Create with Cathy Burnett

Exercise 1 - Embellishing book pages

This first activity is inspired by artist Tom Phillips. On finding an old book in a junk shop, he was was challenged by a friend to make an artwork on every page ... and he did. The link below allows you to see how he transformed the pages. The book title was A Human Document, from which he created the title A Humument for his new creation.

Making art on old book pages can be totally absorbing and very creative. It only requires you to relax and let your imagination take hold as you enjoy transforming the pages. You will need the following:

1. An old book.

2. A black biro, fine liner or gel-pen (and some or all of the following).

3. Something to add colour such as felt pens or coloured crayons.

4. Paint if you wish, but you will need a fairly small brush and should avoid getting the pages too wet as the paper may deteriorate quickly.

5. An old magazine for cutting up, scissors and a glue stick.

The video by artist and Yardley Arts tutor, Cathy Burnett hopefully demonstrates how easy it is to begin this activity and that anyone regardless of experience can become really inspired by the process of page transformation. Go on, have a go!

Exercise 2 - Collect and draw

This session explains how from very basic objects you can explore materials, practise drawing and enjoy making some personal work. You will need 3-5 objects collected on a walk outdoors. You will also need some of the following:

• A4 cartridge paper or a sketchbook (size is unimportant)

• Glue stick

• Small amount of non-white paper for collage

• Biro, fineliner, pencil

• Black drawing ink and a stick

• Watercolours and a brush

• Oil pastels or wax crayons

The list is just a guide though, you may find it helpful to watch the videos first and then select materials of your choice.

Although this session isn't linked to any particular artist, Cathy feels that Lucienne Day’s mid-century textile designs from natural objects make an interesting point of reference, especially if the outcomes on the video seem very loose to some.

Here you can see one of Cathy's images from her sketchbook page which illustrates a more graphic response, drawing with clean pen outlines on more geometric collage, informed by Day, as well as her finished piece.

To view more of Cathy’s art, follow her on Instagram.