Ms Blackbird's Self Care Arts Workshop @ Hartsholme Park

I'm a qualified illustrator pioneering some social prescribing combined arts workshops for people with mental health, health professionals, and carers.

there were various test workshops during the summer of 2019, including one with the lovely Jane Newman here.

In February 2020, I ran the first session funded by Carers FIRST at Hartsholme Park in Lincoln. this blog documents the workshop:

Before the storms hit, I have been busy fixing my Etsy crate to my bike, to prepare for any upcoming markets, but also good for transporting workshop materials around the city in true Dutch style!

The workshop has been shared via the Carers FIRST mailing list, and following some PR on BBC Radio Lincolnshire, we have enough participants to be able to fund more workshops, so this is really good news!

A visit to Hartsholme Park to see the space, and it's a good size, with more than ample capacity for people taking part.

Fully equipped with a sink, tables, chairs, light, electricity, and a tea machine - Anne from Carers FIRST is bringing refreshments, although the space is a short distance from the cafe as well!

The weather has not been the best recently, with Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis both wreaking havoc, however, it was dry for the workshop.

An excerpt from Bird Therapy by Joe Harkness.

The winter Weird Garden zine contains an extract from an earlier blog post from the workshops last year, along with a poem by participant John Dwayne, photos,  reviews, writings, drawings, and found ephemera by Weird Garden contributors, curated with a bird theme.

On sale at 10, Decimal Place for £6

The location at Hartsholme Country Park gave a wider variety of birdlife to observe. There were pigeons roosting in the dovecote, seagulls, garden birds, and a walk across to the lake meant there was a variety of waterfowl.

Geese, swans, mallard ducks, coots and moorhens.

Creativity is often limited by chatter, however rubbings were taken from the location, and juxtaposed with some bird drawings.

COVID UPDATE: I have moved the workshop info to my Fine Art webpage here: 

This is because I have another project that is being promoted online during lockdown.

See following blog post for more updates.