Juliette Orton

I've just had the pleasure of teaching a weekend course at Missenden Abbey called 'Discover your Inner Artist' and judging from the wonderful work my students produced, I would have to say that they all definitely succeeded in finding theirs! This is the first time that I have taught at Missenden and it was an absolute delight I have to say, it was very well organised and both the food and location were a real bonus. There were 9 ladies in my group and after some brief introductions they got straight to work on the Friday evening with some printing.   On the Saturday, there was some designing and wirework development. Once everyone had been introduced to the tools and equipment they did some experimentation, refining their skills as they went. It was amazing to see how much they improved in the space of a few hours....... ........but not quite as amazing as all those ladies working in one room without talking (for some of the time anyway!), the...

I recently gave a talk to the Bedford Embroiderers' Guild and as I presented my sketchbooks and artworks many of the attendees admitted that they just didn't know where to start with new ideas.  I explained how I went about it and how sometimes inspiration can come from the most unexpected places - such as a cup of coffee! In this instance I just loved the shapes that the milk foam formed (or 'Latte Art' as those in the know call it apparently!) and as I am a lover of nature instantly saw an emerging bud with beautifully veined leaves. This led me to open my sketchbook and start drawing and developing the shapes. I loved the flowing forms and started to think of different media that I could use to explore them further. I used wire to recreate the shapes and bound threads and papers around them to add colour and texture. I also used scrunched up magazine pages (with floral images) and machine stitching to present the shapes in another way. ...