All the cats I have known

I am beginning a new project called “All the cats I have known”. It has been on my mind for a while and so I have begun!

This is Odie. He ruled any neighbourhood he moved to. I once saw him square up to two Rottweilers. He was a legend and I miss him still.

This is Billy. He loves cuddles, his chin tickled and water served at room temperature. He never washes; he is above such chores.He always makes me feel better if I am feeling blue.

Billy was really hard to draw and I am still not sure about this one..so I may try again!

I am hoping to make these illustrations into a screen printed book. I have quite a few more cats to draw.I will post my progress on here, it has been nice already to record these memories.

copyright Julia Ogden

Under the same sky

I am beginning a new set of paintings for an exhibition titled “Under the same sky”. It will take place at Heart Gallery in March 2016..it seems a long way off I know, but time literally flies when I am doing large pieces!

I will be painting my hometown of Hebden Bridge. Here is the thinking behind the title and collection of artworks …

I have lived in this valley for a few years. I have watched seasons change back and forth and felt lucky to live in such a beautiful town.
The paintings in this exhibition are about places close to my heart. The walks to Gibson Mill and Stoodley Pike. The times I have stood catching my breath half-way to Heptonstall and looked across the hills. How the changing skies show a new side to the valley’s character.
I grew up in Yorkshire and had adventures studying in Edinburgh, Dublin and Brighton before returning home. The landscape welcoming me back and the pale grey skies comforting me.
I think wherever you go you carry a bit of your home with you. Wherever you are you are always under the same sky. The same ever changing yet faithful sky.

I will be posting images of my paintings as I do them on here. I hope you can join me in the journey!

Painting detail.

Workshops at the Bronte Parsonage

For the past couple of weeks I have been heading to Haworth and teaching drop-in art workshops at the Bronte Parsonage Museum.

The first one I did was based on silhouettes of the Bronte sisters and their books.

Wuthering Heights was a popular choice! The image was made with collaged text that was then tea-stained and included Emily Brontes silhouette.

This was from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte, vintage birds were added to fit with the text.

Last week the workshop was on mono printing with natural materials. I picked grasses and leaves when I got to Haworth…

And these were used to make prints, along with stencils I had prepared earlier. It was so lovely to see that people approach things in different ways. I got a few ideas for myself!

There is another one this Wednesday: 11-4pm, do come and say ‘Hi’ if you can! We will be printing again but this time making animals inspired by the wildlife in the Bronte area.

The workshop is run on a drop-in basis and is free with admission to the museum.

Haworth is so pretty I took a few snaps too..

I have made a friend on my visits.

Roll on Wednesday!

Mark making workshop

Last week I taught a mark-making workshop.We started off with very quick drawings of a still life set up. Drawing for 5 minutes, 3 and 1!

We drew with sticks, drew as though we were shading around an object and with white chalk on black paper.

I then introduced words to think of whilst drawing, the first was bold…So big brush strokes and large drawings were apt. I think using words can help encourage different and braver ways of mark making,when a word is the main focus the drawing can flow automatically.

The next word was frightened.

I did gestural marks in charcoal and moved the charcoal around the page a lot.

This was done by a student using a mix of sponging with different strengths of ink and also using a brush.

This was drawn with a sponged paint brush, drawing with a stick and thin ink washes over the top. A lovely development of different marks.

I hope to hold more mark making workshops and I will have a new beginners drawing class starting in September, so lots more drawing to be done!