BOBBY BRITNELL
TEXTILE and ART courses offering unique learning opportunities for all
In beautiful South Shropshire an area of outstanding natural beauty
NEWS FROM MOOR HALL STUDIO

Well it certainly is the countdown to Christmas now. I am looking forward to welcoming family again this year. It seems such an age since we were all together. I wondering what you will all be doing! Mind you there seems so much to get done before then, but I love all the planning and preparation, deciding who is sleeping where, what food to buy, etc. And then there is all the carol singing beforehand, the practising then the performances. I sing with two choirs and we are reinstating the annual carol singing down our local pub, which should be fun ......I love it all. I don't claim to be a good singer, but it is something that really lifts the spirits and my word we certainly need that from time to time!!!!

This will be my last newsletter before Christmas, but I would like to alert you in this one, to next years new courses at Moor Hall, the work my art groups have been doing this term, and a course next summer with the Textile Study Group.
NEW COURSES 2023
FACE to FACE TEACHING
Image by Bobby Britnell

Beginners Drawing Course
with Bobby Britnell
Working 'expressively' with charcoal to create a landscape or a piece of work from your imagination:  working 'collaboratively' with pastels but with a personal twist: considering the use of wax crayons with inks to build up a still-life drawing: portrait drawing with a difference: and even more!!!! All of the projects tackled will be clearly explained during the course making it accessible for all.

From Design to Stitch
with Bobby Britnell
A lovely short beginners course introducing students to simple ways of creating designs which can be carried out in cloth and stitch. Each week will build on the previous weeks experience culminating in a small portfolio of ideas for personal development. 

Times of Course
This course unlike other full day courses will run on a Wednesday, fortnightly for 4 sessions from 10.30 to 12.30. 

Image by Bobby Britnell

From collection of Amanda Clayton


Ottoman Stitchness
with Amanda Clayton
This workshop is based around a collection of Ottoman textiles purchased in the mid-eighties from the island of Crete. Their unique combination of stitches, and relationship of ground to stitched mark will inspire your own personal journey of thread and cloth. Cross stitch, gold thread work, pulled work, outlining and ‘filling in’ all have their role to play. A rare workshop taught in colour by Amanda. Link
Physical mark making and visual texture
with Alex McIntyre
Responding to the Shropshire landscape, this courseBOOK HERE will encourage you to use physical and experimental drawing processes to find freedom, joy and playfulness in the creation of new work. You will use metal kidneys, sticks, squeegees, brushes, acrylic gesso, paint, various acrylic mediums, charcoal, pencils, sandpaper and wire wool on paper. You will be encouraged to work quickly, intuitively and responsively and consider layers, visual texture, engraved, carved, glossy, smudged and eroded marks.
Image by Alex McIntyre






Dancing Girls. A detail from a kantha purchased in London in the 1980s. Dorothy Tucker's collection.

Stitched Pictures ~ A contemporary take on kantha
with Dorothy Tucker
Dorothy will show you some traditional and contemporary examples and will lead you into stitching a kantha BOOK HERE on your own designs. Fruit and flowers, leaves and seeds, working tools and everyday objects, birds or animals or fish all provide interesting shapes and a personal story.

Wild Fibres
with Alice Fox
An introduction to gathering and processing a range of plant-based fibres that grow wild, including nettle, bramble and willow herb. We will gather relevant plants from the land near to the studio and learn the different ways to extract and process fibre that could then be used for cordage making, soft basketry and weaving. You will produce a selection of fibre and cordage samples and learn about times to gather, process and store your wild fibres.
Image by Alice Fox






Image by Amanda Clayton




Chinese Whispers
with Amanda Clayton
This workshop will be informed by Amanda’s collection of vintage collars. Edge, scale, proportion, drape, right side/wrong side, transparency and placement of embellishment are all qualities that these inspirational collars possess. We will move between cloth and paperwork, making connections and relationships whilst exploring trapunto, Italian and English quilting as well as couching, cutwork, inlay and surface stitches.
TEXT.........ile
with Matthew Harris
A project that looks at the calligraphic mark as a creative starting point. Through drawing and sampling we will explore both the narrative and abstract potential of hand written text, and develop exciting new visual ideas about form, pattern, scale, shape and structure within textiles. Matthew delivered this course some years ago now and it is one that I can recommend. It will get you thinking in new ways but also with opportunities of applying ideas to your current working practise.
Image by Bobby Britnell from this course with Mathew Harris




ON-LINE COURSE
Inspired by Mary Fedden
delivered by Bobby Britnell
Course Description
A course which examines the drawing and design inspirations, lines, marks, imagery and techniques used in the drawings and paintings of Mary Fedden. We will be examining these aspects of her work closely and then students will collect and draw from their own personalised imagery. Through a series of sketchbook exercises you will build up reference material to use in creating your own still life study.



And there will be more new on-line courses to come.
Keep checking my Website for when information becomes available.
ART CLASSES AT MOOR HALL

My students have worked very hard on a challenging project this term. We have been investigating the work of Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo and through a series of exercises students came up with original designs, using their own personal artefacts or imagery from the studio.

IF INTERESTED IN THIS COURSE PLEASE EMAIL ME

Here are some of their ideas, exercises and final works.
For those of you that do not know Rufino Tamayo, he was a Mexican artist who used both naturalistic and symbolic forms in his work. His themes were repetitive and simple but always with a story. I just love his use of colour and how he applied the colour, often working with a limited colour palette, but always revealing the heat and richness of his homeland.

On the last day this term we did a quick collaborative piece of work, which was great fun to do and I felt the students all deserved the party that followed.

Thank you to all my students for a great term.

If you are interested in my drawing classes follow this link
TEXTILE STUDY GROUP

Booking now open for a residential Summer School, tutored by Textile Study Group member Lois Blackburn.

The focus of this Summer School will be on salvaging and repurposing a wide range of materials. You may choose to work with a personal collection, finding inspiration in found objects, you could find new life in old materials or you might be drawn to work with discarded materials and the principles of fan making to explore ideas. Your enthusiastic and experienced tutor will encourage and support you in finding new stories to tell through your work.
Fan making is on the ‘Red List of Endangered Crafts’, at serious risk of no longer being practised in the UK. In this workshop Lois will share her passion for making these beautiful, functional, art objects. Together we will explore, play and be inspired by fan making techniques from history and from around the world.
We will use sustainable materials to create the fan forms: found objects, scrap papers, leftover fabrics and threads, charity shop finds, discarded artworks. We’ll decorate, stitch, fold, cut, stitch, shred, embroider, use paint, collage and appliqué, to create unique surfaces.

Students can choose to work with their own imagery and themes, or simply respond and find joy in their chosen materials. This workshop is about having fun, letting go of expectations, exploring materials, and creative play.
This is a 4 day residential course which takes place at: Hillscourt Hotel and Venue, Rose Hill, Rednal, Birmingham B45 8RS www.hillscourt.co.uk
If you are interested in finding out more about this course please visit the Textile Study Group website by clicking on this LINK
CHRISTMAS SALE OF WORK
If you are looking for something a little special and different for family and friends this Christmas have a look at some of my sale items, featured on my website.

PLEASE GO TO MY WEBSITE FOR FURTHER DETAILS

HONESTY IN ORANGE
22cm x 31cm
£50
(unglazed)

HONESTY IN BLUE
22cm x 31cm
£50
(unglazed)

HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU AND ENJOY THE SNOW IF IT COMES.

BOBBY BRITNELL
01547 510664
bobby@bobbybritnell.co.uk
www.bobbybritnell.co.uk