Breakdown printed fabric from my online Breakdown Your Palette workshop

In my last post I mentioned a couple of UK organisations that I’m a member of, The Quilters Guild and the Contemporary Quilt group. I am also a member of SAQA - the Studio Art Quilt Association. This US based but international organisation does an excellent job of promoting art quilts and provides lots of opportunities for textile artists to exhibit their work in galleries and museums around the world. I joined because I want to exhibit my work in the US and was lucky enough to have work selected for one of their exhibitions, ’Layered Voices’ which toured in 2017 -2019. I’ve also had pieces in two of their European touring exhibitions.

SAQA offer a range of membership levels including one called Juried Artist for which you have to submit a portfolio of work as well as an artists statement and resume. It was on my list to apply for several years but ‘stuff’ kept getting in the way. When I had free time last year during lockdown I moved applying to the top of my to-do list. And then found that I no longer had confidence in my work and couldn’t handle the thought of rejection. I think this was all part of the disconnect I felt from my art and my art practice.

But, as you’ll know from previous posts I set aside time towards the end of last year to reconnect with my art. And with my confidence growing I decided to apply.

And this week I heard that I had been accepted! Happy dance! Happy tears! And a massive honour. I now have an artists profile on their website which you can find here. And I have applied to have a piece included in one of their Art Quilt Quarterly magazines.

I also gave my second virtual talk on Understanding Colour to the Contemporary Quilt group this week … just as nerve-wracking as the first time but I’m determined to embrace more virtual opportunities! I have agreed to give my first live workshop in mid-April. I’m still at the ‘I must be mad / panic’ stage in my preparations but will share details soon!

And finally, take up of my first online workshop Breakdown Your Palette has been brilliant. This is an on-demand workshop that you can join at any time. If you have been thinking about joining, a little reminder - for every person that enrols during March I am donating £10 to the charity YoungMinds. They do brilliant work helping children and young people with mental health issues.

Thanks, Leah x

It may still be doom and gloom in the rest of the world but my studio has been buzzing with good vibes all week!

I have had an amazing response to my first online workshop Breakdown Your Palette. A big thank you to my new students! I had a target in my head that I thought would be brilliant to reach by the end of March and I reached it yesterday …. lots of happy tears in the studio. Together we have raised over £200 for the YoungMinds charity. And it has also allowed me to start refunding deposits to those students who can’t make rescheduled studio workshop dates or who don’t want to travel until they’ve had both jabs - which is an enormous weight off my shoulders.

The only technical hitch so far has been a couple of people who couldn’t see the Sample Video - I use Vimeo to host the videos and they don’t support older versions of some web browsers. The solution is to update your browser.

This week I also received my copy of The Quilter magazine featuring an article I wrote about colour. And I gave my first ever Zoom talk to members of the Contemporary Quilt group. It was about colour. Obviously. The CQ group are a specialist group within The Quilters Guild (UK) and The Quilter is the quarterly magazine published by the Guild. I have been a member for approaching twenty years and am a big fan of all the work they do. I also appreciate the opportunities they have given me, and other tutors, to promote our work.

This week also saw me and hubby getting our first Corona virus jabs. The process was flawless with our wonderful NHS staff being support by volunteers. Another weight off my shoulders.

And finally this was the week when I should have been joining 12 very good friends for our annual five day retreat in the Lake District. The retreat has always been a form of respite … 5 days away from work and away from family. I love my family but I love them more for getting the occasional break! We couldn’t be together in person this year so instead organised a 5 day virtual retreat. Although I wasn’t able to avoid ‘work’ it was lovely sitting at my computer listening to the quiet chatter of old friends via Zoom in the background. We had our usual book review (mine were both about colour), our usual quiz (animal based, I came last) and our usual five day challenge. Janet devised five prompts that took us from a piece of white fabric to a finished vessel. We shared our progress each day, it was joyful. I started by dyeing my fabric turquoise and ended up with a vessel that is the perfect size for holding a bottle of wine! Perfect!

