Fauxidermy – Textile extravagance !

Helly Powell is a textile artist born and raised in Wales. I had the pleasure to meet her at The Royal Highland show this past week end. I was marvelled by her “beasts” !!! Made of beautifully woven and medieval inspired fabric her animal’s heads are a great statement for creativity.

Inspired by the traditional taxidermy created by the greeks to conserve animal trophies, Helly has perfected a method to model and cast her chosen animal’s head and then upholsters it with gorgeous fabrics … velvets, chenille, silk, wool and linen.

Helly’s collection is stunning and wether her galloping Hare or her Stag Head you will stopped on your tracks with the need to stare… and get your camera out. The simple lines, the rich fabric, the proportions and the pose of each “Beast” are perfect.

Her collection Fauxidermy can be seen in a touring exhibition The Beasts of the Mabinogion

and I hope you catch them on your way. Its a bit like stepping in the woods at the time of Robin Wood… a medieval story… Helly is the magician recreating them…

Best wishes.

Betty xx

Tape and paint ! Upcycle the perfect triangle …

great week end coming on the 22/23rd july book soon only a few spaces left

THE LANSDOWNE HOUSE

I will be running a full week end of up-cycling furniture in the lovely House for an Art Lover on the 22/23rd of July. for booking look here we have a few spaces left… but hurry they are going fast !

This season, my group of up-cyclers have been experimenting for their furniture with geometrical shapes and bright colours creating patchworks of triangles and squares, and vertical lines. This is a simple yet very effective way of decorating a piece of furniture. Its simple and effective and easy to set up. Below are three examples of realisation by some pupils from this year’s group.

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Remember ! Remember ! The makers of the Mackintosh Wartime furniture !

Very rarely you get the chance to be involved in a project driven by “goodness” but a few times in your artist life you come across someone who just wants out of sheer work and creativity to set the record right ! to give credit back where deserved… and its impossible not to get involved.

I met Tom Krasny a young overseas student with the Glasgow School of Arts, a few months back when I was preparing some work for the centenary of 78, Derngate, the Northampton property of Mr Basset Lowkes which Charles Rennie Mackintosh refurbished in 1917. Tom was preparing her final piece for her degree show. The statue of a seat designed by Mackintosh for 78, Derngate originally made on the Isle of Man. Dedicated to the War prisoner with no name… to their memory, to their hard work, to their beautiful skills.

And off course I wanted to help, her with some of the skills needed for this beautiful project.

I am always interested in the stencilling designs by Mackintosh, thats my forte and I knew of the stylish bedroom furniture as the original set is displayed here in Glasgow in the Mackintosh House. Light wood, light lines, some very striking blue fabric, very different lines from the 1900’s sets. When visiting Derngate I was made aware of the fact the original furniture for Derngate came from the Isles of Man but I did not give it more though.

Below the original design by Mackintosh of the 1920 stencilled scheme a striking design ! Its first layer form a great back drop for Tom’s seat. A very simple statement indeed !

Tom was there to set me right about the provenance of the furniture and of her project. And the fact she wanted some help with the making of her degree show set up. She told me about the war prisoners, very skilled cabinet makers working on the Isles of Man making stylish furniture designed here in England by Mackintosh and by other designers… She told me that while building beautiful pieces their names was not remembered and their work not acknowledged. Its was the War, those were different times. And it takes a young determined lady, a Glasgow School of Arts overseas student to set the record right.

So I did what I do well, I spoke to her about stencilling, general stencilling, Mackintosh stencilling, flat stencilling, textured stencilling and more importantly Mackintosh war time stencilling I had just worked on the recreation of the 1920’s scheme for 78, Derngate, a fascinating design for Mr Basset Lowes ‘s Hall Lounge. A complicated frieze made of 9 different stencils. But by far the first layer was the most striking and we all agreed about this.

And she and Roi came to learn the technique, they invested a good amount of time in the understanding and practising of it ! What a great level of commitment …

So weeks after my original involvement I received an invitation to the Degree show, at The Glue Factory. A great place with a lot of character !

