Sarasota “Design Your Own Nature Quilt” Workshop
On my second day in Sarasota, I taught Design Your Own Nature Quilt to a great group of women. This is my favorite class to teach because the students gain a lot of skill and confidence. However, getting there can be slightly intimidating since the students put several new concepts to work. Therefore, the class description includes this phrase: “Artistic skill is not needed, but artistic courage is required.”
In the morning the group learned about design, doing quite a few individual and group exercises. By late morning, they began to sketch and plan their own quilts. To keep things loose, the class motto was repeated frequently: “Be inspired by your photo, not owned by it.” The students bravely rose to the occasion and accomplished a lot in the remaining afternoon hours.
Cass started with a photo of a bouquet of flowers. Next, she cropped it to a better composition, used a variety of purples for the background, and altered the flowers, making them whimsical and funky. A great example of inspiration.
Click any image for a larger view.
Helen severely cropped a woodland photo of mushrooms, resulting in a very dramatic composition. She was a little uncertain about cutting shapes directly from her fabric, so she made some paper templates first. Her luscious selection of tan and cream fabrics will really pop against her dark background. And the curvy stems will be fantastic!
Marcia’s photo needed very little editing. She had fun picking fabrics that would do
the bulk of the work for her. Later she’ll add some surf with, perhaps, cheesecloth.
An excellent use of materials.
Marty made some very smart decisions with her piece. First, she moved the central rock shape off center. Much more interesting! Next, she used the BACK of her pre-printed sky fabric, for a subtle effect. Then, she picked fabrics based primarily on value, as she began to develop the nooks and crannies of the rock face.
I get a renewed adrenalin surge just looking at these photos. It’s VERY
exhilirating to be in a room with so much creative energy and courage!
Most of these women had never designed their own quilts before.
Can you get a sense of how thrilling that was for all of us?
I’ll show you more examples in my next post.
Ellen Lindner
P.S. You may also be interested in the gallery of student work from previous Design-Nature classes. Most of them had never before designed their own quilt!
