On Sunday the collective had it's first 'on-site' session at the animal centre. The Studio building isn't ready yet as we are waiting for a heritage assessment to confirm that it isn't a historic building, but the contractors have started work on the roof. They have fixed leaks, repaired broken tiles and have replaced the old wooden skylights with new ones.

Jim, the centre manager, let the group use the class room next to the cafe. It's a really nice space and we settled in pretty easily. The first thing we did was come up with some house rules and wrote them on the whiteboard. We then talked about designing a sign for the studio building. I'd bought some wooden letters spelling out 'BLP STUDIO' and each of the artists took a letter and sketched around it on paper. We then used water soluble wax crayons to come up with patterns and designs for our letters. Some of the artists got inspiration for their designs from the blossoms and trees outside while others wanted to make their letters really stand out with bright colours. In total we had 9 artists (3 in a supporting role) and also had 2 other local artists pop in to see what we were up to and offer to help us out in the future!

 

Next Sunday we plan to copy our designs onto the letters using acrylic paint. I've got a bit of homework to do as I need to prime the wooden letters and make sure we have enough paintbrushes for everyone to use! I've also got some other things to buy - a first aid kit (there is one in the room but it belongs to the animal centre), paints and other materials. I also need to find a plank of wood from somewhere to glue the letters to. I'm sure I'll be able to find one lying around somewhere!

 

Matt