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

Godiva Creates Motion......

 

 

Lady Godiva is coming to Walthamstow! As part of the Olympic celebrations a ten-metre high Lady Godiva puppet, set astride a horse powered by 100 cyclists, will make its way from Coventry to London. When she comes to Walthamstow her final destination will be the Town Hall and you can get the very chance to help Studio 3 Arts make-over the building. Pop along to any of the above workshops and get involved, no matter how talented you are all you need is a pop of creativity and bags of enthusiasm.

Here's an artists impression of the puppet to give you a hint of the flavour.....

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

It feels like it's been a while.....

since blogging but it's been a mad couple of months! We had Paul's Mum and partner come to stay from New Zealand for a month. It was the first time they had met the baby so it was lovely having them, the baby loved all the extra attention and was on her cutest behaviour winning them over! For me it was like having fairies who did all the cooking, cleaning and baby sitting, so they will be sorely missed and we all can't wait for their next trip back! Unfortunately they had the worst weather ever, a record wettest April since records began! So we showed them the sites of Essex including Leigh-on-sea and we couldn't miss the longest pier in Europe at Southend.......

and on the very last week end the sun decided to finally show so we could sit in the garden!

Eloise loving all the extra attention......

We then had the E17 Designers spring market at the beginning of May where we made a few new children's pictures, see below. I drew some designs that we then appliqued onto canvas with cute children's material. I really struggled finding some nice pictures for Eloise's room so decided to make my own for her and develop into a new range. These will be appearing on our Etsy site soon.

 Here's some of the new designers that showcased on the night and some existing designers with new work......

 To see all the pictures click here

 

Entertainment on the night was supplied by the Stowicks, a lovely local folk band. Also taking the stage was Jerome and his dancing partner showing off their great swing moves. Jerome's world of swing runs a jive course at the x7eaven studios on Lea Bridge Road starting in June. It looked like great fun and far more achievable than I imagined, if you're interested go to jeromelanderson.com for more info.

Lastly, my biggest stress was Eloise's baptism. I left it far too late to organise but what's new! Here's the invite I designed, I wanted something a little different from everyone else so went for .....

I was going to put her in Aunty Chloe's dress but seeing as Chloe was born weighing almost 12lb there was a bit of a size difference. So we bought this cute dress at the last minute. Here I am feeling very nervous with the god parents......

With proud grandparents and a slightly bemused cousin as to 'why that man poured water on Ellie's head!'...

It was a really lovely day and Eloise was spoilt rotten with lots of beautiful and lovely presents. Thanks everyone who helped to make it special.

Here she is looking like a very cute fairy...

So we're now back to normal and enjoying the lovely sunshine. We've got quite a few events popping up over the coming months and we're also hoping to get our Etsy shop updated so keep popping back for updates.

Thanks,

Kirsten

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!