CLARE ROBINSON- floral watercolours - Friday 21st March

Liz trained in Fine Art and Sculpture at the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh School of Art and has gone on to develop a number of art practices that include découpage collage and paper sculpture. Much of her work is with other people through  participatory workshops, classes and projects to encourage everyone to take part in visual art and have fun with it. 

Join artist and printmaker Nicky Sanderson for a creative weekend, connecting to the landscape and history of this lovely area . We will create a concertina sketchbook from scratch, inspired by a walk into the countryside near our studio. 

Discovering stories about the area will help to connect us to the location as we immerse ourselves in the environment, using all our senses. The book that you take home will feel like a personal response to the location and a treasured artwork that only you could have made.

This workshop is suitable for all levels of art experience.

On day one, there will be an introduction to the structure of the weekend, showing of examples, discussion/demonstration of methods used to achieve interesting results, and reference to deeper understanding of the area. Everyone will then prepare their concertina papers. 

The walk will start after lunch, taking with us a small bag of materials and pre-prepared paper. Participants will be encouraged to look for subjects that interest them, or reflect their responses to the location, for example, details of the rocks and lichens, or the wider view of hills and trees, or even words and sounds that spring to mind. These should be noted down. Found objects can also be collected for using as drawing implements back in the studio. Depending on the weather, we'll take time to draw on location.

Day two concentrates on putting together all of the ideas collected on day one. This will involve creating textures and colours on  tissue paper to create a "palette" from which to choose for collaging onto the cartridge paper; paper created on the walk can also be worked on with a view to including it in the book, or using it as a cover; drawing or printing with any found objects on the cartridge or tissue; planning the layout of the concertina book; creating a cardboard cover. 

Keeping an open mind, we decide if the concertina book is a narrative, or a series of views, or selected patterns from nature, or completely abstract in its composition. The final stages involve reworking the surface of the concertina, making sure the pages lead easily one to another. 

Nicky Sanderson is from Edinburgh, based full time at Coburg House Studios in Leith. She works as a painter and printmaker and is interested in the many ways of interpreting the natural world, its underlying geology, coasts and local story.

Nicky studied Printmaking at Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen and at Post Graduate level for two years at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, following which she was awarded a year’s scholarship by the National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA) to study experimental printmaking in Mexico City. On her return to Scotland she exhibited in London and Edinburgh, and taught art to adults as co-director of an art travel company and trained as a Blue Badge Guide for Scotland. In recent years she has taught the Scottish Art module for trainee Scottish tourist guides (STGA Blue Badge), and regularly leads courses to the Outer Hebrides for the creative travel company Wild at Art Scotland Ltd., involving en plein air information-gathering and studio development work.

Currently a member of the Society of Scottish Artists (SSA), Visual Arts Scotland (VAS) and Edinburgh Printmakers (EP).