The Art Quilt Series Ottawa, Session 2 and New Work

Yesterday was Session 2 of my 5-day Art Quilt Series, running five Saturdays between January and March. I am having a lot of fun with this eager and relatively small group of eight women.

In our first session two weeks ago we learned about creativity, composition, design, and colour. At session 2 we started with some colour exercises involving acrylic paint.

Then students were put to work for the rest of the day creating a "Seat of the Pants" design, cutting everything for their art quilt free-hand.

 Not everyone finished, but most pieces were well on their way. Lynn did finish her Bird of Paradise.

Beth finished her abstract Canada Geese.

Wendy's Southwestern rock formations were coming to life.

Virginia was blocking in the major shapes of her landscape.

This is a really fun and gratifying class for me to teach because everyone is creating something different, and I look forward to what each student will come up with. Below is my start on a Seat of the Pants composition that I created while demonstrating to the class how I might do such a composition. I'm liking the direction it is going so I am going to finish this one before the next class.

In our third class, which takes place in February, I will be teaching the class how to create their own patterns and build the quilt from there. This will be a more planned design. I'll be sure to share photos.

I also completed a new pen and ink drawing. I photographed this beautiful stairway in Provence in 2015. I absolutely loved seeing it come to life with pen and ink.

At Last a Hosta Blossom

I actually fused the last piece of this design a week ago, but immediately headed out to teach the first session of my Art Quilt Series last Saturday, and then I started an on-line Photoshop course on Monday. I've been distracted by the US election as well. In light of that, I think we need to post something happy and pleasurable! Here it is, the hosta blossom I worked on last week, and that has been planned for some time. Right now it is not permanently attached to this background. I will audition it on others before I make my final decision.

I worked on two pen, ink and watercolour drawings since my last blog post. They are both based on photos I took in  Provence in 2015.

This yellow chair was just sitting in a grey alley.

I've worked on this quite a bit, but it is still not finished. Based on a photo taken at the Abbey Saint Hilaire in Provence.

In order to avoid the pressure and rush of last spring, we'll begin dyeing fabric this week for kits required during my spring teaching. We'll also begin copying and folding and packaging patterns. All of this is spread out nicely in my calendar and I'm hopeful it will be a bit more sane than last year. I'm excited about Session 2 of my Art Quilt Series, which takes place next Saturday, January 28. I'll be introducing the class to "seat of the pants" design.

Registration Opens for Quilt Canada 2017

I'd like to share that registration has opened for Quilt Canada 2017. I'll be teaching four workshops.

You can find out everything you need to know at this link.

Here's to a Creative New Year!

Here we are, already seven days into 2017. I would like to wish you a happy and creative new year!

I've been busy, but I'm also taking time to relax.

Remember this piece? I'm back at the job of machine quilting it. I made the piece a year ago but never finished quilting it.

I've also got my pattern all ready for the hosta blossoms. I'm going to be building on it this week. Stay tuned!

Since I last wrote, I've completed a few pen and ink drawings with watercolour. This first one is based on photo I took in France.

This one is based on a photo taken in Italy.

Originally I intended my art journal to be more about quick sketches from my life, but I'm finding myself using my photos a lot. This next drawing was more what I had in mind. I bought this polka-dotted cup, saucer and plate at HomeSense over the holidays. I can never resist black and white polka dots. It was just begging to become a pen and ink drawing, especially on a day I was snowed in.

One thing I'm loving about being home is making good food from scratch. I'm experimenting with making bread right now. I've never been fully happy with the way bread bakes in my bread maker, so now I'm using it just to mix the dough and then baking it in the oven. This French Bread was a success.



This week I'll keep on working on quilting the ferns, start building the hosta blossoms, prep for my upcoming Art Quilt class at the Ottawa Valley Quilters Guild (the series begins on Saturday) and yes, I'll probably bake some bread too.