Learning Something New
With more than just a bit of anxiety I made a Big Commitment-I signed up for Elizabeth Barton‘s year-long “Design Master Class” course. Elizabeth is a very accomplished artist/dyer and I have long admired her work. When she announced in December that she was offering an on-line design class with a very small class size, I immediately signed up.
I know there are two things I really need to work on: my Photo Shop skills and my design skills. I’m tackling one at a time. If I had unlimited time and money I WOULD be in Hawaii Feb 5-7 taking Photo Shop from the Pixeladies-sigh!
I am excited to be going on this journey of strengthening and challenging my design skills. I’ll be documenting my monthly assignments here so you will see it all-the good and the not so good.
Elizabeth has structured the class with monthly assignments and focus. January’s focus is on value. Yeah, I need to work on that one! Each month she sends out a lesson and instructions for our assignment.
We are to submit a sketch by the 10th, a mock up of a quilt by the 20th and completed quilts by the end of the month. We have our own private blog and Elizabeth posts our assignments there with her comments, so we get to learn from her as well as from the other students.
I submitted several inspiration photos to work from along with their value sketches. With Elizabeth’s suggestions I chose to work from this one. I wanted to keep it very simple-something I have to work at! By keeping it simple I hoped to focus on value, not technique or construction.
Well nothing seems to be easy for me. I decided I was not going to even try to make something that I would expect to hang on my wall-I just wanted to feel free to experiment and play. I decided that my background would not be my focus. I created a collaged surface by simply Misty fusing hunks of fabric to muslin-no batting or backing even. Those 2 hunks of lighter gray fabric screamed next to the warmer and darker fabrics.
I changed them out and this worked much better. I decided to add more plants than were in the photo. I could not find the colors from the photo in my stash so I went for the value more than the actual color.
I’m all full of hope here but I know it’s not shaping up to be my best work. I missed the deadline of the 20th so I did not receive any feedback on my mock up quilt -that’s part of the class structure. So I just plunged ahead anyway. I have the feeling if I had made the deadline and received feedback that the end product would have been much better.
Wow, really missed the mark here. The stitching adds no real value contrast. I forgot to take photos of this part but I also tried Tsukineko inks on a scrap leaf-oh that did not work! I need some time to develop those skills.
I thought I would go back to thread so I ripped out the green and tried gray thread. Maybe this is a wee bit better but I am not capturing the values from the photo. I know it doesn’t look like much but I had invested a lot of time. At this point I had to just let it be-I’ve got approaching deadlines, my home guild’s upcoming show, a SAQA meeting…you know how it is.
Even though I’m not at all happy with the piece, I tried, I learned, I played. I’m confident some month’s work will be much better than this.
This all gets back to one Really Big Point. I’ll paraphrase from Art and Fear (David Bayles, Ted Orland), a great book: “Ya gotta make a bunch of poor or mediocre work on your way to make great work.” Oh that is so loosely paraphrased, but that is the gist of it. Onward!
Jenny, first good for you for studying in depth with Elizabeth. She is a master and I have been using her books to help my private coaching students to grasp the fundamentals of design and comp. Have no fear. Any time you invest in yourself, your training, your art, it will come back to you, and anyone you teach going forward. Kudos and keep going! I hope to develop a e course like hers soon, but with my own take on it of course :).
Thank you for those encouraging words Roxane! The other student’s work is very accomplished and well finished but I just could not muster that up this month. Design is a hard thing to teach and I’d love to learn from you also-your work is so well designed.
I love that you post work you aren’t proud of on your blog. Nevermind that I actually, HONESTLY, think this piece is kind of cool. It would be so easy to post only your best work, your masterpieces where everything turned out better than you even envisioned, but it’s helpful to me (and I’m sure to many others) to see and read about the times that even accomplished quilters like you struggle when you’re trying to learn something new. It’s a reminder that this is a process, that creative growth can’t happen unless we take risks outside of our comfort zone and that some risks will pan out better than others.
Can you please be more specific about what exactly you don’t like about how this piece turned out? No, it doesn’t look just like your photo, but isn’t the photo just a starting point for inspiration? Considering how similar your fabrics are, I think you did a fantastic job putting them together in such a way that the leaves/floral elements pop forward and contrast with the background rather than blending in like a puddle of mud. Why did the value contrast need to come from the stitching on the leaves? I look at your composition and I see great contrast between the leaves/flowers and the immediately adjacent background fabrics, suggesting dimension, shadows… If you had used a darker thread in an attempt to achieve more value contrast WITHIN those shapes, I think you would have made those shapes blend into the background and actually LOST a lot of the value contrast that you did achieve in this piece.
Is it possible you are being too hard on yourself? Stuff this in a drawer, and then look at it in a couple of weeks. I like it.