The result of Tom’s work is stunning and so meaningful, a seat casted in metal, in the middle of a white room decorated with a stencil border, the first layer of the 1920’s hall lounge border. And a little chair making automaton ! That’s Charles Matts’s mallet … Charles Matts was the foreman in the Isles of Man workshop … how focused is he in making the little stool !

This beautiful automaton is the work of Philip Lowndes an English Automaton maker. Don’t you think this captured the nature of Tom’s projet ?

Mackintosh would be proud! Basset Lowes would approve… and I am so impressed that Tom found the right tone to offer respect to the unnamed maker, the one whose skills were so great he could transfer the drawings of the master in some stunning furniture without ever be named.

I hear the little chair will be transferred to the Isles of Man where it will seat as a monument to the makers whose names will be engraved in rememberance of their good work ! At long last … a century or so later !

The Degree show is open @ The Glue Factory until the 18th June.

Go see it !

Betty xx

Come and stencil Mackintosh at The House on the Hill

Up on the Hill, overlooking the Firth of Clyde there is a superb house, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for one of his favourite client Mr Walter Blackie.

The Hill House is the very first Mackintosh property I ever visited when moving to Scotland. Its a beautiful building covered of white rough cast, in the Scottish Baronial style in the middle of a beautiful garden. Last week when I visited the garden was covered with Fritillaries one of Mackintosh’s favourite flower. The Gardener Gavin does such a great job of it…

But then he would have to be inspired with such beauty around. Have you visited the Hill House ? Have you seen the beautiful stencilling of the seating room and of the master bedroom?

I will be running a stencilling workshop at The Hill House on the 29th of August. If you would like some information or to prebook look Here ! Or Here

We will be exploring stencilling with acrylic paint on paper and fabric and each participant will be leaving with a stencilled cushion cover in the Mackintosh Style. The class will start at 9.30 and will be complete by 11.30. If you have not done so before you will be able to visit The Hill House at a concession price. But in any case you will be able to enjoy a walk around the beautiful garden of the House and admire the view.

The workshop is for all levels and lasts 2 hours, all material are included in the price.

I will be looking forward to meeting you there.

Betty xx

Together we made some chairs ! For an Art Lover’s House

If you ask me of an advantage of sticking to the same job for many years ! The one that comes to my mind is the pleasure of working with old friends ! No need to try and understand a new creative partner ! To work out what they are like ! What will upset them ! Wether you can trust them ! There is an unspoken language about … an understanding ! And you can just get on with the job at hand listening to the radio ! As if it was your day off !!!

My friend and long time creative colleague Bruce Hamilton asked me recently to step in the making of a dining room set … a special order he was making for a special client “the art lovers one”. It’s a secret code !

21 years ago Bruce Hamilton and I worked together on recreating beautiful furniture for the dining room of Mackintosh’s House for an Art Lover in Glasgow ! Bruce was the furniture maker and I ! The stenciller ! The result was unique If i say so myself ! It has been admired by many over the years and numerous young couples have tied the knot seating on them.

Those chairs though have been the beginning of a 21 cooperation and from time to time Art Lovers order a set to Bruce and I come along just before the last lacquer is applyied and stencil the design ! The same design ! The unique one conceived for The House for an Art Lover believing that Mackintosh would have been happy with it !

Bruce is a true furniture maker he has a workshop full of fierce machines to tame the wood ! No Mdf in there but the most beautiful planks of Oak with superb grain ! He spends hours choosing the right piece and then with some kind of magic (and much hard work) he turns it into a solid chair with a hand rushed seat ! A chair for life not the kind you will get rid of next year when the fashion is over !

Bruce is a Mackintosh specialist ! Many years of looking, working with the designs the great man created ! Recently his chairs made it down to 78 Derngate in Northampton for their centenary exhibition. And again we shared I stencilled (not on the chairs this time) and he came along with his chairs…

And I stencil, I mean not little flowers around a bathroom out of plastic stencil ! I stencil up a tall scaffold designs I have cut by hand in oiled manilla card ! Designs I have researched and who are in perfect tune with the listed buildings I work in .. I once considered spending my life in researching stencilling and that is quite attractive but I love the buzz of creating with one’s own hands.

