Creative Drawing Workshop

Monday 19th February

Cedar Farm Gallery

We were joined by Suzanne Riley for a one off drawing workshop. Suzanne has been a further education teacher in Art and Design for many years, and recently took the leap to focus full time on her own creative business- leading workshops in creative art and textiles. Suzanne's passion is surface design and textiles which comes through in all of her classes, with texture, mixed media and layered techniques being encouraged throughout all of her classes. Sumptuous textures, 3D refief work, stitch and colour play a strong role and we just LOVE her style! If you get the chance to take one of her classes you must!

There were many different techniques covered in the drawing class, but the day kicked off with discussing the variations of graphite pencil and simple mark making activity where participants explore pattern and marks to use within their drawing. Following this we explored drawing in pencil from the sumptuous array of organic still life material on the table which I'm sure we wont look at again in the same way! Mushrooms, pineapple, colourful shells, pine cones, and explored pencil drawing and shading.

Next was the drawing pen, creating simple and precise line drawings and playing with continuous line drawing. Once we'd created these very beautiful but flat images, suzanne then showed us a technique of spraying water over the top of the pen drawing, which seeps into the ink and causes it to blot and spread in the most beautiful way! Another display of Suzanne's for surface and texture.

After that- lunch! and time for some delicious homemade cake for everyone.

The afternoon was spent working on wax resist techniques. Adding colour through dye application or scraping back oil pastels to reveal colour and pattern below. 

This was a truly creative and experimental day covering so many techniques from simple line drawing to applying colour and building layers. Thank you Suzanne for joining us in the Gallery! We'd love to have you back!

The Drawing workshop focuses on visual awareness by learning to look and see. Through using a variety of media you will explore line and tone, and experiment with a range of mark making techniques. Exploring pencil, charcoal, fine liner, water- based paint and wax resist to draw natural and organic forms.

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CEDAR FARM DAY

Sunday 10th June

Cedar Farm Day was the first annual celebration of all the makers and shakers involved at Cedar Farm to follow the festival of activities we had for our 30th Anniversary last year. There are so many creative independent businesses at Cedar Farm and we're so proud of it, we want to shout it out. Any excuse for a party...

There was plenty of entertainment across the whole site- Storytelling, archery, sack races, live music, drop in workshops.. in the Gallery we had Mark from Melt candles stop to chat about our luxury hand poured candles and two of our creative Gallery gals set up their drop in workshop spaces to share a little of what they do, and they nailed it! 

We’re very lucky to have some talented artists and makers working for us in The Gallery. The Gallery has had Art and Craft at its core since we opened in 1987. Focusing on well designed gifts and the handmade. This attracted a lot of fabulous creative folks over the years and some of them find the time to come and work for us too! 

Olivia is an illustrator and print maker specialising in hand cut Lino and block printing. She’s led various workshops at the Gallery and does days with us when she has the time in between designing bespoke maps for print fairs. Keep an eye out for any coming up! 

Roberta is the newest recruit to The Gallery team. You’ll find Roberta working in The Gallery, but if you’re lucky, you’ll catch her on the framing and art materials.. Roberta is an artist specialising in Acrylic painting. So she really knows her stuff, isn’t afraid of colour and is a lot of fun.

Be sure to say Hello next time you see them! 

MODERN CALLIGRAPHY

Creative handwriting at Cedar Farm Gallery

The latest edition to our Gallery Workshop lineup is Modern Calligraphy. Being a big fan of the writing style for a long time, I was very excited to see such a resurgence on Instagram and Pinterest. Calligraphy has appeared everywhere, not just in writing books, but on chalk boards, wedding stationery, even on restaurant walls! 

After searching for local calligraphers, artists and illustrators able to run a class in this modern style I was coming up empty handed, and so was delighted to come across the brilliant workshops of Mellor and Rose. Trained Graphic designers, their workshops are jam packed with lettering and design ideas from Beginners Modern Calligraphy, brush pen lettering and even chalk board writing.
They're a family outfit, like us, and they're based in Lancashire. The perfect team!

We've had 2 workshops in Beginners Modern Calligraphy, with 3 more and a brush lettering class booking up fast. 

If you'd like us to keep you informed of our workshops when they are announced just fill in a a contact form below.

ORIGAMI

Paper flowers and string lights at Cedar Farm Gallery

We were very excited to host Aya of Shikisai Origami for 4 fabulous workshops so far this year. Selling out 2 classes for both Origami Diamond lights and Lily Flowers. Both these beginners classes were very challenging with complicated 3D folds and instructions to follow, but of course, the younger participants got it instantly!

Not for the faint hearted, Aya's classes follow contemporary patterns and produce some incredible results!

More classes with Aya are being scheduled. If you'd like us to let you know when they are announced you can submit a contact form here.

WATERCOLOUR WORKSHOPS

Val Templeman at Cedar Farm Gallery

May was a very busy time for us in The Gallery. Alongside the start of a glorious summer, our Spring/Summer workshop program was well under way. Here's a little detail on the classes we hosted throughout April and May.

