“Insight or Excite” – it is this, the basic criteria of owner Melissa Pickering, that’s put 19.Preston firmly on the map as the must-see gallery and shop to visit in Faversham.

Inspired by the concept shops that she would visit whilst living in Paris – “they are artworks in themselves” she says – Melissa has combined contemporary art with local crafts. A jar of Kentish honey shares the space with large original oil paintings. It shouldn’t work, but it does.

There is certainly something to insight or excite on every surface as you browse the simple wood and metal shelves and trestle tables on the ground floor. Yet nothing fights for attention. The space still maintains the clean lines of a gallery which is testament to Melissa’s ability to carefully select and display the pieces based on an evolving editorial theme.

There are some unexpected touches too like the 1960’s style listening booth. Step into the matte black cube and immerse yourself in the vinyl of the month whilst browsing the curated record collection. It doesn’t need to be there and that’s exactly why I like it. I'm struck with the feeling that this isn’t just about buying and appreciating art it’s about enjoying it too.

Head upstairs and this feeling continues as the building opens up into a bright multi-purpose space. Here exhibitions and workshops mingle. These rooms add further reason for 19.Preston’s success; it doesn’t stand aloof from the town and its residents like some galleries might but rather there is a sense of inclusion.

Responding to Faversham’s local traditions like the Hop Festival and the town’s festive markets 19.Preston whole heartedly joins in and adds art to the celebrations along with an invitation to “have a go” at something new and creative. You only have to look at what’s on offer for proof - children’s after school drama classes and art clubs which culminate in end of term group exhibitions and for adults the secret drawing club, print workshops, Artist Relief and pyrography.

In addition to this we’ll be holding an evening screen printing workshop on Wednesday 6th December to design and print a set of 2018 calendar tea towels just like the ones your Nan used to have #grannychic. For more information and to book click here.

To be inspired visit the bricks and mortar shop at 19 Preston Street, Faversham ME13 8NZ or see the gallery online at their Facebook page and Instagram account.

​A huge round of applause please for my niece, Kyra Anderson, who's been chosen as Nucleus' artist of the month at their Rochester Gallery in Kent.

If you've been following me on social media over the past few years then you may recognise Kyra as she's always a willing (victim) volunteer when I need an extra pair of hands at workshops and events. Kyra brings the calm to my chaos. She takes everything in her stride, is a truly lovely lady and an extremely talented artist too. (Don't some people just make you sick?!)

Kyra's work is currently on display at Cafe Nucleus, 75 High Street, Rochester and you can also visit her online shops and web pages and follow her on Instagram. Her work is varied and includes original framed sketches, printed cushions, mugs, iphone cases and greetings cards. Here's a taster but I'd recommend a trip to Rochester to see it for real.

You may remember back in 2014 when I discovered some hidden artwork in an attic during Medway Open Studios ​
and reconnected with my past and my favourite art teacher, Jackie Trinder. Jackie now specialises in painting with watercolours, teaching from her studio in Rochester and exhibiting throughout Kent. You can visit her website here.

Since then we've been playing a game of chicken, threatening to swap skills and teach each other our preferred mode of art. Finally, this summer we put a date in the diary and got around to doing it.

Jackie may have mentioned a few times to me that she was slightly scared of the prospect of spending a morning out of her comfort zone screen printing. So I devised a plan to incorporate some watercolour techniques that she'd be familiar with. Using fabric paint she prepared the background with a free form design then onto setting up the screen, but even that was no problem as it uses familiar brush strokes to apply the drawing fluid.
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Once she'd finished the process of applying screen filler, drying, rinsing and drying the screen again we were ready to print. I think it's safe to say that Jackie LOVED it and wants to do lots more. She particularly liked the fact that you can easily repeat the image onto a variety of backgrounds to create different effects. Here are photos from the morning's screen printing workshop: 

​[In clipped English accent] "Good morning Camperinos. Willy Watkins here, broadcasting live from Camp Wildfire Radio. It's 9am and this is your wake up call letting you know that activities will commence in precisely 30 minutes."

And so begins our day at the award winning 1950s style Camp Wildfire - adventure camp by day and music festival by night.

For the athletic there is sport and for the creative there is craft. And that's where i printed that comes in. Sun prints, cyanotypes, blueprints - call them what you want - the sun was shining, my hands were stained bright blue (long story) and we were ready to show some curious campers how to use the sun to make beautiful prints onto neckerchiefs (woggles not included).

Remember sitting in class and your teacher announces that lessons will be outside today? Yes? Well, you can pretty much imagine the scene then as we set up a nature table of feathers, interesting bits of bark, flora and fauna and 20 eager adventurers settle themselves in the forest (mind the pine cones!) which is to be our home for the next few gloriously sunny days.

After a few fun facts about sun printing the class split up to explore and collect just enough leaves and flowers to create a design for their neckerchiefs. Once back they arrange their finds onto the pre-treated fabric and parade to the sun where they leave them for the sunshine to work its magic.

