Dry Brushing Skills

It's been quiet in the Week Day Home for a few days because all the activity has taken place elsewhere.  Work took me to the North West of England and the weekend kept me home which meant I woke up to bright, hazy weather with the trees starting to get that green spring fringe as their leaves unfurl.  Nice!

Then it was shopping at the local Farmers Market with it's organic produce, homemade cakes, freshly laid eggs, sizzling sausages to munch as you walk round, handmade cordials, locally pressed apple juice and spring plants. Everything comes from within a 30 mile radius so you know it's local and seasonal.

 The stalls all look as if they're bursting into life after the winter months.

Then it was off to a workshop with http://andyskinnerorg.blogspot.com/  organised by the lovely ladies at paperarts.co.uk.  I suppose you'd call Andy a mixed media artist and the morning was full of dry brushing techniques.  (And cake!)  In the afternoon (and after a lovely buffet lunch and more cake) we were given a white earthenware pot to paint.  We put on a base coat of black acrylic then glued on cardboard shapes and half beads and goggley eyes to make rivets.  Seen like this is looks very odd.  But....

 ...when you paint on a second black layer (and have another bit of cake) it starts to look a bit more promising.  

 A layer of dry brushed burnt umber, followed by burnt sienna, followed by metallic gold and you have a rusty looking box.  Ta dahh!!

I thought it looked quite masculine so I presented it to Himself and now it is resident in the Country House.  It was a great day and all of us who attended this workshop have already signed up for Andy's next class in a couple of months.  Must have been good!