BEGINNERS WATERCOLOUR
Monday 28th April 10am - 4pm

We welcomed back Val, who had previously hosted a watercolour demo in The Gallery back in 2017. Val led a jam packed day of activity in this engaging workshop. She introduced our complete beginners to tips and techniques of getting started in Watercolour painting. 

The class was busily scrawling notes as Val explained the difference in materials, series pigments, paper, brushes and when to use them; All the basics, that often even more advanced painters don't know!

The class produced 3 pictures throughout the day using the simple techniques and materials that had been covered, learning to work on different papers, use Trace Down paper, Salt glaze technique and much more.

We were amazed at the quality of painting our participants produced, and didn't quite believe those who insisted they were beginnners.

INTERMEDIATE WATERCOLOUR
25TH MAY 10AM - 4PM

Val joined us again, leading a full house for an Improvers Watercolour painting class. Once again, the weather was glorious, with chance to have our lunch and tea breaks outside. Painting was kept inside as advised the heat would dry the paint too quickly. 

Like before, there were 3 painting tasks to complete- Painting onto Hot Pressed paper, painting in a 'loose' style, and painting with bright colour.  The quality of work produced by participants was excellent, with students having plenty of freedom to explore painting styles with lots of useful tips and techniques offered from Val on hand.

Watch this space for a regular watercolour class at The Gallery

If you want us to let you know about our classes just fill in a contact form in the link below.

LINO PRINT WORKSHOPS

WITH OLIVIA BROTHERIDGE

THROUGHOUT 2017 

@ CEDAR FARM GALLERY

This year, The Gallery has been thrilled to host a number of workshops by Printmaker, Olivia Brotheridge. A Norfolk based artist, but originally from our small rural community, Olivia was willing to travel the long 5 hour journey to lead various workshops in lino printing and children’s block printing throughout 2017. 

Olivia majored in illustration, and has since become a full time printmaker, leading workshops and demonstrations predominantly in Lino Printing. 

We held 5 very full classes over the course of the year. We absolutely loved having Olivia in the Gallery and can’t wait to welcome her back for more classes in 2018.

If you missed out on classes this year, take a look at some of the incredible work students made using basic lino techniques, as well as the more advanced Reduction Printing.

Reduction printing is a tough one to get your head around at first and involves planning. It is a way of printing with two or more colours using the same piece of lino. By cutting a basic block shape and printing an edition of prints in the first colour, you then work into the same lino block again to cut away the detail you wish to remain, then print on top in a second colour.

We saw some beautiful Reduction prints in our classes, keep an eye out for the  bird and an artichoke…

CERAMICS

PORCELAIN SPOON WORKSHOP
JULY 30TH @ CEDAR FARM GALLERY 

This year we were lucky enough to be joined by Ceramic artist and renound crafts person, Emma Louise Wilson. 

Famous for her delicate and sculptural work in Porcelain, Emma works in fine detail to create and decorate her paper thin vessels.

As avid collectors and followers of Emma’s work, we were thrilled when she agreed to deliver a special workshop at The Gallery as part of our 30th Anniversary celebrations.

MORNING

The day started early as we had a lot to make. Participants each made 3 ceramic pieces from porcelain, a spoon, brooch and wall plaque. 

We began by using a mould to form the shape of the spoon, building the form up in layers carefully as to not leave any weak or thin areas. Once built up in the moulds, these were decorated with decals, lace and stamps to create detail on the spoon. Left to dry in the sun, we began working on our next pieces.

The brooch and wall plaque we built by hand. Simple clay pieces sized and cut out of rolled porcelain clay. We again built up detail with more clay and used lace patterning and stamping to form texture. 

AFTERNOON

By the time we’d had lunch most of our pieces were dry enough to work onto with oxides and glazes. We used two main oxides to bring out the texture and gentle patterns created by the lace and stamping- Indigo blue or deep brown. It was a test to apply the right amount of oxide as the colour only comes out in the firing. (Most of the class were overly cautious in this, which we discovered when our pieces arrived back from the kiln.)

Oxides applied, we moved onto glazes. Less is more in this type of ceramic as the perfect white of the porcelain is feature enough. We very carefully applied small amounts of glaze in the areas we want to highlight, and carefully packed up our little pieces for their short journey back up the M6 to Emma’s kiln in The Lake District.

FIRING

It wasn’t long before our pieces were fired and posted out to the happy recipients. As mentioned earlier, in attempt to not overdo the oxide application some pieces could have had a little more, but the entire day was a learning experience and we certainly took a lot from it, and accomplished so much. 

Looking forward to using these new skills and working with porcelain again soon!

PAINTING WITH WATERCOLOURS

JULY 17TH 2017

We had a full house in The Gallery in July, when local artist and teacher, Val Templeman held a demonstration on Painting with Watercolours. 

A 2 hour demonstration where Val talked us through tips and techniques of the medium. This proved to be a fantastic introduction for beginners, as Val walked us through which brushes, paper and materials to use and WHY. We looked at the difference in cold pressed and hot pressed paper, the varying quality of brushes, and the pigmentation of student quality and artist quality paints. This was an informative evening, and everyone was busily taking notes throughout.