I saw a photo of the dining room suit in its new owner’ s room it looks grand and I love the fact that it will go on being loved for years. So I put those stencils away for today and will wait for Bruce’s next text before I pick them up again !

If you would like to see more of Bruce’work well !!! Its Here !

As for mine ! Read on !

Have a lovely day I hope you like those chairs …

Love Betty xx

Stencilling with Mackintosh a West end Festival stencilling class #WEF2017

To book for this day stencilling please click here

Queens’ Cross church in the Glasgow West end is best know from many as “The Mackintosh Church” ! Indeed this is the only church the Art Nouveau Architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh built. Its a very special building as today it houses the headquarters of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society. A charity which protects and promotes the work of the great architect. This place is close to my heart ! this is where I secured my first job when moving to Glasgow many years ago. May be this is where I caught the stencilling bug.

Its a beautiful red sandstone building, simple lines, great big blue stain glass, pews inside, a superb church hall so similar to that of The Glasgow School of Arts before it burned down not so long ago. The Hall is a great place to do crafts and for that reason I come back to it every so often to run a Stencilling workshop for locals and visitors to the city. Last June I ran a great workshop part of the West End Festival. We had two pianists in the participants and were lucky enough to have them play on the old Baillie Scott piano during the afternoon.
The event was so successful I decided to ran another workshop this year during the Festival for anyone who might be interested to spend a day learning about using stencils for house decoration or any art project. I can not guarantee to have any piano players this time but I can guarantee immense fun and creativity.
We will start with some basic technic as it is essential to practise the dry brush technique. After a break we will then design a simple stencil using some elements of Mackintosh design, cut it and practise with it both on paper and fabric. Participants will leave with all the work they have done and the stencil they made.

All material is included in the price and tea and coffee will be served. Bring your own lunch or choose the option to nip around the corner to the famous Cafe D’jaconelli for some Italian fare.

Stencilling is a great rewarding technique, you don’t need to be very skilled to get a great initial result and this workshop is for all levels. Beginners are very welcomed. Here is some of previous participants samples.

The day will run between 10am and 4pm. The cost is £40.

I hope to see you there.

Betty x

Mackintosh as an inspiration – A great Stencil creating workshop

On the 29th April, I was back in Northampton for the last stencilling workshop of 78, Derngate’s centenary celebrations. And the creativity I saw there was extraordinary.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh was employed by Mr Basset-Lowke to refurbish the property in 1917 in a trendy, practical and beautifully harmonious house for himself and his young bride. Something in the up and coming “Modern style”. A beautiful piece of work and the centenary of this refurbishment is being celebrated this year. I took part in the celebration, I recreated some of the original design … but also ran a week end of talks and workshops.

Last Saturday I was back to meet an extra group of enthusiasts who were keen to discover the art of stencilling and learn how to create a simple stencil based on the decorative work of Mackintosh.

A lovely group of locals folks young and more mature, was there waiting for me that morning, I had the joy to find there two gentlemen who turned out to be some of the best creators of the group. But also to my great satisfaction we welcomed as a participant to the workshop the current owner of Candida Cottage. That is the property that Basset Lowke and his wife also owned in the area in the 1920’s. A lovely small property they did up using Mackintosh for it.

This gave a great dimension to the workshop and not only we created but we also exchanged on memories about the cottage through the day. It turn out that the current owner purchased the cottage without the knowledge of Mackintosh being involved in it. She is a lovely lady very keen to get things right and possibly reinstate the original stencilled decoration.

After morning coffee and cookies we made our way to the gallery to view Mackintosh’s watercolours from the Chelsea years displayed in a wall of cushion. I am not sure if Mackintosh would have liked it but I think it is a beautifully displays some of his more vibrant graphic work for textile. We spent time looking at some of the designs and I explained to my students for the day how to decrypt a design, how to pick one of two elements you will later elaborate your design on. Some of them were very surprised of the simplicity and efficiency of Mackintosh’s graphic work for textile. Many of them did not realise there was such a rich and creative collection of designs.

