Hip Op and moving forward

Bandouille Lake 2017

Moving forward…and yes at a rate now too.

Its February already and I did have so many plans to write this sooner.  But old habits die hard.

The weather has been extraordinary.

I'm typing this after a day reaching 18 degrees???? But we have had lovely frosty days too.  But nothing like the snow and Ice that we used to get.

After my second hip op in November I am back on track and have been in the garden trying to catch up with raking up the leaves and generally tidying up.  Great (hopefully) for building up the muscle again.  I have also been in the Studio (and kitchen) doing lots of Gel Press Prints.  I had a fabulous run on those and got some great results too.

I have a Gel Plate workshop planned beginning of March and the ideas are racing! 

These three rectangular images were created using the largest  plate by Gel Press.  12 x 14 inch

Summer Days

Heron Haven - Bandouille

And then……I officially discovered "real" Collagraph printing.

I entered a challenge in January for fun - as I do - and the photo did not inspire me to paint it.  So I thought I would make a collagraph plate and see how that panned out.  Oh boy did I have fun.  I combined the technique with Gel printing and watercolour and this was my final entry to which a gained 4th place.  Seriously...I was thrilled!  Well who else is going to blow my trumpet? 

Of course I have made collagraphs before and used them in my Gel prints.

But when a few wonderful artists work popped up in my Pinterest feed I have been hooked ever since, wanting to know everything there is to know about collagaphing. I then realised how little I knew of this absorbing art  form.

So I have been researching and playing….of course!

In the meantime checkout Sarah Ross Thompson, Sue Brown and Hester Stolly Cox to name but a few.  Checkout Collagraph on Pinterest too and see what wonders you will get.

The beauty for me at the moment is that it is another tool from which to produce something unique.  

These artists above have spent a long time honing their craft and I do not wish to imagine that I can do what they do because I am not that far down that road - yet.  

With Pasta Maker

But I am using Collagraph techniques to create within my realms of knowledge in watercolour, collage, gel printing etc and enjoying the experimenting. I have also realised that this is a great way for any artist in any medium to get to know their subject.  As they have to create what they want to do in such intimate detail to create a plate.  By the time they have pulled a few prints every line, every edge is known to the artist.

I have just experimented with a Pasta Maker and also bought an old mangle with intent on converting it to a press.  We shall see! In the meantime I am using my body and my hands to press into the plates.  Fun!

If you  want to know more and get fantastic support and guidance join the Collagraph Worldwide FB group.  I have learnt so much from them and am truly inspired


Any of the above techniques can be learned at one of our standard holidays. 

We also have tutored holidays. 

Please enquire.  Our 2017 Art Holidays at Bandouille calendar is now open.

Please visit www.francepaintingholiday.com for all the details.

More coming up very soon.

Bix xx

Autumn at Bandouille

Autumn - from Spring.....where has that time gone....and so much has happened!

Yes, again my blogging skills have lapsed, but all the better to play catchup.

The 2016 Art Holiday season  was packed with fun and wonderful paintings from both Tutors and guests. 

Sadly because of the work that this entails I felt that I had to resign from my role as Creative Designer from the Gel Press Team to give 100% to the holidays.  I throughly enjoyed the short time I had with them and the people I met through them too.  But I am following their progress avidly on their facebook page Gel Press Junkies. 

No doubt now that the Autumn has arrived I will be printing madly again.

The tutors we had this year were  Stephie Butler, Eugen Chisnicean, Joanne Boon Thomas and Jane Minter and they left their mark as usual by thrilling us all with their wonderful skills.

Stephie Butler

Stephie Butler

Here are examples of some of their work some of which we now have hanging on our walls at Bandouille

Eugen Chisnicean

Joanne Boon Thomas

Joanne Boon Thomas

Jane Minter

Of course all of our guest produced lovely works too and many of these can be found on our Facebook page .

Just select the album you wish to view and browse.  If you see any photo you would like to use as reference you may do so.

We announced earlier in the year that this year would possibly be our last at Bandouille.  I am pleased now to say that it wont be and business will continue as usual next year although we will be reducing the amount of weeks and tutors that we normally have.  So please be sure to check our website for available dates.  Or if you have a date in mind please contact us as none of the calendar is set in stone.

Also if you wish to bring a group let us know as we can organise group rates, pick ups and dietary requirements, which we do as standard.

The standard holidays essentially means that there will be no guest tutor and you are free to paint what you like with my guidance if required.  We will also go out visiting sites to either sketch, photograph or just enjoy.

Also the holidays are not restricted to Painting. Crafting, yoga, anything in fact if you need a venue for your groups.  Please enquire.

Arty is now just over 1 year old and is thriving in our environment and could not be a more delightful feline companion.  I shall leave you with a few pics of him too!  

With that said I will leave you for now and continue again in the next couple days upodating you on other things that I have done in the last 5 months.

A bientot

Bix x

Simple Landscape Video

As promised I have released a short video of how I do my landscapes under the Gel Press umbrella.

As you will see the steps are simple and easy to follow and you can make yours your own by introducing different colours, textures and subjects into your work.

I have shown the materials used and the outcome of each print.

Click HERE for video




Please feel free to comment or ask a question if you want

The final results of 4 pulls with embellishments

Click Here In the meantime France is sunny and getting warmer and together with the April showers we are also blessed with stunning views like this.

Holiday bookings are picking up once more after the terror strikes and there still a few places left on a couple of our Guest Tutor workshops.  Email us here at France Painting Holiday  for more info or visit the website

Also if you are interested in a printing workshop or a craft week also please inquire.  These workshops cannot takeplace unless we know that enough people are interested. 