With the sound of trumpets in my ears I am very, very pleased to announce the arrival of my first online workshop! You can find full details and sign up HERE, As well as a summary of the content there are a couple of videos that you can watch for free.

(I’m hoping I pressed all the right buttons and everything is linked up, please let me know if not).

The online workshop contains everything that is in my five day Breakdown Your Palette workshop but in a lot more detail. It is split into eight units with the content being delivered by a mixture of videos that can be watched over and over, and detailed notes that can be downloaded. I’m keenly aware that it isn’t the same as teaching face to face but I hope the increased number of demonstrations inspire students to experiment. And I will be providing support via a private Facebook group, email and monthly Zoom meetings. The workshop costs £240 for 12 months access to the videos and to support from me.

This is all very new to me and I will be amazed if there aren’t a few technical glitches to sort out! Although this is an on demand workshop, I will only be releasing one unit per week. If everything is working well I’ll release units more quickly. To compensate those brave students who join up during this early period I will start the timer on their twelve month membership when I release the final unit.

I’ve also decided to donate £10 for every student who signs up before the end of March to charity. One of the few brilliant things that happened last year was the money we raised together for The Trussell Trust. And whilst food poverty is still a massive problem I have decided to support a different charity this year. It is called YoungMinds and you can find out all about them here. The impact of the pandemic on children and young people goes beyond just the loss of education. Children need to be with other children and the partial closure of schools is having an enormous effect on their mental well being.

So, have a look at the videos. Try not to cringe. Or laugh too loudly. I am a nervous wreck already. Leah x

Coming soon ……. Wonky Phone Productions in association with Real Artists Hands and Slightly Dodgy Lockdown Hair present Breakdown Your Palette the online workshop …..

Yes, after a restorative few months focusing on my art, I have started my next ‘big project’. I love teaching in my studio. I love demonstrating at shows. And I love giving talks. But I hate having my photo taken and the thought of standing in front a video camera has me running for the gin. So I have been putting off creating online workshops until now. But here I am.

It is a very steep ‘learning curve’. There is lots of help out there and I’m grateful to all the textile tutors who have shared their experiences. For the first time ever I am also grateful for uTube. And it seems that if you have an iphone / ipad / mac then iMovies makes it all fairly seamless.

Hmm …. if only. I dusted off my old laptap. Which started making the most horrendous grinding noise as soon as I googled ‘video editing’. I have found it a comfy corner to live out its days and moved my PC to the centre of my studio. Good job the studio is currently closed as I have cables running everywhere!!! Turns out that the webcam on my PC is rubbish. My rather old android phone has a great camera. And works with Zoom for live streaming. But I can’t find any combination of bits of software / settings that allows me to use it to record video via my multicam capture software. So I am now the proud owner of two decent quality webcams. And a serious boom arm to allow me to shoot from above my print bench.

I starting making short test clips and used them to learn how to use my editing software. Let’s just say that it is a good thing that I don’t have a swear box in my studio. My family are staying well clear …..

But I am making progress. The workshop will be an online version of the five day class I teach in my studio. It is going to be split over eight units each containing downloadable PDFs and videos (about 30 of them in total!). I’m just not brave enough to do a ‘live’ workshop but will be providing support via a private Facebook group and email. And will run monthly Q&A sessions via Zoom. I’m hoping to have it ready for early March and will share more details soon.

In the meantime, if you hear somebody crying whilst banging their head against their PC it will be me.

Leah x

Sample by Helen Parrott

Whilst I don’t know how long the current UK lockdown will last, I am proactively working with guest tutors and students to reschedule workshops etc. I’m also doing my best to support those who find themselves unable to attend workshops later in the year. So this is a brief post to let you know that places have become available on workshops that were previously sold out.

