of London which featured at the Tate gallery.....

and lastly some of Asad's geometric and colourful creations......