Art Club with Linda and Laura Kemshall | Substack

How I Prepare a Wooden Board for Painting

Applying gesso to a wooden painting board

2 hrs ago • Linda

Newsletter 15th January 2026

Painting birds, working in sketchbooks and the invitation to a day out with Laura...

Jan 15 • Laura Kemshall

January Sketchbook - using photos

Why and how you should use photos in your sketchbooks...

Jan 13 • Laura Kemshall

Surrounding Myself With Nice Things

Taking time over things that matter and give joy in a turbulent world. Quilting, embroidering, foiling and painting fabrics.

Jan 10 • Linda

Newsletter 8th January 2026

Progress on the sketchbook-a-month sketchbook, where to follow for more updates, advance news of an exhibition, Linda's painting birds.

Jan 8 • Laura Kemshall

Most Popular

Newsletter 10th October

Oct 10, 2024 • Laura Kemshall

Newsletter 3rd October 2024

Oct 3, 2024 • Linda

Newsletter August 1st 2024

Aug 1, 2024 • Linda

Dye Like an Artist - Introduction

Feb 25, 2024 • Laura Kemshall

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Newsletter 15th January 2026

Painting birds, working in sketchbooks and the invitation to a day out with Laura...

Jan 15 • Laura Kemshall

Newsletter 8th January 2026

Progress on the sketchbook-a-month sketchbook, where to follow for more updates, advance news of an exhibition, Linda's painting birds.

Jan 8 • Laura Kemshall

Newsletter 1st January 2026

Happy New Year, a Quick Look back at work from 2025, reference video for our Art Club Season one students, a Book a Month begins, plus a flip-through…

Jan 1 • Laura Kemshall

Newsletter 18th December 2025

Merry Christmas, a look back at 2025, preparing for my 2026 challenge,

Dec 18, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Newsletter 11th December 2025

Gilding things, quilt updates, links to online classes in hand and machine piecing, more knitting

Dec 11, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Newsletter 4th December

Updates on quilts and a new painting, our festive Substack schedule, links to free classes

Dec 4, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Newsletter 27th November 2025

Visiting the Soden Collection, our free original Christmas card image for you, quick festive makes, online courses Black Friday sale 20% off code

Nov 27, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Newsletter 20th November 2025

Linda's new rook painting with gold ink, learn with us on an app, painting demo from Mark Warner at Shropshire Art Society

Nov 20, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Recent posts

The Moon as Quilt Inspiration

A recurring theme in my work over many years, see some the quilts I've made that use moons as a motif.

Jan 5 • Linda

January Book a Month - the cover and first pages

Take a look at the first few pages of my January sketchbook.

Jan 3 • Laura Kemshall

Newsletter 1st January 2026

Happy New Year, a Quick Look back at work from 2025, reference video for our Art Club Season one students, a Book a Month begins, plus a flip-through…

Jan 1 • Laura Kemshall

January Book a Month - making a start

Take a look at how I've made a start in the first book of my 2026 Book a Month challenge.

Dec 31, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

A book a month - the strategy

Thinking about how to make filling a sketchbook each month a breeze...

Dec 30, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

I'm Calling This Quilt Winging It

The crow quilt has a new name, winging it because that's what I'm doing!

Dec 27, 2025 • Linda

Quilter Or Painter?

The question I am asked all the time.

Dec 22, 2025 • Linda

Pocket Book update

Colourful drawing with pencil crayons

Dec 20, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Linda's Painting

How I Prepare a Wooden Board for Painting

Applying gesso to a wooden painting board

2 hrs ago • Linda

Painting an Apple in Oils

This is new to me - a steep learning curve but fun!

Nov 10, 2025 • Linda

Painting signs of Autumn

It's a mast year for oak trees here in the UK and the autumn colour is fantastic. I'm aiming to capture some leaves using watercolour in my sketchbook.

Oct 22, 2025 • Linda

Painting with Acrylics on Ampersand gessobord Part 2

Metallic gold background, bird painting, acrylics

Oct 8, 2025 • Linda

Ampersand gessobord Panel Part 1

Gessobord, gold metallic acrylic paint, flat brushes

Oct 5, 2025 • Linda

Painting Chillies

Painting in my sketchbook with watercolour and adding highlights with gouache

Sep 29, 2025 • Linda

Fuschias in Watercolour

Sketchbook pages, garden flowers, watercolour painting

Sep 22, 2025 • Linda

5:58

Watercolour Sketchbook Summer 2025 - Flip Through

Take a look through all the watercolour plant paintings Linda's made in her sketchbook Summer 2025.

Sep 10, 2025 • Linda

Laura's Painting

What would Cezanne do?

Thinking about how much detail to add (or not) to a painting of pears and taking lessons from a master.

Nov 19, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

One way to analyse your own work for mistakes

You're painting but something feels off - here's one method you can use to help spot the things you could fix.

Oct 15, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

The finish of one and the start of another

Or how to keep going with your work and not waste paint

Oct 11, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

4:10

How to print out your digital painting for your sketchbook

Don't leave your digital work on the iPad, print it out!