Preparing now for the World Earthday bloghop on the 20th so visit this page again then with a chance to win a prize.

A bientot
Bixxy x

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=4BE1A8D896E2CC3D!286&authkey=!ACoJkgvPjb8nLXU&ithint=folder%2cjpg

Inspired by Art

Having fun playing with my Gel Press plates again this weekend and have set aside a new blog post step by step for April 20th for World Earth day which will be a blog hop where you can win a Large Format Round plate from Gel Press so keep an eye out for that. 

In preparation for that I was playing around getting ideas for it and the ideas kept flowing. This one is inspired by Monet,

I will post the other ones after embellishment after the Blog Hop;

I have discovered one thing whilst doing all this printing on the Gel Press Plates...I do love it but I love an instant result too.  As I am not a "art journaller per se" (and I do so admire those that are) I cannot see myself cutting out bits n pieces to use in a book or journal.  I paint. I paint pictures mostly in watercolour and therefore I like to produce paintings........so that is what I am going to strive for mostly from this process.

As so many people have requested a video showing how I create my small poppy landscapes I have just finished filming a simple landscape routine which I will be publishing later this week.




In the meantime I have decided I want to run "Inspired by my favourite artist" every month and will deliver the final print on my blog.  I think it is important to study other artists famous or not as it expands our knowledge of techniques, mediums and colours too.  Also the way that those worked before us set certain styles in motion which became the fabric of all the art movements.

So this month I am working on a huge favourite of mine and may do more of his....that was a big hint!!!!

Can you see who the artist is yet????  

More to come soon

Bx

First Gel Press Post

Gel Press Blog

Hi everyone,

just announcing first post on the Gel Press Blog showing some of my sketches done on Gel Press prints via a short video I did on Youtube

Hope you enjoy what you see.

Please feel free to leave me a comment below.

Bx

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

A beautiful March day!

Inspired by the sunshine and the spring flowers poking their heads up went into the kitchen where the stove is burning, for a quick play with some Brusho (studio is a bit chilly at the moment) .

Of course finishing both these pieces from lines of William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" seemed appropriate.

I love the spring and the knowledge that the dark grey days are almost at an end I can go out more to sketch.

Sunny today with a touch of frost and perfect for a brisk fresh walk around the lake with Arty, before a lovely Beef roast dinner from our local farmer.....

He gets so excited when he sees us both get our wellies on and knows that its "round the lake time".

Of course he is dead to the world now this afternoon!

Thats it for now!

See you soon with some Gel Press updates!
Bix x

Bixxy Nash - Creative Designer

Today I can officially announce that I am to be part of a team for an American based company called Gel Press as a Creative Designer amongst others with the same role. The great thing is that we all use similar tools but we produce very different work.  So this really is art that YOU create and will always be unique.

Its all exciting! 


So my Gel plate printing in the last couple of years has paid off and I hope now to move forward with the craft and develop many more techniques and already my head is swimming with inspiration and ideas. 

This is the facebook page for Gel Press Junkies so pop over there every so often to see what has been created by the team and other members. 

Recent work

So join me on my journey and please feel free to comment at anytime and I will endeavour to answer your questions.

These past few weeks has seen me busy with a miriad of things including the building of a new website and updating some old footage of videos etc.

Qatar

I also joined a group on Facebook called Everyday in February which is a sketching group.  

Peru

A new years resolution of "i must do more sketching in more creative ways" has resulted in my getting the above job on the team, by giving me the confidence to "go for it".  

This has been great for me as I also used gel printed papers that were in my "what do i do with these" box and sketched over them.  The theme this month was world travel and we given a different country per day to visit.  Here are some of mine on the Printed papers.
I selected each sheet based on the coloring of the scene that I had in mind or maybe just the national colours of the country from their flag.  I then worked round that. 

Sweden

  I used Micron tip pens to do the drawing and Tombow pens (brush felt tip style pens) for alot of the bright bits and watercolour in the lighter areas where the paint could take.

Oman

Of course you really could go mad and do collage and decoupage ontop using stamps of the countries and other souvenirs and memorabilia.


This is definately something I will be doing for my travel journals and will update you on these when I start.

So will all this going on....the holiday bookings are still coming in and I am looking forward to this season.

If anyone is interested in a Gel Press workshop please mail me on info@francepaintingholiday and I can give you some more information

I will end it here and be back in a few days with more.....

Abientot
Bix x

Our 2016 Season - Come join us  

Brochure

If you would like to find out more about us either click on the online Brochure on the right or visit us on our website. 

These will be our tutors this year and we also run our standard art holidays.  This leaves you free to paint when and what you want with the added bonuses of being taken out locally to visit our lovely towns and villages. Any queries can be covered by me if you need some one to one tutoring.  All this and the benefits of ensuite accommodation and full board.  

If you are a tutor and would like to bring your own group, please call and we can discuss the details.  Discounts will be available to 5+ people

Open access to the studio and materials also available

In addition to the above I will also be holding a Craft week to incorporate making unusual christmas decorations and other gifts and a Printing week, to include Gel Prints, watercolour batik, collagraph, decoupage and monoprinting.  Please email me at info@francepaintingholiday if you are interested.

Examples of my work are below: 

Two of these designs have been chosen to be used on fabric for clothes designs.  Take a look here

Thats it for today....two days in a row!!!!  Lets see when I next post.  

Bx