There is one place available on Northern Landscapes and Hand Stitch with Helen Parrott. This five day course is split across two sessions. The first session is 7 - 9 May 2021 and the second session is 12 - 13 June 2021. And there are two places available on the now reschedule workshop Poetry of Decay with Christine Chester. The new dates are 21st to 25th June 2021. Both these tutors are incredibly popular and I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that life will a bit more normal by May.

If you have a look at my workshop page you’ll also find details of the workshops that I teach in my studio and their availability. If you are a bit nervous about booking rest assured that I give refunds if the workshop can’t go ahead or if you can’t attend due to COVID restrictions.

Sample by Christine Chester

Being an artist is more than just making art. At least it is for me as I believe showing work to others is an important part of calling myself an artist with a capital A. In a perfect world exhibition organisers, curators and galleries would somehow know that I had just finished a piece of fantastic art and would be beating down my door to get at it …..

Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that and so a significant part of most artists life is self-promotion, filling out calls for entry, submitting exhibition proposals and, if successful, shipping pieces across the world (which is increasingly difficult and worthy of a post in itself). As you may have noticed I’m pretty active on the self promotion front but I have to admit that I’ve let some things drift whilst I have focussed on teaching and writing.

Before I got distracted I kept a file of potential ‘calls for entry’ that looked at least 18 months ahead so that I could identify ‘targets’ and work to have suitable quilts ready for specific dates. I work in series and have found trying to respond to other peoples themes rather disappointing. I discard many opportunities to exhibit because of that and only keep a list of those that don’t have specific themes or have themes, such as ‘Structures’ that might fit with my work. Or I did. Having a few scraps of paper in a random pile does not count as a proper list. I have put that right and now have a well organised file of ‘calls for entry’. Most are in the quilt world but I’ve also decided that now is the time to venture out in the bigger textile world. Having a list doesn’t mean success. The more you submit work, the more rejections you get. But, as the saying goes, you have to be in it to win it’!

The other thing I used to be very disciplined about was submitting proposals for exhibition, either on my own or with others. Curators are often working one or two years ahead. Some artists prepare a collection of work and then submit proposals but most, myself included, submit proposals when they only have ‘work in progress’ and maybe one or two finished pieces. I haven’t done that for a long time and I could kick myself as there is almost certainly a back log due to Covid. And the success rate is even lower than ‘calls for entry’. I don’t have anything in the pipeline and realistically can’t expect to having a solo exhibition for at least two or three years. Ho hum!!

The good news though is that I am now feeling very happy with the work that I’m creating. To the extent that I’ve submitted a couple of pieces to a couple of calls for entry. I can’t share images of the full quilts but have included a photo of the detail in one piece above. And, more importantly, I know that I have a new series. By that I mean that I have an inspiration / set of ideas that has enough breadth and has engaged me so deeply that I know I can produce more pieces of art exploring the same theme. I am calling this new series Cadence as its inspiration has come from the regular and repeated process of making breakdown screens, printing fabric, washing fabric, cutting fabric, arranging and piecing fabric, layering and stitching. And because I think it is a lovely word.

Feeling connected to my process again is wonderful and means that I have the confidence to write new proposals for exhibition. To look further ahead on days when the present is so dark. So watch this space!

This is something I have been meaning to do for a while but hadn’t had the time. Now I have plenty of time so have been busy doodling different ideas. I have ended up with six new tried and tested thermofax designs which I love and hope you will to!

All six designs are available in two sizes - large gives a printed image approximately 17cm x 24cm and small gives a print approximately 10cm x 14cm. For those of you unfamiliar with thermofax screens they are a special type of silk screen that allows you to print fine lines or detailed designs onto fabric or paper using thickened dyes, textile inks or other media. They can be used to print interesting marks and texture all over white fabric before adding layers of colour on top or can be used on top of previously printed or dyed fabrics to add final detail.

