i-printed-that's fifth anniversary passed relatively quietly. I few glasses of fizz shared with my hubby, a little pat on the back and a moment of reflection.
 
When I look back to the beginning of 2013, my only plan was to run children's t-shirt printing workshops during the school holidays. That was it. I remember my first official day. I'd booked a local village hall for the day and planned four back-to-back workshops, with a total of 40 children printing their own t-shirts. It was going to be brilliant. Armed with some very expensive leaflets I visited all the schools in the area and they agreed to send them home to the parents. I'd run school holiday workshops for friends and family so I knew how much children loved the workshops, it was great value for money and it was something different that wasn't happening anywhere else locally. Parents would be banging down the doors to book their children on.
 
Except they weren't.
 
The four exciting workshops I had planned became two, well one and a half. The second workshop had three children on it; two were my nephews and one was a child from the local school who I had delivered leaflets to. I was heart broken. All that planning, all that hard work, all that expectation and to top it off I made about £2.50(!). Oh yeah, and I was exhausted.
 
But I was also determined. I knew I had a great product, I knew that the skills I was sharing with the children were bringing them confidence and they loved it too. I knew I had to carry on, so I did.
 
Well, that was five years ago and this printmaking lark has taken me down some unexpected avenues and I've met so many amazing, talented and helpful people. Who would have thought that I'd run printing sessions at staff training and team building days, hold courses at museums, provide entertainment at festivals and events, host hen parties and work on large scale school projects. Yep, we've come a long way, baby.

Think Arts & Crafts interiors and you think William Morris. The ever loved prints of willow leaves, honeysuckle twisting through trellises and plump pomegranates. A fine example of one such interior is the National Trust property of Standen House in Sussex. And so what better place to attend a linocut workshop exploring pattern and print a sample of wallpaper.

Led by Peter Thwaites and Rebecca Aird, the artists behind The Standen Collection, they have set up their design studio in the Servants' Hall and covered the walls with photos and sketches of Standen's architecture and gardens. It is from here that they designed and printed the re-imagined wallpaper and furnishings that decorate the Servants' Wing and it is from here that they ran a series of traditional print making workshops.

Our good friends at Lunar HQ were approached by a PR company in need of an unconventional space to hold their corporate business review followed by team building activities that were a little different from the usual run-of-the-mill-paint-balling. Being the creative bunch that they, Lunar HQ got planning and reached out to its motley crew of collaborators to lay on retro games, cocktail making and screen printing workshops. Cue i printed that.
​
Once the boring, but essential, data analysis was over and the company had congratulated themselves on yet another fantastic year it was time to set up the print station and get printing. 

Note to self; under normal circumstances it can take a while for some people to get their head around making up stencils for screen printing (hell, it still happens to me on occasions) but add a cocktail or three into the mix and the chance of this increases ;)

“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.
​
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.
​​
**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.