tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238120802024-03-13T06:15:07.916+01:00Balnacra Arts BlogThe Arts and crafts of Vicky Stonebridge.VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.comBlogger449125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-59463805496648567862012-04-21T19:25:00.002+01:002012-04-21T19:25:58.002+01:00Blogger space limit hit so moving to wordpress.
I've hit the limit for images in Blogger, everything changes - time for an upgrade so I am in the middle of switching over to wordpress, i'll have my blog, news, updates and photos in one place. Bare with me while I tidy up & organise it . Balnacra.wordpress.comSo long Blogger it has been fun.
meanwhile here is my latest blog report. http://balnacra.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-68582410823336264852012-04-18T15:28:00.002+01:002012-04-18T15:29:47.109+01:00Pottery Class for Ceangal
What is Ceangal ?
As part of this there has been a series of event classes run in Gairloch by volunteer tutors. Here are some better pictures and more information on the Ceangal blog
History > skip if you know the story>
For those of you who don't know Pottery is my what I was trained in. I went to Art college in the 80's full of Pre-Raphaelite idealism, the painting tutor clique VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-11754210621362787312012-04-18T14:10:00.000+01:002012-04-18T14:10:14.148+01:00Spring round up, catch up
I must apologise to blog followers for my absence, its been that crazy time of year!I was busy running Hi-Ex - The Highlands International Comic Expothen I was running a country day.This was for Kirkton Woodlands and Heritage group.Which I was doing a lot of voluntary work for, some of which is chronicling the building of two new crafts workshops.I've now got a part timeVickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-12196073075670620582012-03-22T17:53:00.003+01:002012-03-22T17:53:26.449+01:00Mini-Country day & Treehouse opening poster
we have a facebook group for the Kirkton Woodlands and heritage group now.https://www.facebook.com/KirktonWoodlandsAndHeritageGroupand a blog website that I am runninghttp://kirktonwoodlands.wordpress.com/its all go !
VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-36581882681632942642012-03-22T17:46:00.001+01:002012-03-22T17:46:42.840+01:00Sketchbook development and painting courses
I will be tutoring this course in Fridays in Lochcarron and also Wednesdays in Auchtertyre.
To sign up see above.
VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-14857209262165934732012-03-11T17:16:00.002+01:002012-03-11T17:16:40.461+01:00'Women Talk Money' conference part 2
Friday 9th March 2012 I attended a conference organised by women@work www.weawomenatwork.org.uk twitter = @WEAWomenatWorkfacebook = https://www.facebook.com/womenatwork2010The theme was 'Women Talk Money' -The twitter # was #womentalkmoney
yesterday in 'part 1 blog' I wrote about the event generally, now I'll pick up on a couple of the specific topics.
VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-57620472941601007872012-03-10T23:05:00.001+01:002012-03-10T23:05:34.351+01:00Women Talk Money - conference 1
Friday 9th March 2012 I attended a conference organised by women@work www.weawomenatwork.org.uk twitter = @WEAWomenatWorkfacebook = https://www.facebook.com/womenatwork2010
The theme was 'Women Talk Money' -The twitter # was #womentalkmoneyIt was in the Council Chamber in Council HQ building which was a nice wee toe into another world for many of us.It is difficult toVickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-79599174955745894422012-03-09T21:33:00.000+01:002012-03-10T21:38:57.875+01:00design by committee
In life there are many things to strike a balance with. One of mine is lone working and team working. One often meets artists and writers who get very defensive and angry about the idea of a gallery / agent/ editor telling them what to do. But without external input it can be easy to stay in a comfort zone or in some begrudging bitter denial - "oh its not fair , my work isn't acceptedVickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-75487240173376176612012-03-02T16:40:00.004+01:002012-03-02T16:40:58.294+01:00crazy workload
Very little blogging or Art art of late, those who follow the flurry of manic chaos on facebook will have a fair idea why, I haven't even had time to list blurt the madness on twitter, but the last couple of months have been flat out. I am literally sat at computer working on multiple projects for 16+ hours a day. For a while there I was regularily doing until 3am.
I had to get artwork in on VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-87155260749808619532012-02-25T15:36:00.000+01:002012-03-02T15:37:08.819+01:00What I think I do - meme ( artist & Female Firefighter )
These were my contributions to a meme that hit Facebook. I would have liked to done more but these memes grown tired very quickly. one of the funniest was ' Comic creators ' "what I wanted to be " was a picture of Stan Lee, all the other boxes were a very tramp-looking bedraggled homeless person - which is about right.
VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-25522564753060052352012-02-25T00:20:00.000+01:002012-02-25T00:22:39.392+01:00Pictish animals with under 5's !
I've not been blogging much lately as I have been working silly 15 / 16 hour days glued to photoshop to try & get the Bayou Arcana project in on time.
Spending today out and about on East coast doing a couple of workshops with my lovely daugher helping me out for work experience was a rare treat !
