Art Auction

Artist: Sarah Mitchell
Title: Cooloola's patterned fish I
Medium: Hand-coloured lino cut (editioned to 5)

I'm delighted to be involved in organising an Art Auction on 18th April, 2010 in the Westwood Hotel, Newcastle, Galway.
Proceeds from the auction will be shared between the artists and Claregalway Educate Together National School, with no additional fees and no hidden costs for the buyer! Pre-auction bids can be taken and artwork is available to preview at www.claregalwayeducatetogether.ie

John Behan, RHA, Lynda Cookson, Clare Cryan, Joan Hogan, Charlotte Kelly, Sara Susan McNeill, Sarah Mitchell, Vivien Murray, Marja Van Kampen, Michael Viney, Joan Webb, Kenneth Webb and Annie West are just some of over 50 artists involved.

The work will be exhibited for viewing from 12 noon on 18th April and the auction will begin at 2.30pm. It promises to be a wonderful event so mark your diaries!

Drawing and painting

My final run of 5 classes with artist, Jim Kavanagh http://www.jimkavanagh.com/ finished in January. We worked on a technique to capture the qualities of cloth as it drapes. It was an interesting project to work on and probably appealed to me so much because it was fabric-related! We were asked to position a 'precious object' in front of a draped cloth. So I chose a glass bowl of threads in front of a red shot-velvet. With more practice, I'm sure I could improve on this, but here are the photos of my charcoal drawing and my oil painting of this subject. I learned a lot from Jim and hope to go back for more lessons at a future date.

Only the Best of Etsy Sample Packages GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Only the Best of Etsy Sample Packages GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Have you heard of Etsy.com? It's a website where craftmakers sell their work. It also sells vintage and recycled items. I have found some lovely, special presents for friends and family there. By clicking on the link above you can enter a free giveaway for some Etsy samples at the Grossgrain blog. You can also go directly to Etsy.com to shop for handmade items.

I intend to open my own Etsy shop soon so watch this space for more news on that! It's one of my 2010 goals! It's another way to link up with other Irish sellers on Etsy to promote Irish Craft online.

The Dolly Tub bags

Suzanne from 'The Dolly Tub' at Claregalway indoor Sunday Market sent me some photos of her lovely bags to show you. I love them all and have trouble picking a favourite to put on my wish-list!

Vintage sewing notions

Although I've lots of projects on the go I've nothing ready to photograph yet, so this is just a photo of some vintage sewing notions arranged on a shelf in my work-space. Some are flea-market and charity-shop finds, some were given to me by friends and family but I love them all. I don't know what it is about old sewing needles and cards of buttons that I find so inspirational!