We spent some time in the gallery looking at the two stencilling recreations I have worked on for the exhibition and analysed the designs, the sequence of their realisation, the sources for the colour scheme. We were blessed to discuss the scheme of Candida Cottage with its current owner.
Back in the work room and after spending some time discovering the material linked with a good stencilling work (brush, paint, oiled manilla card…) and spending time practising with various paints on different background we embarked on our own stencil design.

Taking some ideas from an existing design it can be very rewarding to extract one or two ideas and draw a simple design with suitable bridges to transform into a stencil. The difference between a good and a bad stencil design is the quality of the bridges. Those are the small piece of cards which keep the stencil design together once cut out. The bridges have two functions, they strengthen the design but also they have a visual function in making sure the whole scheme looks harmonious. Putting in place random bridges can just simply destroy the most beautiful design. Mackintosh had a real eye for composition and all the bridges he created just became invisible.

I was amazed by the creativity of my group and the speed of their work. As if they were feeding from one another. Problem solving, drawing and finally cutting at fast speed as if they were fuelled by the great atmosphere of the room…. All sat around the table and we heard more stories and laughter. Many more lovely cups of coffee and great tasty cookies were brought in by Debbie a volunteer at 78, Derngate. A lovely lady who has been looking after me when working in Northampton.

Geometric motifs, flowers, repeat patterns the variety in my groups creativity was endless and here are some of the pattern they created. Can you believe that some of them had no previous experience and spent a maximum of 6 hours in the workroom with me…

I specially like the very simple design that Rose created, with a minimum number of lines she put together this very simple two parts repeat pattern with very simple colours and shading. With just a simple pattern you can recreate an all over pattern similar to those Mackintosh’s own.

Simon a retired gentleman who specialises in working with wood in his past time came up with a great swirly pattern, bold and strong and very effective. As if he had always worked with graphics …

One of my ladies no completely satisfied and finding that her pattern was too heavy decided to simply add an additional element using one of the features on an existing ready cut stencil … quite a novel idea, some small squares created the most beautiful fritillary effect on her tulip.

5’o clock arrived so quickly and it was time to clean brushes.. an essential skill to any good craftperson and go home. All very satisfied left with their creation and their kit (knife, cutting mat, brushes) ready for more good work. I certainly hope that they will keep their stencilling going.

Here are a few example of their work … what do you think?

If you would like to attend a stencilling workshop, and use your creativity, check my workshop list here you might find one near you. But don’t hesitate to be in touch as I can organise workshop in your area (bettysbeautifullife@gmail.com)

Best wishes.

Betty xx

“Lost in Translation”, I up-cycled my Asian travelling impressions on multimedia boards …

12 of my “Lost in Translation” boards and canvas are part of The summer exhibition at the Glasgow West End Thistle gallery between 17th of August and 3rd of September.

I will be running a week end workshop on multimedia memory using similar techniques. We will be making boards at The House for an Art Lover in Glasgow. #Collageclub will be a fun but creative week end making memory items into a beautiful board to hang in your home. It runs on the 9th and 10th September. To reserve a space please look here

Imago Mundi The Global art collection gathered by Lucianno Benetton in Italy has incorporated one of my “Lost in Translation” its a great pleasure to be part of the huge collection of canvas from artists all over the world. (Soon a link to the canvas here).

Some of my “Lost in translation” boards are part of an exhibition at The House for an Art Lover in Glasgow until the 27th of July Cafe Gallery its a varied exhibition of artist who regularly teach at The Art Park.

When not working on commission, many of my working days are spent teaching heritage crafts, day classes in stencilling, evening ones in up-cycling furniture but in my spare time I travel … Far Far away, in the direction of the Silk road…

Thailand, Malaysia, Cambogia, Vietnam, Hong Kong… lands of scents and noises, colours and shimmers, unknown languages, appetising street food, atmospheric temples and wonderful festivals. My head is full of images from past trips.

Do you travel?

How far?

