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The ladies in my Grow with the Flow class learned a lot and got such excellent results!

Here’s Eldora with her quilt. Didn’t she do a great job?

First, they learned how to create an ombre background, with a horizon line. These were pretty to start with, but then the students added skinny accent pieces and everything really came to life! This is Kim’s background, below.

This class – for the only time ever – offered two different sizes. The students who worked in the larger size spent most of the day on their backgrounds. Gail was in a puddle of pink as she worked on hers.

She finished it beautifully.

Charlene also worked in the larger size. She used one of my favorite color combinations.

Complementary (opposite) colors often work well for the accents. Sue is sheepishly showing off one such example. Don’t those accents make everything pop?

Carla went for a sunset feel with hers. I think it works!

After completing their backgrounds, students were ready to add their black and white sprout. I taught them how to “fussy fuse” and they fully embraced it. This is Carol’s result.

And Kate’s. She had fun adding some printed accents. They have lots of zip!

Can you see how everyone paid attention to the light and dark areas of the sprout? They made sure the lightest parts were against the darkest background and vice versa. This was critical to make the sprout show up properly.

Here’s Julie with her quilt. Another dramatic piece!

I really enjoyed teaching these women. They were fun and easy going and not afraid to try something new. (Like raw edges.) They had great results and those who didn’t finish theirs went home knowing how to do so.

You can see earlier student work in the Grow with the Flow gallery.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. The Grow with the Flow class is available by zoom or in person. Here’s more info.

In my last post I told you how I’m giving away quilts to my nieces and nephews, and I thought you might like to see what they picked.

When David bought his first house I gave him these three “on indefinite loan.” But, they’re now officially his. They look great hanging above his bed.

Silk Study, 1-3

Amy helped me dye the fabrics for this quilt, so of course, it became hers. (This one has actually won awards.)

Cut Glass

Those first two were years ago and I’ve just recently given away these others. (They got to choose in birth order.)

Wishes on the Wind – selected by Jason Pugh

This is photo that’s been tweaked, printed and stitched with black thread. A cool technique that I need to revisit.

Curly Crotons
Selected by Dillon Harris

Slightly Unexpected
Selected by Alex Lindner

Very diverse, right? I’ll show you more of their choices in the next post.

Ellen Lindner

You may remember this piece that I made last year, Adrenaline Rush.

Adrenaline Rush

I liked it pretty well, but I never felt like it really sang. So, when my art group had a critique session, I took this quilt for comments. As it turns out, the group liked it very well, except for one thing. I took their advice and made their suggested change.

This is the result:

Adrenaline Rush

That’s right, I just rotated it 90 degrees. Incredible! I like it SO much better!

Why does it work better this way? There could be several reasons, but I suspect the most likely one is this: in Western society we read left to right and top to bottom. Therefore, we tend to scan artwork and other things with this same pattern. That is, top left to bottom right. Perhaps the skinny strips in the top left corner of the turned version are more interesting than the white print of the first version. Or maybe the very slight diagonal line, where the red and white meet, is more pleasing in the new orientation, since it sort of mimics the diagonal scanning pattern. Whatever it is, I like it!

Time to move the sleeve.

Ellen Lindner

This post is a continuation of things we did in a color class I taught. This one didn’t publish promptly, so you might want to read the other (June 11th) post first.

After learning about warm and cool colors, we learned about opposite colors and similar colors. These are easy to identify by looking at a color wheel. Opposite colors have opposite locations and similar ones have similar ones.

Still working with community papers each table of students made pages as examples of these additional concepts. We saw some of these as favorites during our mid-afternoon “field trip.”

These colors are similar: yellow-green, green, blue-green, and blue. There are MANY other examples! This combination is considered an easy one to work with.

Students also learned about the idea of expanding a concept.  Below is an example of an expanded complementary/opposite combination: yellow-green with it’s opposite color, red-violet. But, the adjacent colors have also been added: red, and violet. It has the drama of an opposite color scheme but with even more interest.

And here’s another: blue-green with its opposite color, red-orange. But, with the addition of red and orange. Love these!

We also played around with idea of a “near” combo. So, this is a NEAR expanded complementary. The complement of yellow-orange is blue-violet, which we see. Two more colors have been added, but they’re all toward the green side of the color wheel: blue, and blue-green. It has the drama of a dead hit, but with some nice variation.

The weather was PERFECT that day, so some of us drug tables outside for lunch. It was delightful!

It was an exhilarating and fun day for all of us.

Ellen Lindner
P.S. The correct art speak, which I don’t necessarily use in my class: opposite = complement, similar = analagous.

The Dunedin Fine Art Center, in Dunedin, FL, is currently showing FOUR fiber art exhibits. One features work by Hannah O’Hare Bennett. She showed some flat wall pieces, but I was especially intrigued by her little 3D manipulations. Here you can see lots of small canvasses arranged in a grid. They have quite a presence like this, but I appreciate the individual ones even more.

Like these.

And these.

She also had some wonderful little 3D objects arranged on a low table. Each of these was interesting in its own right, but the combination and arrangement of them added even more interest.

Detail shot of above.

This wall-hung piece had two components.

I didn’t understand the stack of fabric at right, but I thought it was very cool. (And an excellent example of the role lighting plays in an exhibit.)

All four fiber exhibits will be on display through August 12, 2023. If you’re in the area (near Tampa) I recommend a visit.

Ellen Lindner

My quilt, Daydream, recently won a Second Place award at an exhibit in Vero Beach, FL.

The exhibit was to celebrate the gallery’s 15th anniversary, so the pieces were supposed to be joyful and upbeat. I thought this piece fit the bill and, apparently, the judge did as well. This was a mixed media exhibit, so it was extra exciting to have fiber art recognized among the paintings, photography, and sculptures.

Daydream

This exhibit, Crystal Jubilee, is at Gallery 14 and it will be up until September 1st. There will be THREE MORE receptions! The next one will be July 7th, and I plan to attend. If you’re in the area, please stop by and introduce yourself.

Ellen Lindner