Unfortunately I have had to increase my prices by £1 for the large screens and £0.50 for the small screens because of increases in the cost of the plastic frames I use. However I have added a new ‘soft edge’ option that is significantly cheaper. In the soft edge version the edges of the screen mesh are sandwiched between two layers of tape. Screens with soft edges are a bit more fiddly to use but I have made sure that you have a big enough tape surround that you can hold the screen firmly in place when using it.

I’ve also taken the opportunity to change how my thermofax screens are displayed in my webshop which I hope will make it easier to see the full range of designs.

I continue to ship all my products globally but I thought it worth acknowledging that there is currently a lot of confusion and some delays in shipping goods from the UK to the EU. There may be some of my products that are not covered by the new trade agreement and so may attract customs / import duty. However I’ve spent a bit of time looking at the European Commission site covering buying goods online from the UK and customs duty should not be applied to orders below 150 Euros. I’m also applying for an EORI number which should allow parcels to pass through customs more quickly. So, if you are one of my lovely European friends, please feel that you can still order from me!

New soft edge framing option

Maybe. My trust in my process is being rewarded as I am generally feeling much more positive and engaged with my art. The news of a new national lockdown and the impact that will have on my business caused a bit of a wobble this week but I am looking forward to each day spent in the studio and can feel my focus and drive returning.

The colour palette I am working with, and the choices I make when I am printing my breakdown screens, mean that I’m producing some fabrics in which the colours are quite vibrant and the marks very crisp and some fabrics were the colours are more muted and the marks less crisp. I had been using the whole collection of fabrics in my compositions but this week I had a ‘what if’ moment. It happened on a ‘bad’ day when the news was awful. Everything that could go wrong in the studio went wrong. Everything seemed endless and everything seemed tainted. Part of me wanted to lock up the studio and reach for the gin. But part of me thought what the heck Leah, do something with this! So I pulled out the more muted fabrics, started cutting strips and started randomly pinning fabric to my design wall. I worked later into the evening than normal. I didn’t know where I was going but, having spent the last few weeks submerged in ‘making’ I felt a level of confidence in what I was doing that I thought I had lost. A sense of connection.

But I recognise that my sense of connection to my work and my confidence in me as an artist is fragile. I need relearn my art practice, my art habit.

When I was still working in industry I set myself a target of 20 hours in the studio each weeks and was very disciplined about recording only those hours spent making art and supporting my art practice. I continued to track my hours when I started working full time in the studio but tracked all my activities - the teaching hours, the admin hours, the social media hours etc. I recorded my art hours but didn’t set any targets. Looking make this was a mistake because it allowed me to pat myself on the back for working long hours in the studio whilst avoiding the fact that I was going for long periods of time without making art.

So, from 1st January I am only recording those hours spent making art. I don’t need to record those hours spent doing other things - I take my business seriously and am always going to put in the hours needed. I have set myself a target of 20 hours per week. I know that if I am teaching a 5 day workshop I am very unlikely to fit in many hours (or even minutes!) making art but that will be balanced by periods when I am not teaching and can fit in many more hours. If I am to hit my target I will need to think about what I do when. I won’t be able to print fabric or use my design wall to compose my quilts during periods when I only have a few days between classes. Instead I need to always have pieces at the quilting stage … I can always move my sewing machine into our dining room if the studio is full of students.

Those of you who know me or who have been reading for a while will know that I am a fan of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art’. The idea that I should treat my art just like I treat my day job was one that made me set that original weekly target and gave me the discipline to follow through. I need to remember that now!

This is just a quick post in response to UK national lockdown that came into force overnight. The restrictions are in place until at least mid-February but any easing is dependent on hitting vaccination targets and reducing infection rates. This seems to be a very big ask right now so I have contacted all my January and February students to reschedule classes. I am also looking at March workshops and will contact affected students as soon as I can.

My webshop remains open and I am shipping globally. However I will only ship once per week and apologise for any delay this causes.

The situation in the UK seems so precarious right now but the future will be brighter thanks to the vaccines and spring is just around the corner.

Stay well everyone, Leah x