A few weeks ago I went to the 'Northern Sole Festival' at Bowes Museum, in collaboration with the Shoes, Pleasure and Pain exhibition. It was a beautiful day and what a gorgeous location for a day out with fellow blogger and friend Kayleigh.
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| Kayleigh - check out her blog here |
Before taking part in any of the presentations available as part of the festival, I was able to check out the 'Shoes pleasure & PAIN' exhibition. Any excuse to look at beautiful shoes plus a history of trainers display by adidas.
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| My favourite shoes of the day! Jimmy Choo! |
Firstly I was attracted to a rail of beautiful leathers and met a friendly and helpful lady called Lesley from Scott Leathers, a Barnard Castle based business that specialises in creating made to measure motorcycle suits.
Lesley was cutting leather free hand after measuring the pattern and it was a work of art. There was a motorcycle suit on display that had been worn at a high speed accident and there were signs of damage but not alot and it had saved the individuals life and skin from considerable life changing injuries.
Displayed on the stand next to Lesley were items from Hide Bound Ltd such as tankards 'drinking vessels' and bowls which had incredible detail in unusual shapes and the representative of the business, Sarah was providing a demo.
Sarah had traced a design onto some leather and was then using techniques to hammer the pattern permanently into the material. By varying the weight put onto the tools provided light and shade to the very creative design which had alot of history, which was really interesting to hear from Sarah while she was working.
Kayleigh and I were delighted to find out that Hide Bound have made props for famous tv favourite Game of Thrones and huge block buster film Pirates of the Caribbean.
Next up is my favourite and highlight of the day. Fashion illustration drawing with Frances Moffatt! Kayleigh had met Frances previously and had been telling me how inspiring her work is, so it was great to meet her in person and work with Frances.
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| Fashion illustration by Frances |
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| Fashion illustration by Frances |
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| Another inspiring artist drawing with Frances guidance at the exhibition |
Once Frances had shown us her display, we were asked to select an image from a fashion magazine to base our design on for the day. I selected a female with military jacket in shorts. In hindsight a simple dress or skirt might have been a better one to start with but I had made up my mind and I was ready.
With a large piece of paper and a pencil I made a start.
With guidance from Frances, I was able to try and get my proportions right.. sort of.
Once I was 'finished' with the pencil base of my drawing, I made a start making it more permanent with black ink.
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| My finished inked design |
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| Kayleigh inking in her illustration |
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| Kayleigh and I with Frances |
After working hard on our illustrations, we finished our day in the museum cafe with a pot of coffee and sharing a slice of cake, plus a glass of rose lemonade!