Rebecca you make me smile! Thank you for the kind words. Actually when I’m learning something new I may know it doesn’t look “right” but I don’t have the words and experience to express it.
In the photo I see the darker values in the middle of the leaves and the gradual change towards the much lighter outer edge of the leaves. Since the lesson is about value, I wanted to capture that and I didn’t.
I did capture the lightness of the outer edges but the rest did not happen. Also, I can’t really say why but my composition is pleasant but not as interesting as I’d like it to be.
When you look at the work in Quilt National, you see all the elements and principles of design in play. At quilt shows you see lots of pretty quilts but many of the winners actually lack some artistic merit.
I am a great quilter, I want to be a great artist. I want the “story” of my work to have more depth and interest. I am NOT afraid to fail along the way because I understand that is part of the process. I think I may have to write a blog about this….
Thank you for your thought provoking response-it is deeply appreciated!
I have a copy of Art and Fear…a great read! I should get it out and read it again!
I agree with the other comments Jenny. I love to see the progression…how else can we learn and gain confidence and experience?
I have never heard of Elizabeth Barton, so you have already introduced me to something (someone) new, and worth exploring. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it Laura! Art and Fear is at the top of my list of useful/inspiring books on art and as you know, not a photo in sight. I probably refer back to it once a month-just to get my head on straight again.
Lucky, Lucky girl!! I am a huge Elizabeth Barton fan though I generally “lurk” in her classes. I think that after taking them about 10 times I might “get it”. Any work you do will really pay off. Remember to be gentle in your self critique. Your work is always lovely!
Thanks for the reference to Art and Fear. Maybe reading that would help me come out of the shadows a bit. Takes lots of courage to “put yourself out there” which you do all the time.
Thank you Mary Helen-your comment is encouraging.
Oh my, you must read Art and Fear. If you’re like the rest of us you have voices in your head that talk about your work. In the book you’ll be shocked and encouraged to find that that angst is useful and predictable and shouldn’t stop us from moving forward. It’s very empowering to read.
And yes, I am lucky to be in the class. It filled immediately and I happened to be online when she announced.
Hey, Jen!!!! Your post has more info in it than I can really process. I’m not familiar with Elizabeth, nor her work, so I will be following along closely. I really like this month’s piece but only you know the course’s intent for this lesson. I agree with the above comments, we are our own worst critics (me, too!!!) but that is what spurs us on to the next level (as long as we don’t get mired down in those negative thoughts)!!!! You are an awesome quilt artist and challenging yourself like this is exciting!!!!! Hugs…………………
Thank you Doreen. And fortunately I am not mired in the negative thoughts, I really am taking what I learned and I’m going forward. Thanks for the encouragement!
Good for you, Jenny! Barton’s class sounds a whole lot more intimidating than my four weeks with Pamela Allen — and I applaud your testing and trying. Like Orland says, it all pays off in the end. Sampling was the essence of the City & Guilds program too. I try to remember what Anna Hergert told us in her classes: “It’s only a sample.” Puts things in perspective. :-)
Thanks Margaret! It is intimidating but I don’t stay there, I just go forward without thinking too much about the other work….but I can’t help but notice! I like Anna’s simple statement and it is true!
Wow – sounds like you have signed up for a year of hard work, and aren’t you nice to sure it with us! I wish I had you beside me as I try to learn to use my Bernina better and quilt something decent-looking. It’s hard to post pictures of my quilting when it’s so pitiful as compared to the work that you and so may other quilters do… Maybe someday I can take a class of yours! I’m hoping to get to Houston this Fall…
Yup, I did indeed sign up for a year of hard work! I do hope you get to Houston-it’s so inspiring and fun. And don’t think too much about the work of others. I know, I know, I do it too. But it is poison to our creativity! It is not that easy to really nail free motion and it simply takes practice. Your work is beautiful, joyful and creative-keep going!!
I’m reading your post after a long day at work in my studio. As I became more and more tired today I noticed that I became more self-critical. How is it that we are our own worst critics??? I like your finished piece and I believe that it evokes the feeling of the the photo. I love the softness of your leaves and the texture of the background. Sometimes the better part of valor is to ‘stuff it into the drawer’ and let it ‘marinate’. :)
Thank you for that thoughtful response. Maybe it is weariness that makes me more critical. Maybe marinating will change my perspective. I do get critical but I also know it is poison so I don’t rest on it, I acknowledge it and move on. Thank you for your perspective on my piece-it really does make me go back and look at it differently!
You are such an inspiration! Each time you share the whole process — not just the ‘successful pieces’ — you encourage everyone who reads your blog. Learning is a step-by-step gig and we all go through it in our own time and with our own emotional baggage. Keep at it. . . you have everything to gain!