'Crazy for Colour'

I have just been on a superb course at Alston Hall, called 'Crazy for Colour'. The tutor was Ruth Issett. Those of you who have her books will know how colourful her work is. It is a privilege to be able to work with her and learn from her first hand. I have been on quite a few of Ruth's course and have always enjoyed them and this one was no exception. Ruth can usually be found at the Knitting and Stitching Show and the The Festival of Quilts, demonstrating many of the techniques that she uses, both on paper and cloth, at the Art Van Go stand.

Ruth is a delight to work with, a very talented lady, very generous with her time and her expertise. If you haven't been on one of her courses and get the chance to I strongly recommend that you take the opportunity - you won't regret it. For more information about she works look no further than in her books – ‘Glorious Papers’, ‘Paintstiks’, ‘Colour on Paper and Fabric’ and ‘Print Pattern and Colour’

This image is a combination of papers that have all been treated differently but using the same colour combination. There is a range or printing, rolling and tearing, and colouring using acrylics, markel paintstiks and varnish.

This is one strip torn down the centre, separated and placed over another strip. I am going to take sections of this one using photoshop and explore the design possibilities from them.

This was two more strips that I have cut up into smaller pieces.
And the same with this last image. All of these are now ready for playing about with to develop into designs.


There is a lot of potential from just these images. I am sure I don’t need to tell you that I have large number of strips that I haven't photographed that hopefully will be brought into play sometime in my future projects.