A Year of Inspiration from Nature

I've been busy getting my workshops planned for 2016 and they are all available to book in my shop and Eventbrite page.

I've planned seasonally inspired workshops throughout the year that will share the techniques and ideas behind my mixed media landscapes. Designed to fit together to give you creative confidence and help you develop your visual language, the days can stand alone or be booked as a set of four.

Book all four workshops together and receive a gift of my 'I am Nature - Working with Nature as Inspiration' CD and a mini print from my range (RRP £25)

Spring Sketchbooks - Saturday February 6th 2016

Mark Making - Saturday June 25th 2016

Evoking the Seasons - Saturday October 1st 2016

Stitch techniques with Paper - Saturday November 12th 2016

New in my shop!

Here are some of my new prints now available in my online shop at www.helenhallows.com They are limited edition giclee prints and are printed in a run of 100. Backed by the Fine Art Trade Guild the inks are guaranteed and the paper is of the highest quality. My amazing printer has a fantastic eye for colour and detail meaning he is able to capture all the richness and texture of the original artwork. The first time he handed me a print, I thought it was the original!

Garden Angel

Full Bloom

On the Move

Radiant Light

Faded Summer

Tree of Life

Creative collage workshops

Usually when I run a workshop I take everything and the kitchen sink! But I have decided to take control of myself and I've been reorganising my paper stash and art materials. I've ordered some new lightweight boards to work on and given all my boxes a Spring clean ready for a new run of workshops. There are still some places available on my July 6/7 weekend workshop and my 13 July one day workshop.....come along and ruffle my papers!

There is still the offer of set of my landscape art cards when you book two places together.

New Work

Here's my newest print 'Valley'. It is a big one! It's my feature piece at the Sock Preview Show that opens today at the Town Hall in Loughborough.  Using contemporary wizardry it is a print taken from three works from my British Landscape series.  It measures 45cm x 110cm, a size that I couldn't easily work at because of the constraints of sewing with a domestic sewing machine on paper.  The print quality is amazing and captures every detail of stitch, paper and ink.  It is printed on German etching paper with archival inks.  

The work was commissioned by a customer who had already bought my 'Valley Deep' piece.  And so I created 'Valley High' and 'Valley Steep' to compliment it and these three were united for 'Valley'.

I'll be in the gallery at Sock, Loughborough on the weekend of the Makers Market (March 23rd and 24th).  Hope to see you there!

Collaged Landscape

At the weekend I held my first two day 'Collaged Landscape' workshop.  Previously run as a one day event, running it over two allowed participants to really get stuck in and explore all the different elements of mark making, painting, collage and stitch.  The outcomes were fabulous.

Due to outrageously positive feedback I'll be running more workshops in 2013 and can now announce the following dates:

April 13/14 Collaged Landscapes workshop at Long Eaton Art Room, NG10 4LD £100 - 6 places

May 11th    Creative play day - experiment with mark making, try machine embroidery, try collage.  Can be used as an extra day if you have already attended a course or as a try out before a longer course. £50 - Long Eaton Art Room - 8 places

June 15/16 Collaged narratives workshop at Long Eaton Art Room.  Similar to the landscapes weekend but focusing on the story behind your piece, perhaps inspired by a personal story or a poem. £100 all materials included- Long Eaton Art Room - 6 places

July 13th  Creative play day - as May 11th - 8 places, £50 including all materials and cake! Long Eaton Art Room

Please contact me if you'd like to book a place.  Also available are workshop gift vouchers (£50 or £100) if you would like to surprise someone with a thoughtful and inspiring gift!

Getting Ready

I'm getting ready for Holmfirth Art Market on Sunday. Just stitched a batch of business cards. Waiting in for Christmas cards to arrive from the printers. Ceramics in the kiln. Logo being printed onto cloth for my stand. Everything coming together nicely.

My Essential Kit

The lovely Emily at Folksy has featured me this week for the My Essential Kit feature.  Have a look!

Helen Hallows creates original artwork using ink, collage and stitch, “I aim to capture fleeting moments that catch my eye”. Helens collection includes artwork, coasters, bunting, greetings cards, and porcelain homewares. With such a range of products what on earth is in her essential tool kit?

1. Stretching tape. I work on watercolour or pastel papers with ink washes so I always use stretching tape to keep the paper flat.

Inks. I love the little bottles of pure colour lined up in my studio. They give an intense, permanent colour.

2. I apply the inks with a brush or Chinese calligraphy bamboo pen.

3. I collect vintage papers: old book pages, endpapers and book jackets, sheet music, vintage wrapping paper and wallpaper. I supplement these with book binding papers, scrapbooking papers and paper that I’ve painted or drawn on myself.

4. My trusty Elna sewing machine. Called a ‘Quilter’s Dream’ it suffers me forcing it to sew through paper and stitch freely. I’ve had it for fifteen years and it’s never caused me any trouble. (Of course, I’ve just given it the kiss of death!)

5. Cottons. Something else for me to search out when I’m in junk shops and at carboot sales. I have hundreds of them and love the gradations of hue and shade. I have them in an old set of tool drawers with a drawer for each colour.

My letterpress H stamp. I finish each piece with my makers’ mark, a HH stamped with this letterpress letter. I have only one and it sometimes goes astray which fills me with panic.

6. My ‘Helen Hallows’ stamp. This features on the back of all my original artworks and as a transfer onto the bottom of my ceramics. I stamp my bags with it at fairs, and it’s on my blog, website, business card and all correspondence. I’m even thinking of getting it tattooed!!

You can have a right old nosey around Helens Folksy shop here Helen Hallows. She is also exhibiting at The Sock Galleryin Loughborough from 30th November – 15th January 2012.

If you have an essential crafting kit you’d like to share please send it tofrankly@folksy.co.uk.

Kit photograph ©Lyndsey James Photography 2011.

Helen Hallows creative workshop

Here are the details of a creative workshop I am running on Sunday March 13th at Beans Coffee Shop Gallery in Bolsover near Chesterfield.  It's a lovely cafe gallery and the lunch(made by proprietor Karen)will be delicious!  I would love it if you can join me for a day of mark making, collage and surface embellishment inspired by a memory of a special person or place.  I'll be bringing lots to inspire and have been rummaging through my vintage papers and making up creative packs for the day.  Hope to see you there.

Recording Memories using Paper, Stitch and Mark Making

Wish HH 2010

Sunday, 13 March. 10am – 4pm

In her work Helen creates original framed artworks using a variety of media. This one day workshop will introduce you to creating marks with ink, paint, pastel and pencil. Combining these experimental patterns with vintage papers you can create an original artwork. Inspired by capturing the moment, Helen will help you work toward recording a vivid memory of a special person, place or occasion. You can also experiment with surface embroidery to fuse together the layers of your piece. Suitable for beginners as well as experienced artists, and inspiring for creative journallers and scrapbookers. Materials provided with some for sale. Bring photographs to inspire you or work from memory and instinct like Helen.

£45 including lunch.

Grow HH2010

Experiment

I had a quick experiment with the electric sander. It was great fun but I'd feel a bit scared of attacking a finished work of art with it.  The sander roughed up the papers, knocked off sharp corners and generally matted the surface, giving a sense of age to the piece.  I think that it is worth pursuing, especially on the more abstract pieces.  Oh, and I've started working this way up as a change from the landscape pieces.

Pink and Yellow

I'm loving the landscape at the moment. The summer seams to have drenched Derbyshire in colour. There seems to be a real heightened pallette and I'm enjoying layering colour and texture. This is only small, 15cm x 15cm and is a paper and stitch piece.