New work...in progress

I'm sitting in the centre of a large mandala drawing in towards myself. What happens when I get to the centre? I don't know.....

The Art of Drawing on the Right - Spring Term 2013

The Art of Drawing on the Right

Drawing Classes

25 Palmerston Place, West End, Edinburgh, EH12 5AP

£135 (includes materials)

Wednesdays 10.00am – 12.30pm

April 24th – June 26th 2013 (10 weeks)

Thursdays 6.30pm - 8.30pm

April 25th – July 18th 2013 (12 weeks)(no class July 11th)

Inspired by the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards, these classes are suitable for absolute beginners and those who wish to improve their drawing skills. Covering line, space, perspective and light and shadows you will develop your ability to draw confidently and accurately from observation.

Developing Drawing on the Right

Wednesdays 6.30pm - 8.30pm

April 24th – July 10th 2013 (12 weeks)

Ideal for those with some experience in drawing who wish to experiment with materials, scale and subject matter.

Drawing can be a way to help you to relax and enjoy seeing the world in a new way.

Class numbers limited to allow for individual attention.

Jen makes drawings and artist books and exhibits regularly. She has experience teaching in hospitals and in the community.

To book a place email jennifer.rose.bruce@gmail.com or call/text 07846 021675

Visual Arts Scotland Exhibition

I have a monoprint and artist book in the Visual Arts Scotland Annual Exhibition at the National Galleries on the Mound, open daily 1 - 24 March.  

Circles, layers, and the journey from the edge to the centre.  Playing with making marks and connecting  one thing to another - thoughts, feelings, sounds, all coming back to the body.

The Only Way Out is Through:  Artist Book:  A/P2

as above

detail

Wall sketchbook

New work playing with mark making on big paper on the wall....will later be cut up and assembled into something else; a book or drawing...

The Art of Drawing on the Right 2013 Classes

The Art of Drawing on the Right

with Jen Bruce BDes Hons

Wednesdays 10.00am - 12.30pm

January 23rd - March 27th 2013 (10 weeks/25 hours)

Wednesdays 6.30pm - 8.30pm

January 9th - March 27th 2013 (12 weeks/24 hours)

Thursdays 6.30pm - 8.30pm

January 10th - March 28th 2013 (12 weeks/24 hours)

25 Palmerston Place, West End, Edinburgh, EH12 5AP, 0131 625 0700

£125 for ten/twelve week block (includes materials)

A drawing course inspired by the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. 

Learn to draw following a step by step process designed to give you the skills you need to be able to draw

confidently and accurately from observation. Perfect for absolute beginners, especially those who think 

they can’t draw but would like to learn. 

For those experienced in drawing the course can help to enhance and refine the skills you already have.

Drawing can be a way to help you to relax and enjoy seeing the world in a new way. 

Class numbers limited to allow for individual attention.

Jen makes drawings and artist books and exhibits regularly. She has experience teaching in hospitals

and in the community.

To book a place email jennifer.rose.bruce@gmail.com 

or call/text  07846 021675

Meditation Workshop

Mini Oneness Experience

Saturday 1st December 2012

10 am - 4 pm

25 Palmerston Place, Edinburgh, EH12 5AP

£25.00 including tea and cake

(concessions available)

A one day introduction to some of the key teachings of Oneness, including self acceptance and improving relationships. The day will involve guided meditation and receiving the Oneness Blessing (Deeksha), a transfer of energy to help you de stress and find inner calm. It is non denominational and for everyone.

This mini course is designed to give you time and space to enjoy moments of peace and relaxation, and to help with self awareness and personal development.

Jen is a certified Oneness Trainer who has spent time in India at Oneness University.

To find out more about Oneness, visit Oneness University

To book a place contact Jen at: jenoneness@gmail.com or 07846 021675

Artist Book One Day Workshop

The workshop Susie Wilson and I facilitated on 10th November was a great example of how much you can get done in a day when you don't even stop for tea breaks! (Ok we did stop for lunch but we almost had to enforce it.) Not that we intended to work everyone so hard, but there was a collective sense of focus and determination in the room that resulted in a wonderful collection of artist books by the end of the day.

Working with the city of Edinburgh as a broad theme, the books describe the architecture, green spaces and landmarks in a variety of media including monoprint, paper cut, ink and collage.

