The day we pen and inked

Having had a few messy weeks with plaster of paris and marbling we opted for a less chaotic drawing session. We looked at the work of Stephen Wiltshire the autistic artist who draws scenes from memory in pen.

We had a practise to warm up and then set about drawing scenes from guide books or old photographs from the 19th century of buildings. We used disposable fountain pens. Using ink frees you up a bit as you know that if you go wrong you can't rub out. We found that going over lines and adjusting them worked well building up the image using multiple strokes to good effect.

The day we marbelled

Equipment needed,(the things we used)
Marble inks,(acrylic paint will do)
Various sizes and types of paper or card and envelopes.
Aluminium trays the larger the better (turkey size) or even a cat litter tray will do, emptied and cleaned of coarse!
Table covering.
Stirrers, bedstraws sticks cocktail or coffee stirres from a well know coffee café!
Cover table.
Fill tray with water.
Drop generous amounts of ink on top of water ( thin down acrylic paint if using.)
Using a stirrer gently mix the colours (not too much as starts to get muddy)
Gently place paper on top of water ,trying to avoid air pockets lift off and place on newspaper to dry.

We found that we had to keep adding more inks often as the were soon absorbed.
Some of us got so into the activity that clothes and faces were a little bit marked, so be warned! Great fun
We are hopping to try out some origami with some of the marbled paper we created amounts other ideas.

The second day we were inspired by Barbara Hepworth and went a little off track!

After leaving the statues to set for a week we set about removing bumps and cutting new marks and grooves into them using ordinary knives. The plaster of paris is very easy to work apart from a massive amount of dust. We then smoothed the surfaces further using fines sandpaper and finally damp cloths to achieve a nice finish. Then we sealed the surface with a wash of diluted PVA glue. Finally we decorated. Some used marbling, some painted faux marble effects and some used acrylic and scratched patterns into the paint.