Wine and Watercolour Evening: Birmingham

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the most wonderful event at the Artisan Alchemy and the RBSA Gallery in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter; a Wine and Watercolour evening.

The evening began at the Artisan Alchemy, where jewellery maker Michele White gave us a tour of her gallery. The Artisan Alchemy showcases Michele’s jewelry alongside a collection of wonderful British furniture. Each piece is unique and quite beautiful.

After a few drinks and a natter, we headed downstairs to take a peek at Michele’s studio where we saw some of her work in progress. It was fascinating to see how she pieces her work together. I’ve never seen jewelry like it. I love Michele’s unique sense of style and craftsmanship.

 

I wish you could see the lovely quality of her work. The piece pictured above (a work in progress) caught the light wonderfully; it’s a shame I couldn’t quite capture the magic of it. You really should pop into her gallery if you’re in area and see it in person. I’m sure you’ll fall in love with some of her jewelry.

We also got to learn more about some of the furniture that was on display. The team from Hutchinson Furniture talked us through the production process of a few of their projects, one of which was there in the gallery. Their work is beautiful, practical and all handmade. My favourite thing about this company is that they source their wood locally. It doesn’t get better than that!
Hutchinson kindly gifted us bloggers with iphone stands, and I’ve used mine every day since – thank you!

Next up we took a very short walk over to the RBSA Gallery where we met artist Ann Hackett. Ann is the most wonderful lady and a fantastic teacher. She lead the remainder of our evening, where she showed us the magic of watercolours and ink. We were shown various techniques and encouraged to have a go at making some cards. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this! I found myself completely zoning out and getting lost in the world of watercolours. The whole experience was almost therapeutic. I loved Ann’s positive attitude; she really made you feel good about the work you produced. She made time for each and every one of us bloggers. I can’t begin to thank her enough for being so inspiring and lovely!

 

Our wonderful evening ended with a prize draw, where one lucky blogger won a piece of Michele’s jewelry and then we were all treated to a second goody bag; this time from the RBSA Gallery! I was gifted with the most beautiful, fun earrings and a cute bag too!

Thank you so much to the RBSA Gallery and the Artisan Alchemy for inviting me to join in on one of the most fun evenings I’ve had in a while! My passion for creating was reignited that night and since then, I’ve dared to get the watercolours out again and have a play. 😀