You can view images of the work at the link below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/freya_bean/sets/72157631988900212/with/8178453070/

RSA Open 2012

I have had one of my drawings selected for the Royal Scottish Academy Open Exhibition, 24 November 2012 – 31 January 2013 (RSA Lower Galleries).  It is made up of layers of drawing and paper cut (which I consider to be drawing) in a variety of media - compressed charcoal, pencil, oil bar, pen and ink.  I really enjoyed making this, by playing music, becoming aware of how I responded to the music internally and then translating that sensation in my body into marks on the paper.  It's called Drawings in Collaboration with the Body.

By Leaves We Live, Scottish Poetry Library

The Artist Book Group exhibited work at the Scottish Poetry Library on 27th October 2012.  By Leaves We Live is an annual celebration of artist books and small presses and a lot of creativity is packed into the space available between the bookshelves.  I like seeing the contemporary artist books, many of them miniature paper sculptures, against a backdrop of traditionally bound books of poetry.

Artist Book One Day Workshop

Saturday 10th November 2012

10 am - 5 pm

25 Palmerston Place, 

Edinburgh, EH12 5AP

£45 full day, all materials provided.

(£25 for half day, 10am-1pm or 2pm-5pm)

concertina book based on Aberdour

detail

detail

Come and join artists Susie Wilson and Jennifer Bruce for a day-long workshop in a beautiful setting in Edinburgh's West End.  Learn how to make a concertina artist book with hard covers, and taking the city itself as inspiration, explore ways of creating images using drawing and printing techniques such as monoprint, stick and ink, collage and card printing to create content.  Once finished your book will be a unique gift as we get closer to Christmas, either for yourself or someone else.  This will be a relaxed and fun workshop which will allow you to play with materials and the book form, working at your own pace.

Suitable for beginners and those with experience of book making, drawing and printing.

Open to children 12yrs upwards, younger children welcome with an adult.

Tea and biscuits provided; bring your own lunch or nip out.

To book a place, email:

susie.wilson2@yahoo.co.uk

jennifer.rose.bruce@gmail.com

Numbers limited to allow for individual attention.

Book early to avoid disappointment.

The Art of Drawing on the Right 18th April - 20th June

The Art of Drawing on the Right

with Jen Bruce BDes Hons

April 18th – June 20th 2012

Wednesdays 7.00pm - 8.30pm

The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre, 25 Palmerston Place, West End, Edinburgh, EH12 5AP, 0131 625 0700

A ten week drawing course, inspired by the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. 

Learn to draw following a step by step process designed to give you the skills you need to be able to draw confidently and accurately from observation. Perfect for absolute beginners,especially those who think they can’t draw but would like to learn. For those experienced in drawing the course can help to enhance and refine the skills you already have.

Drawing can be a way to help you to relax and enjoy seeing the world in a new way. 

Class limited to 6 people to allow for individual attention.

I absolutely loved teaching this class, I'm a huge fan of Betty Edwards work and get really excited about her methods and the theory behind them.  It's great to see the development in student's work after only a few hours of tuition, and by the end of the course there is a clear improvement in drawing confidence when you compare drawings from the first week and the final week.  (The next course is starting soon:  October 3rd - December 5th 2012.  I'll post a flyer for it shortly.)  Below are some comments and drawings from students.

This has been the best art class I have ever done.  I love the way there is no pressure to show your work, but I wouldn't have minded anyway as it is all so relaxed.  I really like the way you wait for everybody and there is no nervous energy.  All the materials are great too.  

Thought the class was tremendous value with equipment and tuition.

I feel confident to start drawing again.  

It helps me to deal with the stress that I have had in my life recently.

student drawing before tuition

student drawing after tuition

student drawing before tuition

student drawing after tuition

student drawing after tuition

student drawing before tuition

student drawing before tuition

student drawing after tuition

student drawing before tuition

student drawing after tuition

Chocolate beetroot cake!

I'm experimenting with low gi but v tasty cakes, this one is made with agave nectar, wholemeal flour, goats butter icing and tons of beetroot. Hopefully it'll be as tasty as it looks....