I'll have to blog another time about this project and what is all about but in the VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-2602122134027897922012-02-23T15:56:00.000+01:002012-03-06T16:33:32.407+01:00Into the Woods
This is a lovely alternative Fairy tale book, edited by Stacey Whittle. 'Into the Woods', is available here to buy . Here is a review by Geek Syndicate. Forbidden Planet has also covered it HERE.It has some great and spooky stories by some established and some up and coming artists and writers such as Conor Boyle, Sara Dunkerton, Ollie Masters, Matthew Gibbs, and many more VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-50533330510450744552012-02-18T00:29:00.000+01:002012-02-25T00:29:35.380+01:00Spinning, Quilting & patchwork classes.VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-37064052070729874482012-02-07T23:45:00.002+01:002012-02-07T23:45:32.400+01:00Wildlife tracking talkVickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-20017270369572909032012-02-07T23:42:00.001+01:002012-02-07T23:42:16.391+01:00Nae Funding
some great articles on BBC online about Scottish comics, Hi-Ex and some of my work is featured. Hi-Ex 2012 is fast approaching, and once again it looks like we can't get any funding and It's going to be a very stressful time pulling this together in the next few weeks, all on a voluntary basis, just the two of us while trying to deal with deadlines, jobs, debt, my VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-55170513091035319012012-02-07T23:09:00.003+01:002012-02-07T23:09:57.057+01:00freedom2VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-51342405419854825552012-02-06T01:25:00.001+01:002012-02-06T01:28:30.251+01:00Freedom
'Change does not roll
in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And
so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you
unless your back is bent.'
Martin
Luther King, Jr.
I keep coming back to the notion of freedom of late. Its quite a big topic, personal freedom, a nations freedom, freedom of speech, free markets, VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-44332350177027082752012-02-02T15:40:00.000+01:002012-02-02T15:45:23.438+01:00Three Craws
Here is last nights 'doodle'. this was being done at the same time as drawing some cowboys talking.
'This whole world's wild at heart and weird on top'.It was another 3am night. It just seems to be the only time i can relax into my own space. I often toy with ideas of a studio away from the house, or shifting the computer into a room where i can shut the door.VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-68970642512372445022012-02-01T22:02:00.000+01:002012-02-01T22:08:29.846+01:00Imbolc
Imbolc, Imbolg, Brigantia, Brides day, St Bridget... 1st of February.stepping aside from the personal journey and what the day means, and means to me this year, forgetting for a moment the way the stars twinkle through the trees in the small hours between the worlds of winter and spring...Art wise I'm very frustrated as so many paintings cluster to get out but i am under a mass of VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-24639496295023756892012-01-27T23:39:00.001+01:002012-01-27T23:39:13.410+01:00Bayou Arcana
This is a book I am currently working on. This gorgeous cover is by the very talented Jennie Gyllblad.The book is now available for pre-order HERE
It has already caused a bit of a stir in the press and on the web, as it is a ground breaking anthology project, male writers and female artists. This won't seem so unusual unless you work in comics and can't have missed the massive debate VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-43598018013536609772012-01-26T23:23:00.000+01:002012-01-27T23:23:47.640+01:00'Riding the storm'
another finished little box canvas today. 12.5 x 18cm mixed media. 'Riding the storm', available £40
VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-65201573364559997662012-01-25T21:23:00.000+01:002012-01-25T21:23:28.682+01:00What force or guile could not subdue
these are the latest finished pictures, wee totty box canvases 10 x 10cm. mixed media.( available £25 )
Not sure what they are called yet, its sort of on that dug in winter theme, waiting, biding time, being patient, withstanding storms kind of thing. Some bigger pieces on the go but way too much stress and other stuff to deal with just now. I'm also experimenting with VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-50883148803804134132012-01-23T17:12:00.000+01:002012-01-26T17:13:09.232+01:00Chinese New year Banquet
I was very lucky and honoured to be invited along to the Chinese new years celebrations by Arts Play Highland. A brilliant Arts charity that i have done workshops with before and will be working with on an exiting project this year. Life has been pretty stressful of late, which seemed a great reason to make the 130 mile round trip to Inverness to inject a bit of colour & culture VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-31642625971267556242012-01-20T21:22:00.001+01:002012-01-20T21:22:16.762+01:00Silenced
Following lots of feedback and a discussion about this mornings angry doodle, and a request from a friend to use it as a Tattoo, i've tidied it up and changed the overall shape to fit a back better. I think a tattoo artist will cry when they see this ! the great thing about spirals and squiggles however is that they can me moved to fit the body shape. I've always found tattoo designing VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23812080.post-15069445798769702052012-01-20T10:03:00.000+01:002012-01-20T10:13:17.396+01:00speaking out.
I wear many hats, some overlap, many carry responsibilities. Being an artist is all about communication, being an activist is all about uncovering the truth and the greater good. Being censored is one of the worse things you can do to an artist. We know that people who speak out will get into trouble and get punished, We know that women who speak out in particular get silenced, VickyShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08090665657596038574noreply@blogger.com1