Bright moments in the gloomy days of Autumn

I love it when I see how students interpret our Creative Sketchbooks course to create wonderful sketchbook pages of their own.

Pam kindly agreed to let me show you a few of her pages - aren't they great? Such painterly use of colour. It's a joy to see these on a dull November day.

And gorgeous cut outs Pam - thanks for sharing!

We also loved these from Chantal;

Wonderful combination of techniques.

And striking use of print!

Students often tell us that they've never done anything like this before so that makes their pages even more special. I've tried something for the first time this week too - I've downloaded a digital dress pattern.

Now I know that might sound easy but who'd have thought it would take 25 sheets of A4 to print out a simple dress and shrug?? I must be even bigger than I thought! Here they are like a giant zigsaw puzzle waiting to be taped together. It's supposed to be suitable for a novice dressmaker - I'll let you see if it turns out OK when I get it sewn up. I never quite trust the sizing but if I'm lucky it might fit somebody in the family!!

You may have seen in our newsletter this week that I've moved on to painting woodpeckers. This little fellow is in his very early stages but already I'm liking his sleek shape. Some of the red underpainting will remain on his head but I've yet to add the green, black and white of his body. The red band on the left will become the tree trunk he's clinging to so I'd better give him some feet pretty soon! I'll be adding the woodpecker and a starling to the range of prints that Jamie has made for me at Fingerprint fabrics. I'm having fun with these and can't wait to get back to the painting tomorrow. The bird pincushions have proved to be very popular as Christmas gifts and I've made so many over the past week I'll soon be able to make them up in my sleep!

Thanks for dropping by - I look forward to having you keep me company again soon. Bye for now, Linda