Drawing on Memories

Saturday, 9th September, 2006

Welcome to our workshop, which was held as part of the Coxley Live community event at the National Coal Mining Museum at Caphouse Colliery, West Yorkshire.

Coxley Live by Rachel Baker

We're using, pen, brush, ink, collage and wax resist in a folding booklet format.

I took the adult group out to the colliery's woodland trail draw, take rubbings and make notes.

The Fat Hen by Lois, age 6
Meanwhile, back at the workshop, children were working on stories, using the same format and art materials.

We had three artists on hand to help out: John Welding, illustrator, Helen Thomas, painter and myself. I think Rachel has caught us perfectly!

The Rohrers' Indian Ink that we're trying for the first time at this workshop proves versatile for pen, brush and for the wax resist technique. We start with a rubbing, drawing or lettering made with an ordinary wax candle then paint over with ink or wash. It's quite a magical process, seeing the image appear from the apparently blank sheet of paper.