Have you experienced this magical moment when mesmerised you look at a scene without understanding what’s in it? But its beauty is breath taking. The written language is foreign to you, the culture so different that your bearings are lost and you cant make out the importance of different elements but you just understand how important they might be for locals.

If, like me, you have been told of for taking photographs of random street signs in the dust of an mid afternoon in South East Asia or marvel at the shape of smoke of the incense coils in a remote Chinese temple then you will understand my current work.

I have travelled in Asia for almost 10 years… not your usual young student back-backing year off but real grown up travel. Properly researched and planned with specific stops at places I discovered online first. I love Indigo blue, Chinese written language, Cantonese opera, Khmer temples in the Cambogian jungle, walking through a wet market discovering unknown food, riding in a motorbike tuk tuk but also taking a Sangtoew bus with the locals.

I have been building in a corner of my brain a collection of beautiful of images gathered over the years of beautiful Calligraphy, Indigo blue hand waxed printed fabric, street signs and colourful china. When the weather at home is dull and grey I don’t even have to close my eyes to recall them… they suddenly come out and brighten my days.

And I up-cycle my memories onto boards and canvas, small and large, pieces of unknown bits of language and beautiful colours and shapes a kind of “Lost in Translation” multi media pieces of Art.

I gather images, I recycle elements, I am not a Fine Art painter, I am a fixer, a maker, a decorative art painter, a stenciller and I use all those techniques to create multi media beautiful boards full of the moments I have captured in my tribulations…

I recycle scraps of papers, tickets, ribbons, cut out pages of magazine pages collected here and there but also beautiful hand made paper brought back from Northern Thailand in the Golden Triangle, Blue pigment paint bought in a small artist shop in the old Hong Kong Central area, all treasures to be taken home and put in a picture.

So I prime and apply paint, any paint, in layers… chalk, oil, emulsion, acrylic, pigments in oil, pigments in acrylic, until the feel is right, I wax, I sand and polish, I apply translucent glazes to highlight the shades and dark glazes to highlight the wrinkled papers and more glazes and more wax until I get this feel “deja vu” this is the image I have kept in my head I apply the last wax and hang it up.

I don’t sign my work… I am not a fine art painter ! I apply my magic red Chinese seal ! This old Baba Noya man from George town (Chinese descendant but from Malaysia Pennang) carved it for me… it says my name ! I think that is the right signature for an up-cycled pannel.

What you see is not a beautiful image I painted, its a beautiful impression I brought back from my tribulations, I don’t know if the language in it makes sense … but then I did not know what the language meant when I captured it. I loved the gentle feel of peace and togetherness it created in me and I hope it will have the same effect on you. May be it will give you a longing for travelling and who know next thing you will board a plane to Asia…

Love

Betty xx

PS: The written languages used to up-cycle my boards come from many sources and include, Cambodian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, simplified Chinese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Indian of some sort, French, English, and other European languages and many more… I do not understand the words, nor the way they connect, it is possible that they have been pasted upside down and I hope you will not take offence, I find them beautiful in their own merit without understanding the meaning. I am Lost in their translation !

PSS: I teach regular classes in Up-cycling @ The House for an Art Lover and you could learn some of the techniques I use when making my Art Boards.

Tape and paint ! Upcycle the perfect triangle …

I will be running a full week end of up-cycling furniture in the lovely House for an Art Lover on the 22/23rd of July. for booking look here we have a few spaces left… but hurry they are going fast !

Sula’s chest is below, this is a discarded piece of inexpensive pine furniture which almost found its way to the skip. Sula brought it in … just to practice on and finished it today by decorating it with bold triangles of blue, greys and yellow. The design was created by stretching long stretches of masking tape in various directions creating triangles of different angles and sizes. A very quick and simple way to decorate.

Rosie spent the first several weeks of the course preparing and priming her piece, a chest of heavy pine. Many difficulties on the way with a heavy grain in the wood, load of sanding and buffing over the past few weeks, getting the piece ready to be decorated.

An ensemble of triangles of different colours in a chalky paint, contrasting in an organised manner. Today Rosie added some gold triangles, a “home made” paint made of metallic powder mixed with Shellac, creating a vibrant contrast. This is an alternative to the difficult to handle “gold” leaf.