Aberdour Festival Workshop

Thank you to everyone who participated in the artist book workshop last Sunday 22nd July.  The theme was the village of Aberdour itself, and we were using monoprint, collage and stick and ink to create the content within a concertina book structure.  There was a great deal of hard work and focus, indicated by many spells of quiet in the room....the big book that was created as a collaborative piece will hopefully be on display somewhere in Aberdour, venue to be confirmed...in the meantime here are some snaps of work in progress.

collage and monoprint in concertina book structure

letter stamps in red look great with the monoprint and collage

aberdour pier (below) and a busy road with people driving their caravans and motorhomes to the campsite above

gorgeous stick and ink drawing over monoprint

lovely monoprint textures 

some dinosaurs in the sea, look out for them the next time you're down at the beach...

Aberdour Festival Workshop

I'm running an artist book workshop this Sunday with Susie Wilson, as part of the Aberdour festival.  Check out the programme, there's loads of great stuff going on, and if you fancy making an artist book based on Aberdour pop along to the Church Hall on the Main Street.  The workshop runs from 10-5pm but we're happy for people to come and go if they want to see other things.  This link takes you to the programme:   http://www.aberdourfestival.org.uk

Susie and I will also have work on display in the exhibition space.

Aberdour beach

Coffee cake

I'm very proud of my cake creation, low gi sponge made with agave nectar, so no sugar at all, made up for by tons of sugar in the icing! (I'm sure that could be done with agave too, but I didn't have enough.)  Can't wait to eat it now...

paper page process exhibition

I was involved in an exhibition at the beginning of the year,  paper  page  process,  as part of the Artist Book Group at Patriothall Gallery at Wasps in Stockbridge.  We ran book making workshops, poetry readings and had a great sound installation as well as plenty of artist books and wall work.  The theme was the relationship between our artist books and our wall work which included drawing, painting, concrete poetry and photography.  The Sax Coburg Trio played at our opening, an AMAZING way to start the exhibition.  We got a good 4 star write up in the Scotsman, and my most recent book The Only Way Out is Through was described as an 'intricately cut and folded paper sculpture'.  

my space, plenty of mandalas!

The Only Way Out is Through

this is more of a box containing metal 'pages', is it a book?

the gallery space is fantastic and our work hung really well together

the sun shining through the window created gorgeous illuminated books

random beautiful things

There's a painting in here.

Wow!  This is really worth having a peek at, BEAUTIFUL! http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_Mysterious-paper-sculptures/blog/4991767/126249.html

I'm going to add some photos from Paint.Print.Page soon, the exhibition was a huge success, with lots of sales and Edinburgh College of Art buying several books from each artist for their collection.  One being my Two Weeks of Mandalas, my most recent book.

Paint.Print.Page: An Artist Book Group Exhibition

As part of the Artist Book Group I am showing handmade books and drawings at our exhibition at McNaughtan's Bookshop (Haddington Place, top of Leith Walk by Gayfield Square), starting on Tues 22nd November till Saturday 3rd December.  There will be a range of different book structures, from concertinas to round books to magic money books...also painting, prints and photography.  There are eight of us in the group, all from a range of disciplines, and we all make artist books alongside other work.

I'm also running a workshop on Sat 3rd December from 1130-1230pm at the bookshop, so you can learn how to make a japanese binding and a round flower book structure.  Only £5 including all materials, book via email:  jennifer.rose.bruce@gmail.com.

The recent work I've been doing follows on from my ideas about energy, spirituality and relationships.  In one book I drew a mandala every day representing my thoughts and feelings, in layers and I experimented with making those things that are pretty much invisible into marks on the page.  Whether or not they mean the same thing to me as they do to another doesn't necessarily matter.  What do you think?  And despite the difficult nature of some of the emotions I think the mandalas are quite beautiful.


I'm also making a drawing for Concert For Trees, at the Usher Hall on 26th November.  This is to tie in with the UN Year of Forests 2011, celebrating all that forests mean to us, and looking at sustainability, forest management and conservation.  There will be music, dance and poetry alongside a little art - my drawing along with prints by another artist will be on display as you go in.  The Conan Doyle Quartet, made from a sycamore tree in Arthur Conan Doyle's childhood garden, will be premiering.

My drawing will be on BFK Rives paper, which is gorgeous and made from 100% cotton rag in France, so no trees were sacrificed.  I'm considering the relationship between us and trees, our interdependence (they give out oxygen for us to breathe, and we give out carbon dioxide for them to breathe) and our emotional and spiritual connection.  I'm considering tree and human mandalas interlaced.