Tea Time

Sharing a cup of tea has always been central to the Lonradh sessions. So
we would like to invite you to share a cup of tea with us.
So many stories get shared over a cup of tea:
Puttng the kettle on, tea pots - warming the pot, pouring the tea, the
familiar feel and weight of a much used tea pot.
Gettng out the cups, the feel of your favourite cup in your hands, the
warmth of the tea.
The careful handling of the good cups, a gift for a wedding, an
anniversary.
Cups or mugs? Does tea taste better in a china cup?
Tea caddies for teabags, or loose leaf tea, tea strainers,
reading the leaves.
The smell of tea, different types of tea, Barry’s Tea, Builder’s tea.
How do you make tea? Do you scald the pot first? Do you leave it brew?
Milk in first? How many tea bags?
Songs and sayings “Tea for two and two for tea……”, ‘and one for the
pot’, ‘tea you could trot a mouse on’, ‘it’s like dishwater’.
In this envelope you will find some prints from the Crawford Art
Gallery’s permanent collecton. We chose these partcular art works
because we felt they worked well with the ideas presented above.
Would you like to draw your favourite cup or tea pot?

Suggested Activities

Feel free to try any or all of the following suggestions.
Try to use the sketch book provided as much as possible.
Take your favourite item associated with tea/tea making and draw it.

1. Create a simple print using carbon paper.
   Put the shiny side of the carbon paper face down on your
   sketchbook page. Use a sharp pencil or biro to draw on the carbon
   paper. Lift the paper every so open to have a look at your drawing.
   The carbon paper will make the drawing look like a print.
2. Tea can stain, so if you brush it onto paper or soak the paper in a
   bowl of cold tea, when dry it will give an aged look.
3. List some thoughts that come to mind associated with tea.
4. Such as, the sound of the kettle boiling, the feel of the tea leaves,
   the smell of loose tea, freshly made tea.
5. Can you think of any sayings you might know about tea?
   For example, ‘So strong you could trot a mouse on it or so weak
   you’d take it outside for fear it would faint’
   ‘Life is like a cup of tea, it’s all in how you make it’
6. How about a poem or a song?
7. We‘ve found one: The Old Woman of the Roads by Padric Colum…”
   (see page 4). Do you know of any others?
8. Have a look at the artworks reproduced in this Art Envelope. Which
   artwork do you like best and why?
   
   Some interesting reading about Tea:
   https://www.irishtmes.com/news/a-taste-for-tea-1.1366186

The Old Woman of the Roads

O, to have a little house!
To own the hearth and stool and all!
The heaped up sods against the fire,
The pile of turf against the wall!
To have a clock with weights and chains
And pendulum swinging up and down!
A dresser filled with shining delph,
Speckled and white and blue and brown!
I could be busy all the day
Clearing and sweeping hearth and floor,
And fixing on their shelf again
My white and blue and speckled store!
I could be quiet there at night
Beside the fire and by myself,
Sure of a bed and loth to leave
The ticking clock and the shining delph!
Och! but I'm weary of mist and dark,
And roads where there's never a house nor bush,
And tired I am of bog and road,
And the crying wind and the lonesome hush!
And I am praying to God on high,
And I am praying Him night and day,
For a little house - a house of my own
Out of the wind's and the rain's way.

Padraic Colum
Favourite Poems We Learned in School, chosen by Thomas F. Walsh.

The Lonradh programme usually takes place in the gallery with a cuppa. It is an arts programme for older adults. Lonradh is an Irish word, which means to illuminate, (it is pronounced Lun-rah). Join Artists Gillian Cussen and Inge Van Doorslaer as they welcome the changing seasons with multi-sensory art activities.

The days are getting longer and brighter, have you noticed the stretch in the evening?

In this Spring episode, Gillian and Inge demonstrate some simple drawing techniques from home.

Gillian is nurturing some tiny seedlings at the kitchen table, and Inge shares the 'ridiculous pink' of flowering camellias.

If you would like to try some of these techniques at home, but it is difficult to get out and about, you can find a slideshow of images at the end of this page.

Gillian Cussen

Inge Van Doorslaer

Slideshow

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Enjoy some festive creativity with this video made at home in Gillian’s kitchen. 

Gillian and Inge make scented pomanders and cheerful recycled decorations. 

All that you need to make a pomander is an orange and some cloves. If you would like to hang the pomander as a decoration, a little ribbon and a few pins are required. Once the festive season is over your pomander can be dried out and will retain its evocative scent.

For the Christmas decorations, any paper will do. Gillian and Inge use old drawings and paintings, plus some paper and card from their recycling bins. You could also use up those old Christmas cards from last year that you did not get rid of yet! You will also need a circular object such as a bowl to use as a template, scissors for cutting out the circles, some prittstick/gluestick and some wool or twine to hang the decoration once it is made.

We would like to thank Jerry and Melinda very much for sending in beautiful images of their artwork in response to the Lonradh at Home videos. You can see some of Jerry and Melinda’s artwork on our slideshow. Thank you both!

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We would love to see more of the artwork that you make in response to our Lonradh at Home videos, so please take some photographs and send them in to Emma Klemencic at: emmaklemencic@crawfordartgallery.ie and we will be happy to show them in the next slideshow in early 2021.

Join us as we try out two printmaking techniques; block printing and collograph printing. 

Materials for print making at home:

You will need paint, paper and cardboard. 

For the Block/Relief technique a fruit or vegetable, such as an orange, potato or apple, as well as bottle tops, cookie cutters.                                                                                                                                                 

For the Collograph most of the materials can be found in your recycling bin!

A sheet of cardboard (old cereal box), then we suggest perhaps some corrugated cardboard, any crinkled paper (newsprint, old envelopes, greaseproof paper etc), string, bubble wrap.            

You will also need some PVA glue or a glue stick.

Inge Van Doorslaer

The slideshow will give you some more detailed images of our printmaking processes. 

Slideshow

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Gillian Cussen

We would love to see some of your prints, so if you feel inclined please send an image to Emma Klemencic at: emmaklemencic@crawfordartgallery.ie and we will be happy to show them on our next Lonradh at home session.

Today we are looking at texture in drawing, basing ourselves in the kitchen, where we have chosen the humble loaf of bread as our subject. 

These videos explore drawing and mark making techniques.

Gillian Cussen

By varying your mark making through a variety of traditional and more experimental materials and techniques you can create a rich layered textural drawing.

We suggest using traditional drawing tools, such as pencil, graphite and pastel in combination with other tools like biro, coloured pencil, and paint. Alongside the drawing why not try out some alternative techniques like sponging, basic printing and rubbing.

Inge Van Doorslaer

There are so many varied textures to be found in the kitchen, both in food and in ordinary everyday utensils. We have included a selection in our slideshow for you to enjoy.

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We would love to see some of your textural drawings, so if you feel inclined please send an image to:
Emma Klemencic at: emmaklemencic@crawfordartgallery.ie
and we will be happy to show them during our next Lonradh at home session.

Gillian Cussen

Inge Van Doorslaer

If you would like to get creative at home any of the following materials could come in useful: paper from the recycling box, old magazines and newspapers, envelopes, brown wrapping paper, old wallpaper, and flat cardboard. 

Once you have these gathered try working on the varied surfaces with any one or all of the following: crayons, pencils, markers, any type of paint, and a glue stick for collage. If it is difficult to get out and about, you might like to use an image from the slideshow below to get you started.

Lonradh at home

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Rosehips