The result is striking, only one thing to do now… protecting it with a clear lacquer ! Well done such a good result.

Maureen worked for the past few weeks with two chairs she purchased for the whole of £10 second hand… she did apply a lot of energy into preparing them, covering the bad wood with layers upon layers of priming then applying a cinnamon colour as a background. Today she has started the final stage of the decorative process, lining tape to create a large band of coloured lines all in shades of spices, cinnamon, and others, the final stage will be to apply a stencil of a circular yet striking motif on the seats. Almost there, but very impressive skills in lining up very vertical lines of tape can be tricky and Maureen did very well today in setting up the scene. I am looking forward to see the final stage next week.

That reminds me about last term when Candice finalised her last piece by taping across the front of her chest of drawer some vertical bands of very striking colours. The technical difficulty here off course is to make sure that all the lines are completely vertical and match… I think the result was very stylish dont you? what a great result for a piece purchased out of charity shop for around £20.

So may be you feel you would like to have a go at transforming an old piece of furniture into something special just using standard paint… you could book yourself onto one of my up-cycling classes in Glasgow. My next week end course is on the 22/23 july at the House for and Art Lover for info look Here.

You will find the current listing here but if you cant find what you are looking for… contact me at bettysbeautifullife@gmail.com

Best wishes.

Betty xx

“Making Mackintosh” a great week end of creativity at 78, Derngate …learning about the stencilled heritage

I will be running a one day workshop in stencilling at 78, Derngate on the 29th of April, if you want detail and booking details look here.

78, Derngate is having a celebration this year… 100 years of enjoying the great designs that Charles Rennie Mackintosh created for the property while it was in the hands of the industrialist Basset Lowkes. Exhibition, tours, but also heritage talks on the making of this property and workshops on stencilling for would be stenciller apprentices.
I was at 78, Derngate this week end to deliver two workshops and a heritage talk on the stencilled schemes recreated for the exhibition. It was a great week end with endless creativity and a very enthusiastic number of participants.

Friday night was dedicated to a talk about the challenges of recreating heritage stencilled schemes. From identifying the right colours to accessing archives about the design detail, a stencilling artist involved in recreation faces many questions and challenges. I discussed previous commissions… The House for an Art Lover, George Walton’s Ault Wharrie, but also the two recreations I have done for the centenary of 78, Derngate that is the 1920 Hall Lounge scheme and the Candida Cottage seating room stencils here is a copy of my presentation

Saturday we ran a great full day stencilling workshop, from stencilling Mackintosh based ready made stencils to designing, cutting and applying their own simple stencil the participants left on a high, so excited about their new skills. Most of them with no experience, nor art training were very excited about having achieved so much during the day. They left with a lovely starter pack offered by 78, Derngate of cutting mat, stencilling brushes, knife and pencil all ready to do more using their new skill.

One participant said “Fantastic Mackintosh stencil workshop, thoroughly recommend. Elizabeth was a great teacher, we achieved amazing results. Thank you to all who organised this amazing event” another, “enjoyable and rewarding day in lovely surrounding” .

We are running a second workshop on the 29th April, there are a few spaces left, if you want to book or find out about it check here

Sunday we ran a great “Teach the teacher” class for teachers and carers, it was all about inspiring, learning the techniques and suggesting projects to a team of participants who deal with specific groups in schools, hospices, community centres, housing associations etc… In a short period of time they learned to pick up a concept, design a simple stencil and apply it. The emphasis was on small rewarding projects you could run with a non artistically trained public as well as in the context of Art therapy.

One participant said : “Excellent course, very well explained and a finished product to go home with” and another one said “great to have equipment to take home with you so you can try on your own”.

I like sharing the skill of stencilling with the public, its an immensely rewarding technique for anyone to pick up at basic level and every class always finishes on a high with participants amazed at their achievements.

I will be back at 78, Derngate for more workshop at the end of April and I am very much looking forward to it.

Hope you like the photos here, they are the participants achievements….

Betty xx