Northlight Residency: Final day

What a week! I massively underestimated the amount of time that the patchwork would take. The pieces got bigger and bigger and more time consuming and my plans to do printing and painting as well got less and less realistic! By Thursday, I had accepted that I wouldn't finish it during this residency. As a result, Friday was the best day of the week!

It started brilliantly with a painting lesson from Dorothy Simister who has been a wonderful support this week. Dorothy paints and draws for fun everyday and encouraged me to see it as a pleasure rather than a stress and remember the childlike joy it can bring. We did quick paintings from landscape photos and after she left, I carried on using my own photos from the walk. I am really encouraged with what I produced and how dynamic the paintings were. It has given me the confidence to carry on. Thanks Dorothy!

I then set to work and finished off the piece of patchwork I had started on Thursday with renewed enthusiasm. I only have the last map section to do now, but it is the section with the most patch pieces, so will probably take a couple of full days to complete. I've made decisions about how to do the quilting, so hopefully by the end of the year will have the full piece ready to exhibit.

Then I set to work tidying up and getting the room organised for the artist's talk in the evening.

Thanks to everyone who came, it was great to talk about the work and get reactions and questions. Lots of new things to think about.

Today is the last day and I'm open all day for visitors while I do a bit more painting and maybe even printing! Thanks to everyone who has come to see the work, to Northlight Studios for supporting the residency and to all the studio members who have dropped in for chats and cups of tea. If you have any comments or questions, or ideas for venues that might be interested in showing the work, please get in touch - msannieharrison[at]gmail.com