Category Archives: General fun pursuits

Making Boxes from my stash

Posted on July 28, 2021 by Claire B

Over the last couple of years I’ve enjoyed a lot of monoprinting using stencils, masks and pattern-creation with textured items. I’ve amassed quite a stash of prints. A few of us decided to cut up our prints and create small … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Play, General fun pursuits, My Creative Pieces, My prints | Tagged , | 9 Comments

More painterly mark-making trials

Posted on December 19, 2019 by Claire B

A friend and I got together to continue the mark-making experimentation.  I’m building up a good resource of coloured papers for future projects.  Some may end up as book-covers, some as inner pages, some will probably be over-printed and some … Continue reading →

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Mark making & Gelli Plate printing

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Claire B

Having attended a recent paste-papers workshop and had such a good two days I was reminded of the fun of just ‘having a go’ and letting colours appear on paper with a little less planning than I usually do.  So … Continue reading →

Posted in General fun pursuits, My books & journals, My Creative Pieces, My painting | Tagged | 3 Comments

Natural Dyeing with Annette

Posted on April 4, 2019 by Claire B

Annette and I experimented with two different plant dye pots, mainly focusing on paper dyeing but I added some small pieces of silk noil into one pot. A large amount of rosemary leaves were stripped and added to around 10 … Continue reading →

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Still drawing – just differently ……….

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Claire B

I’ve just attended my first Adobe Illustrator course (seriously need this skill for work).  Wow, masses to learn.  After 7 hours tuition I reckon I’ve almost scratched the surface. Daunted?  Hell, yes! Excited?  Definitely! Know what I’m doing?  Not even … Continue reading →

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The glory of oranges

Posted on October 26, 2017 by Claire B

I love my orange tree.  It’s the pride of my garden, closely followed by my mandarin and banana trees.  I’m not a great gardener but this tree rewards me every year, and I’ve just harvested kilos and kilos of gorgeous … Continue reading →

Posted in General Arts, General fun pursuits, My Creative Pieces, My paper | Tagged | 3 Comments

Just a few rows each evening

Posted on October 19, 2017 by Claire B

I made a commitment some time ago to make a blanket for someone less fortunate than myself.  My friend, Rita, who is a superb knitter and crocheter, got me started.  I required multiple balls of left-over 8 ply yarn – … Continue reading →

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Gabriella Hegyes: Printing from the Land (C)

Posted on May 7, 2017 by Claire B

Part 3: Collagraphs: The first thing I love about collagraphs is that there is so much you can do to create an image.  I’ve done several workshops and experimented with a variety of media to create texture and patterning, but … Continue reading →

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Gabriella Hegyes: Printing from the Land (B)

Posted on May 6, 2017 by Claire B

Part 2: Gabriella certainly worked us hard and shared a ton of information and samples with us. Trapping Plant Material: This was interesting.  I had some very dry, flattened, plant material which was suitable to be trapped between gauze layers.  … Continue reading →

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Gabriella Hegyes: Printing from the Land (A)

Posted on April 19, 2017 by Claire B

Part 1: This two-day workshop in the Blue Mountains was an opportunity for me to print in completely different ways to what I have experienced so far. Clay Printing: Starting with a block of potters clay each we rolled it … Continue reading →

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Teaching: Felting for students

Posted on April 3, 2017 by Claire B

I had a HUGE day yesterday.  I was engaged to teach 41 year 9, 10 and 11 girls how to felt.  I’ve done it twice before and know how enthusiastic (and boisterous) the girls are.  I love doing it because … Continue reading →

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A week of drawing

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Claire B

My involvement in Sturt Summer School last week provided me with the time and focus to try a variety of drawing media and learn some new techniques to apply ideas to paper. Drawing negative space. Charcoal: In this exercise I … Continue reading →

Posted in General Arts, General fun pursuits, My Creative Pieces | Tagged | 8 Comments

Workshop: Hand-embossing paper

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Claire B

An interesting one day workshop, not something I see myself doing a lot of but another skill I’m exploring. This technique requires the use of a lightbox and, whilst I have my own purchased model, the tutor brought along a … Continue reading →

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One & Twenty: getting started

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Claire B

My friend Judy and I have started a new weekly challenge.  We gave it the name One & Twenty.  The idea is to select an area/place, for example: the kitchen, back garden, view from the window, etc. then give ourselves … Continue reading →

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Random painting day

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Claire B

Yesterday Judy and I got together for a ‘freeing’ random painting exercise.  As if I’ve ever managed to swing my arm around totally randomly whilst holding a paintbrush or other painting media!  The intention was generally to have a bit … Continue reading →

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Drumming: Hits Like A Girl ensemble

Posted on February 6, 2016 by Claire B

Hazelhurst Gallery & Arts Centre put a call out for all girls and ladies aged 16 and over to come together to form a drumming ensemble.  The group was to rehearse en masse, using a range of drums, and learn … Continue reading →

Posted in General fun pursuits | Tagged | 7 Comments