I am really looking forward to teaching some wild ink on 23rd November when I run the inaugural workshop at my new riverside studio by Hampton Court. All those over 16 are welcome, (and children over 12 yrs old may attend if accompanied by an adult). All materials, refreshments and equipment are provided. Details below, call or get in touch via the contact form to enquire or book. 5 places only.
This autumn I am the featured artist in Earth Island Journal in the regular 1000 words series. There are several of my artworks featured and some great writing about my approach and practice. I hope you enjoy it. Lots of other great projects are in the pipe line, more on them very soon. Have a great weekend.
Yggdrasil, the world tree, work in progress shot.
Summer greetings to all. Much drawing, designing, foraging for materials, making and illustrating going on here, all in preparation for exciting events due in the autumn. The nettle fibre harvest continues, ochres are being ground for paint, and many images from dreams make their way into my sketchbooks. Tonight is the last life drawing class I am teaching before the summer break, all are welcome. Wishing you all the very fruitful best. I will be back in September.
Oak gall ink and a quill decorate these boots I made last month from my own fallow deer buckskin. I drew ash leaves and branches, from life.
It’s been a busy couple of months, with Wild Twins 2 full of sunshine and wild art in West Cork. Thanks to all who came and made it such a wonderful week. Photos and a write up on the website soon…
Next week my work illustrating Andreas Kornevall’s writing about Norse myth will be featuring in The Clearing, an online magazine from publisher Little Toller, I will put the link in my news section as soon as it is live. My latest article for Dark Mountain is here. It details my time under the trunk of a great fallen oak tree last autumn, and how returning to earth periodically keeps me sane and hale.
My work will feature shortly in print and online in Earth Island Journal, and at Wild Pigment Project online, and I will post snippets here as soon as they are finished. There are many projects awaiting the right time to announce, including an artist residency in a city farm, a possible illustrated book with a great author, and some collaborations. For now, it’s back to work for me, as I am off to the woods tomorrow to make buckskin and moccasins again, in the embrace of the wild wood.
There will be monthly classes in all the techniques and disciplines which teach, and I am looking forward to launching those over the summer, and taking bookings for September. These will be small classes of up to 6 people, held at my home on The Thames. Do get in touch if you are interested in wild pigments, birch bark boxes, hand made watercolours, colour theory, drawing, painting and so much more. Updates and pictures post daily on my Instagram account, @foundandground
Best wishes from the river.
Caro.
The Wild Twins course I run in Ireland in early May with writer Paul Kingsnorth has one more bursary place, as a student had to drop out, and the non-refundable deposit means we can reduce the price for someone on lower means, it is 699 Euros rather than 950 Euros. All the details are here. If you or a friend you know would like to come, get in touch. Please feel free to pass this info on.
The venue Sherkin Island North Shore is amazing… Great food, wonderful hosts, wild Atlantic beauty.
For anyone booking in March 2019 for our May course I will be sending you three mussel shells of finest wild English watercolours. These will be made form ochres gathered in Devon and chalk found near Stonehenge. All the details are at wyrdschool.ie. Get in touch if you’d like to come along.
Paints in their shells, drying in a basket.
7-9pm at Canela Cafe, East Molesey, opposite Hampton Court station. We’ll be looking at proportion, measuring and alignment. Simple methods and a bit of practice will give you confidence. All welcome.
One of two reduced price bursaries remains (700 rather than 950 Euros), now available. Go to www.wyrdschool.ie for details or to apply. There is also a gift for anyone who books in January 2019, a hand made buckskin pouch from me. Just email me your address and payment receipt from Wyrdschool.ie, and I will send you your hand painted pouch…
‘Paul and Caroline wove us an alchemical vessel on that wild island. Between the water and the rocks, the sea otter and the swift, I found something I had forgotten. I have spent the months since dancing with my wild twin — a dance, which, I have come to realize, has no beginning and no end. I recommend this course as an orientation to those who want to embark on a long, tiring, and wonderful journey. It won’t be what you expect, and it is so worth it.’ MK – participant 2018
I am teaching Wild Twins again 4-10th May 2019, with writer Paul Kingsnorth, co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project. We will be making everything we use from scratch, from natural and wild materials, and from the wild hearts of ourselves. Writers and artists will be making their work, sometimes paired, sometimes solo, in response to rugged nature that will be our home for the course. We will not draw or write in the way we always do, but instead find new ways to express something less anthropocentric, more embedded in the living world which we barely behold, but which we can get to know by paying close attention. Both of the teachers are experienced in bringing people to their senses, rewilding their art and connecting to place authentically. We have a magical week planned, full of great work, fires, story, words, images and nature. Writers will be responding to the work of artists, and vice versa. We will turn our work on it’s head and see what we can glimpse when we put down our habitual ways of thinking and working.
Artists and writers of all stripes have joined us for our first course in May 2018, choreographers, film makers, illustrators, professional and less-experienced alike, made hand made books, oak gall ink, mixed ochre paints, smashed green earths from Dingle to make beautiful paints, produced quills and brushes made from feathers, cherry tree gum was used to bind everything, badger-dug and sea strewn chalk for our whites… We explored the significance of red, black and white in alchemy and art, writing and history, and how these colours wind through myth and story.
As well as all this, we’ll also be making charcoal, natural cordage with which to sew our books, and make precious paints with lapis and malachite, inks from nut shells, spices and wine. The studio and accommodation are just metres from the wild Atlantic edge.
Full course details here. Booking and prices. Venue Sherkin North Shore is here, on this island.
Paul Kingsnorth and I are offering two much-reduced price bursaries to artists and writers for our transformational Wild Twins course in Ireland in May 2019. If you would like to apply go to http://www.wyrdschool.ie for details. The course normally costs 950Euros, but this will be 700Euros with the bursary. We are keen that people from all kinds of backgrounds are able to come along to work together in wild nature.
Feel free to pass this on to a friend.
Happy New Year!
Some of the wild materials we will be making and using.