Cue field trip style quiz. It's time to find out who was listening to those fun facts at the start of the lesson…

6 multiple choice questions later and an "I like sun printing because..." decider, the winner is announced and presented with a very special sun printing activity badge to add to their collection. But who cares about quizzes? Everyone’s a winner when it comes to printing and it's time to bring the neckerchiefs back into the shade and wash the chemicals off to reveal the ethereal beauty of nature.

Smiling and "wowing" we hang the prints from the trees to dry and set up for the next batch of intrepid explorers.

Thanks for having us, Camp Wildfire. See you next year!

​As part of Medway Print Festival 2017 we were invited to the Huguenot Museum in Rochester to demonstrate a Japanese printing technique called Hapa Zome, using the natural dyes from flowers and leaves to decorate headscarves and hankies. Some people went for strategically placed patterns whilst others tried something more avant-garde. The prints fitted in well with the museum’s collections which showcase the Huguenot's love of using nature to create intricate designs in silk and precious metals. The local paper dropped by to find out what it was all about.

​If asked to describe my style I'm not sure what it would be (answers on a postcard, please). One thing's for sure, I wouldn't call it contemporary. So when Art Market invited me to do something a bit more contemporary for the workshops I'll be running for them on Saturday 30th September I had to get my thinking cap on. 

After some experimenting and scouring flea markets here's what I came up with. It's a bit different from my usual workshops but I'm liking it. What do you think?

"A series of fast paced screen printing workshops at Art Market, Maidstone where you will learn the basic principles of screen printing and produce a professional looking piece of contemporary art, ready to be framed and hung on your wall.
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**Special show price £17**

Saturday 30th September
Art Market, Lockmeadow Market Hall, Maidstone
Workshops start at 10am

​For more information and to book click the button below

You will need:
Fresh leaves and flowers. Avoid waxy ever-green leaves like ivy, holly etc.
Plain, light coloured fabric with a natural fibre content eg. cotton or linen
A solid, unbreakable surface. We used a wooden chopping board. 
A hammer 

1. Collect together your fabric, flowers and leaves. For rules about what you can and can't pick outside of your own garden here is a handy guide.

2. ​Arrange the flowers facing up on a single piece of fabric

3. Lay a spare piece of fabric about the same size over the top making sure not to move your flowers and leaves then using the flat end of the hammer head start hitting the the fabric to release the natural dyes from the flowers. You'll see the colours coming through the fabric straightaway. WARNING: Keep fingers clear of the fabric whilst you are using the hammer - trust me, hammers hurt!

4. Continue until you're happy that you have flattened all of the flowers and then carefully peel the top sheet of fabric away revealing your hapa zome print

​5. Using your finger-tip rub away any flower parts that have stuck to the fabric during printing, leave to dry and then iron to heat set the colours.

Moving around from place-to-place, putting on screen printing workshops (*imagines self as Victorian travelling medicine man*) means that I need to travel light. However, after packing up from a workshop I always end up with one more thing than when I arrived. A black sack full of rubbish.

Thankfully this rubbish consists of newsprint covered in non-toxic water based paint and although the recycling men don't like it the worms do. Worms you ask? Yes, there's a worm at the bottom of my garden (or in this case, allotment) and his name is Wiggly Woo. I shred the newsprint and add it to the compost bin where the worms and microorganisms break it down ready to be spread on the ground. But instead of sharing a rather unappetising brown mess I thought you might like to see some of the results.

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When I pop out for a quick coffee or in a panic because I've run out of some essential supplies I always feel the need to explain my appearance. "I'm working in the studio today" I say or "I forgot...X" as I look down at my paint stained clothes and try not to make eye contact. But not anymore, apparently.

I write this post open-mouthed after perusing Anthropologie's latest arrival of the Painterly Shirt.

Never again shall I shuffle in the queue smiling apologetically. I will stand proud because the clothes maketh the lady. I realise that this shirt holds a lot of memories. Each paint splat tells a story, every ink stain reminds me of the achievements and, let's not call them failures, the...erm, experiments, of the prints and the people who made them.

A lot of good stuff has happened in this shirt.

Bias binding is extremely versatile and easy to make. In this tutorial I show you how to make it using a bias-binding-making-thingamajig, otherwise known as a Tape Maker.

1. Cut strips of fabric on the bias grain line, double the width of the final binding.

2. Cut off the diagonal ends to leave a straight edge.

3. With right sides together place 2 strips at a 90 degree angle to one another, lining up the straight edges you've just neatened.

4. Sew a straight, diagonal line from outside corner to outside corner.

5. Trim the seam allowance to 1/8" or 3mm.

5. Press the seam open.

Take another strip and with right sides together add it to the end of the strip you have just sewn as in step 3. Continue doing this until you have used up all the strips and have one continuos length.

7. With right side down feed the strip through the wide end of the Tape Maker so that approx 1/2" or 2cm is protruding from the narrow end (you may need to use a pin in the top to help it along).

8. With the metal bar of the Tape Maker in your non-writing-hand and the iron in the other, place the iron onto the fabric now protruding from the narrow end. Simultaneously pull the Tape Maker whilst ironing the strip of bias as it comes out.

Continue until you reach the end.

And there you have bias binding.