 As the evening went on, Val introduced watercolour mediums for and discussed tips and techniques for painting in detail and creating various techniques. 

We looked at salt glazing and the mottling effect it has on your image, as well as wax resist techniques.

We compared the effects of hot and cold pressed paper, and the type of painter it would suit. 

Val talked us through some of her more detailed work, which had everyone hooked, and very impressed. Some of our more experienced painters found the tips and ideas here very useful in their practice. 

DAY CLASSES

In the New Year we plan to host a one off day class in portrait painting with Val Templeman, so please do keep an eye out in The Gallery and via our emails for details. 

Card Making with Silverwood Emporium

JULY 2017 & DECEMBER 2017
@ THE GALLERY

During the year, we’ve had some excellent events and classes in The Gallery, but the Silverwood Emporium Mixed Media Card Making are high up on my list of favourites.

Rachael Silverwood joined us again after the fun we had at her Textiles Wall hanging class, to show off her skills in card making. Participants made a set of greetings cards; each using a different skill, and each totally uinique.

We looked at decoupage, applique, stamping, collage and embroidery to create a set of individual greetings cards worthy only of gifting to your bestest besty!

During our two classes we saw some amazing creations and we wanted to show you some of our favourites.

We’d love to have more fantastic workshops with Rachael in the New Year so if you’re interested, do let us know and we’ll see what we can muster up! 

Email us.. info@cedarfarmgallery.com or call 01704 822038

A Weekend of Pottery Throwing

19TH & 20TH AUGUST 2017
@ CEDAR FARM

On a gorgeous sunny weekend in August, we were joined by Priory Terracotta who set up camp in our courtyard.

Local potters, Steve and Steve(!) set up their portable pottery wheel to help us celebrate 30 years as a craft gallery. They threw huge terracotta pots to the amazement of our visitors. We had a wealth of things going on this weekend, so plenty of folk visiting from out of town, and we were very happy to give them a show from some of our finest Lancashire makers.

Many thanks to Steve for throwing the biggest pots he could!

You can find Priory Terracotta outdoor pots available to buy from The Potting Sheds at Cedar Farm.

cedar farm gallerycedar farmgallerycraft centrecraftceramicsmakermakersmovementpotterpottery throwingpottery wheeldemonstrationclayterracottaday outlancashire

An Evening in Acrylic

JANUARY 2017

We’ve had so may events and happenings in The Gallery this year that we thought we just had to put them down pen to paper (so to say!) else we’d miss something. 

Early in the year we arranged for Wigan based artist, Anthony Barrow to give a demonstration on painting with Acrylics. 

During the evening he painted two pictures, one landscape, one portrait; displaying all the different effects you can achieve with this newer painting medium. 

As suppliers of art materials for almost 30 years, we’ve seen this water- based medium become more popular in recent years and has certainly surpassed the once leading Oil paint. Painters are favouring the quick drying and versitile aspects of Acrylic. 

THE MEDIUM EFFECT

Anthony walked us through using various mediums, which is a fantastic plus for Acrylic painting- there are so many mediums and effects available. 

You’ve got your fairly standard mediums to allow quick or slow drying, thinners, as well as a variety of more exciting textured effects, such as lava and sand texture gel, iridescent medium and glosses.

Used correctly, some mediums can help maintain the stability and vibrancy of your colours over time.

VISIT US IN THE GALLERY

To see our selection of Acrylic paint and mediums, and to find out about future demonstrations.

Textile Wall Hanging Workshop

JULY 20TH 2017
@ CEDAR FARM GALLERY

We kicked off the first of our 30th Celebration Gallery Workshops with a day long course with Rachael from Silverwood Emporium.

Many of you will know Rachael and her work from our Cedar Farm Makers and Farmers Market, where she sells her beautiful wares.

THE DAY

We set about transforming our shop into Workshop space and opened the doors on a sunny Monday, while the rest of Cedar Farm was resting after a busy week.. and welcomed 7 glorious ladies in for the day.

Rachael creates mixed media textiles and cards which are made from her vast collection of old linens, silk threads, memorabilia, collectible stamps and other ephemera. Her work is light hearted, fun and appreciates the patterns and design in everyday items we’d normally throw away.

This was the mantra of the day, as our ladies were encouraged to work with a variety of media to build a wall hanging unique to them. Waste nothing, and embellish everything!

I watched as throughout the day our hardworking ladies designed and created their piece, which became so unique and personal to each of them. So much personality!

Keep an eye out for future workshops in The Gallery, we have a range of art and craft classes, full day or Evening, All materials are provided and all have a break with delicious homemade cakes and refreshments.

WOOD TURNING

WIGAN WOODCRAFT SOCIETY
AUGUST 3RD 2017
@ CEDAR FARM GALLERY

Members David and John joined us at Cedar Farm for a day in July. 

With a portable lathe, the crew can set up just about anywhere they can plug into. It’d take David about half an hour to create a small bowl from a block of wood. Using tools not just for cutting into the wood but also for steadying the hand. The all important factor in wood turning is keeping the carving the same as the lathe spins in rotation. The video will give you a better idea.

If you’re keen to give it a go, make sure you have a broom handy!

Have a look at the video.