Hi loves,
Last week I went to my first ever art class! It was a heritage crafting class, held at The Black Country Living Museum - BCLM for short. I was so excited for this, as I had booked the tickets over a month beforehand, but I'm sad to say I was disappointed.
The instructor was unwell, which can't be helped, and the lovely lady who hosted the class in their place did her best, but I didn't find the class informative at all. I expected a little background into canal art and really wanted to learn some techniques to achieve the shapes that give canal art such a striking and distinctive pattern.
But unfortunately, we were just given a cheat sheet and left to our own devices. I still had fun (I love painting) but it wasn't the experience I was expecting.
So, why canal art? My gramps worked on the canals when he was a young man, and since his passing I've tried to find ways of feeling more connected to him, and the canals always make me think of him.
Looking back at my atempt makes me cringe! But it was nice to try somethig new, and I used this design to create my own digital pattern at home, which is what I've used to decorate this blog post! I much prefer my digital drawing to my tile painting, and I'll definitely be incorporating this into future designs too.
Check out my Redbubble shop to see what this design looks like on some merch.
If you want to have a go at home, there's really not much that you need to get started; acrylic paint in red, yellow, blue, green and white; a paint brush, water, and a blank tile or canvas to paint on.
There was lot of examples to look at, and I remember seeing some of these items in the museum gift shop. I really would've loved to learn some of these techniques, and perhaps in the future I'll attend another class.
I have an unchained pass, which gives me free entry to the BCLM for 12 months, so after the heritage crafts class, I decided to have a stroll about and find some more inspo for painting and drawing at home. It's such a nice place to walk around as the majority is open air, and there's amazing original vintage artwork and patterned tiles, as well as wonderfully painted barges in the boat yard. I highly recommend giving it a visit!
I hope you've enjoyed this post, and if you'd like to learn more, here's an article on nature inspired art by The Canal & River Trust.
Speak soon,
Zoe x
Comments