I have a long history with working with paint and paper and recreating historic schemes in listed buildings. My love for contact prints has come from my travels in Asia. I work with Eco Printing, Eco Dyeing, Indigo Dyeing, Stencilling.

I love initiating creativity in my course participants. I am passionate about creating art in a sustainable way, I love reusing, recycling, I work in a circular Economy and makes the best of my local resources in Art with participants coming from the whole world.

I teach in person and online live using the zoom platform. I like engaging in long term communities courses/projects. As we learn to work with each other we create better projects... outcomes...

I currently work on two global/local projects based on Ecodyeing/printing :

#Theindigoplot circa 2021 is about growing Japanese Indigo small scale and dyeing from it as well as understanding the meaning of the Indigo production/vat. I grow Japanese Indigo in Scotland with a group of "Home growers and in the grounds of The Glasgow Botanical Garden. I also run a 9 months course "The Indigo diaries" with a group of online participants where we grow together before experiencing a number of ways of dyeing with our Fresh Persicaria Tinctoria leaves and our Indigo Pigment. If you want to register your interest for the 2023 group please be in touch by email bettysbeautifullife@gmail.com

#thetruecolourofthecotinus circa 2020 is about Botanical printing the Cotinus leaves (and new for 2022 extracting pigment from the leaves) ... created as an online project to connect hundreds of participants locked down at home in the spring of 2020 we have learned to understand our mordants and create blue out of our leaves... but also create beautiful prints out of just the one plant The Cotinus. In 2022 I will add the Euphorbia Cotonalia plant to the testing to welcome participants from the Southern Hemisphere. We will extract pigments to make printing paste and water colour. The group is supported by a FB page and has an ongoing outcome with regular short online workshops.

I have in the past been involved in projects with, The House for an Art Lover, Glasgow Museums, Granton Hub, National Trust for Scotland, The Willow Tea rooms Trust, a number of primary and secondary schools in Scotland. I run collaborations with local artists.

I will run private workshops in my studio or your premises for private groups (corporate excertises or hens parties ...)

In my workshops you will learn a creative technique and complete a creative project, you will go home wih a unique object.. you made ! Today you make your own future happy memories !

#Bettysbeautifullife

The Indigo plot garden visit and silk dyeing walk