Jul 28, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

26:38

Procreate - How to paint a rose

Let me show you how I approach painting a rose digitally using the Procreate painting app on the iPad.

Jul 22, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

7:30

Procreate - How to use a reference image for tracing

How to add a layer with a reference image to make a quick digital tracing which you can print out for your sketchbook if you wish

Jul 19, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Holidays? What to pack in your travelling art kit

If you'll soon be heading on holiday what should you take with you?

Jul 16, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

6:58

Procreate - How to add a reference image

One way to add your own reference image to Procreate to help with your digital drawing and painting

Jul 12, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Creative Thinking

Simple garment knitting with scraps

Or how to make it up as you go along!

Dec 15, 2025 • Linda

Colour Mixing Knitting

Pointillist colour, scraps of yarn, making do with what you already have

Nov 22, 2025 • Linda

Organise Your Art

It's a case of do as I say not do as I do (or did).

Aug 27, 2025 • Linda

Expensive sketchbooks - are they worth the money?

Do you think twice before you 'treat' yourself to a fancy sketchbook? Let's consider the pros and cons and which books seem to be worth the investment.

Aug 25, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Too Many Books? Art books, cookery books, quilting books, sketchbooks.

How many is too many?

May 19, 2025 • Linda

Join our new subscriber chat

A paid-subscriber-only space where you can share what you're working on, connect with us and ask questions

Apr 5, 2025 • Laura Kemshall and Linda

Preparing work for exhibition

A behind the scenes look at getting work ready for display

Mar 28, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Make do and mend

There's nothing to lose if it was destined for the bin

Feb 12, 2025 • Linda

Linda's Quilts

Surrounding Myself With Nice Things

Taking time over things that matter and give joy in a turbulent world. Quilting, embroidering, foiling and painting fabrics.

Jan 10 • Linda

The Moon as Quilt Inspiration

A recurring theme in my work over many years, see some the quilts I've made that use moons as a motif.

Jan 5 • Linda

I'm Calling This Quilt Winging It

The crow quilt has a new name, winging it because that's what I'm doing!

Dec 27, 2025 • Linda

Quilter Or Painter?

The question I am asked all the time.

Dec 22, 2025 • Linda

Crow Quilt's Flying Now

Fabric painting, a whole flock of birds, quilt design evolving

Dec 13, 2025 • Linda

Scrappy Star Quilt Final Update

Quilting complete, binding attached, buttons added

Dec 8, 2025 • Linda

Change of Heart Over Quilting

Scrappy stars quilt update: how I'm quilting this pieced top.

Dec 1, 2025 • Linda

Crow Quilt Update

Considering options with my new quilt, adding more painted feathers...

Nov 29, 2025 • Linda

Laura's Quilts

The Marble Spot Quilt is Finished

See how I added a finishing touch to the quilt by digitising a shape to add a final embroidered motif layer.

Oct 18, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Finishing the Marble Spot Quilt - an update

Adding layers of stitch and extra spots

Sep 15, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Finishing the Marble Spot quilt - first steps

Adding a layer of digital quilting

Sep 6, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Hand Over - Finishing Linda's quilt - part 1

What happens when a quilt is lingering in the unfinished pile?

Sep 3, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Quilting or painting or both?

It's hard to choose what's the most pressing right now.

Jun 3, 2025 • Linda

Summer Studio Sale

Advance notice of my summer sale with huge discount.

May 26, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Applying mirrors as embellishment

How I'm adding mirrors to embellish a hand stitched piece

Apr 15, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

How to get (almost) free beads

Rescuing and reusing vintage jewellery for embroidery supplies

Mar 30, 2025 • Laura Kemshall

Dye Like an Artist

Forgotten treasures in my studio

It's amazing what you find when you aren't even looking - this time it's transfer printing samples and papers from my book Color Moves

Jun 15, 2025 • Linda

Choosing Dye Colours

Procion MX dyes are available in loads of colours, so how to choose what to buy?

May 14, 2024 • Laura Kemshall

Breaking the rules

We know how to dye fabric, now lets see what happens when we don't stick to the rules...Part of the Dye Like an Artist series.

Apr 14, 2024 • Laura Kemshall

A little upgrade on the basic low water immersion dyeing method.

Mar 25, 2024 • Laura Kemshall

Low Water Immersion Dyeing - The Essentials

Learn the basic low water immersion dyeing technique

Mar 9, 2024 • Laura Kemshall

Part of Laura's Dye Like an Artist book - in this article she'll share her tips on choosing fabrics for dyeing

Mar 5, 2024 • Laura Kemshall

What are Procion MX dyes?

Part of Laura's Dye Like an Artist series let's find out more about Procion MX dyes and other chemicals you might use

Mar 4, 2024 • Laura Kemshall

Safe Studio Set-up

Part of Laura's Dye Like an Artist book, this article covers the all-important safety considerations for hand dyeing.

Feb 26, 2024 • Laura Kemshall

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