The girls getting stuck in. We have started again - Experimental Textiles 4 has begun. There are 9 students in the group, Trisha, Karen, Caroline, Rosie, Anna, Jackie, Catherine, Joe and Nadia. They are a fabulous group, coming from all areas of the UK, Scotland, Manchester and North Yorkshire as well as the Birmingham area. We had a great time together over the weekend. In the first session we work on design formulae and isolate designs ready to make printing blocks in the next session. We started off by painting 'The Journey'. Building up the shapes and lines. The students are asked to paint a journey, it could be a walk on the moon, through an enchanted forest or taking the children to school. It doesn't have to be representational. The 9 journeys all lined up. Sections taken from the journeys. The next design exercise was one I use called 'Expanded'. And then the next exercise was 'flipping out'. The

  The two Valeries getting stuck in to their 'Journeys'. The life of a freelance tutor can be fun, exciting, tiring and a bit of worry as far as earning a living is concerned - but sometimes a course and a teaching venue come together to create such an amazing energy that all worries are forgotten.  The venue was Art Van Go - I love teaching there, it is always good to see Viv and Kevin and their team are always helpful - nothing is too much trouble.  The course was Creating Original Designs. We had seven in the class, enough to have fun as a group but small enough for me to be able to work with each student individually. Creating Original Designs is a course I have developed over the last twenty years while I was teaching my four year version of Experimental Textiles.  Lynda painting her Journey . . . I use three design exercises, The Journey which is my own, and an expanding and and a flipping out exercise that come from a book my tutor gave me when she ret