Creative Activities for the month of May 2015

It’s almost summertime! Here are some lovely events and activities that have caught my eye for the coming month and I wanted to share it with you.

1. OFFSKETCH 2 – 16th May

I had the best day at Offsketch in March – a day spent drawing around Dublin city. It was organised by Illustrators Ireland as part of the Offset conference and it was so great it’s going to be a regular event. Sign up for OFFSKETCH 2 HERE. And take a look at my sketches from Offsketch 1 one here.

2. National Drawing Day – 16th May

I have a workshop on national drawing day (same day as Offsketch) so can’t go but you can see what event is happening in your area here. There are lots of free events in galleries, libraries and cultural centres across the country and it’s a brilliant opportunity to do a little drawing and meet nice people.

3. Irish Design 2015 workshops – May 9, May 23, and June 6th

I went to a typography workshop with Noelle Cooper from UnThink a couple of weeks ago in the Coach House at Dublin Castle and drew the letter E. You still have a chance to sign up for the next three ones. They are all completely free – 9 May – LED Lamps with Tara Whelan; 23 May – Carton Constructions with Gina Faustino; 6 June – Circuits & Switches with Fiona Byrne. Some are for kids and some are for adults. See more info here.

4. Spring Masterclass at the RHA, apply by May 11

Building a Picture, 3 Day Masterclass with Eithne Jordan RHA, book here.
This looks like an amazing workshop!! I did a life drawing course at the RHA a couple of years back and it was sooo hard and really good… Sign up for their mailling list to get advance notice of the wonderful courses they run.

5. Digital Illustration Workshop – May 9th, 16th and 23rd

Yes with yours truly in the Fumbally Exchange in Dublin. You might have heard about it already but there is still a space left if you want to get to grips with Illustrator and Photoshop for illustration. The next one won’t be until November so let me know if you are ready to make the leap into digital. More info here.

6. Ceramic Workshop with Eleanor Swan in Russborough House, May 23rd, May 30th

Eleanor Swan works from Russborough House in County Wicklow and is running morning workshops on Saturdays May 23rd and 30th. Great opportunity to learn from such a talented artist. Find out all the info on her Facebook page here.

7. Etching Workshop with Debora Ando – May & June

Another talented and lovely person to learn from! I did an etching course with Debra before and I loved it. She has a few one day and weekend long courses this month that I highly recommend. Go to her website for all the info.

6. Creativebug – ongoing

Creativebug is an website filled with crafty classes such as drawing, quilting, paper crafts. I did two lovely short courses on creativebug and will blog about them later on in the week. The first one was ” Sketchbook Explorations” with artist/illustrator Lisa Congdon. The second was “How to Design Fabric”. Take a look! They are video courses and you can work along with them and get inspired.

7. #The100DayProject – join now

Michael Beruit of Pentagram fame invented the 100 Day Project five years ago for his graphic design students at Yale. You have to do one activity for 100 days straight and record each day for presentation at the end. Artist/writer Elle Luna has set up an online version that you can sign up and take part in. It started last month but I signed up today and I’m going to draw 100 bicycles. If you want to join me, sign up here and see you on instagram!

8. Skillshare Calligraphy – ongoing

I’ve finally treated myself to a calligraphy pen and a bottle of ink and am going to attempt to master calligraphy. I usually work really fast so it’s a nice challenge for me to slow down and get all delicate and precise. My teacher is Bryn Chernoff in Skillshare (another creative video tutorial site) and I’m doing the Calligraphy I: Writing in Classic Modern Script class. You can join me and get a months free membership with this link.

So hopefully there’s something there that might be of interest to you and will help get the creative juices flowing. I love living in the age of the internet :)