Oct/Nov/Dec Design Master Class
I am both thrilled and sad that my year-long on-line Design Master Class with Elizabeth Barton is over. I worked really hard in class and actually completed 9 of the 11 projects, purposefully chose not to complete one month because I was not enjoying my piece, and then just flat missed October’s piece.
I am proud of my work, how HARD I worked, and that I completed all but 2 months’ projects. I have been rewarded richly for my efforts and I’m pleased with how my skills have improved.
I had no clue when I began the class that we were expected to complete 11 quilts in a year! This was the same year that I was SAQA Co-Rep (a huge job), did 9 guild gigs, taught at a new shop, taught 8 times locally, created a new lecture and 3 new classes, taught 5 classes at Houston, had a few family trips and attended the SAQA conference on the East Coast. I plan on this year being a little more reasonable.
I’ve got some photos o share of my final lap in the Design Master Class:
October’s assignment was to create a piece that featured color to create a mood or feeling. Although I hoped to be able to make this quilt, this was the only month that I did not even begin the actual quilt. My preparations to teach in Houston consumed that entire month. This is as far as I got, sigh. But it is a great line-up of fabric and color, no?
For the Nov/Dec assignment Elizabeth gave us 3 photos to work from as our inspiration point. We could go any direction we wanted, keeping in mind what we learned throughout the year. We had 2 months to complete our piece. By far the best work of most of the other students came this month. I wish I could show you!
I came up with this sketch from the photo. I thought the building tops and vegetation were the most interesting parts of the scene. Elizabeth said yikes, there’s a whole lot of action going on with those buildings-why? Well she said more elegantly than that, but you get the gist.
She mentioned the work of Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Patrick Caulfield in her comments. I can’t tell you how many times she or other students would mention the names of artists and I had no idea who they were. There is no art history in my background-I’m playing catch-up!
Here I have greatly simplified the buildings and it’s a much better composition, more cohesive and a lot calmer. This is one of those times when I just did as suggested, without really understanding it until afterwards. This is so much better than the first sketch!
I meant for this to be a black and white piece. I stitched it up that way initially. But it looked dead. I thought why don’t I just stitch those buildings in vibrant colors? I envisioned a kind of a fun, funky piece. This is awful! The colors are not repeated elsewhere in the piece, they make no sense-what was I thinking?
Any blue markings you see in the photos are washable markings that have not been removed.
What would happen if I made the buildings in fabric? And made them wonky? I dug into my black and white stash to find the right texture and scale. What a mess!
The second go-round was much better. I hadn’t quilted the sky yet. I submitted this for critique and Elizabeth noted that it was a bit unbalanced, and suggested that I use fabric elsewhere in the piece.
Adding quilting to the sky and fabric to the walkway made a huge difference. I submitted this to Elizabeth for critique and she was quite pleased. She noted that the end of the path now was in the center of the piece, something I did not notice as I moved my cropping lines. She also suggested that the path should lead right into the buildings, a minor fix. I thought that the vegetation in the lower left hand corner was a little heavy too.
Elizabeth also suggested that I repeat the diagonal quilting elsewhere in the piece. I ignored that one-too much to rip out to make that happen. I understood her point but I was just not going to implement that suggestion on this piece.
Adding the last piece of sidewalk did relax the piece a bit and I like that tweak. Also, cropping off the heavy lower vegetation rebalanced the piece.
The back in this case is unremarkable. I’m done.
Now, how do I feel about this piece? Meh. It just isn’t speaking to me. I “like” it but it doesn’t move me. I learned a lot from this piece so it was well worth the time.
Linking to Nina Marie’s Off the Wall Friday.
I like this one. It’s unexpected and fresh. I did agree with all her suggestions and it did improve with each one. Great job on last year- all you did and did well! Your work is impeccable!
Thank you Roxane-I appreciate your insight. It’s funny cause she used those same words, “unexpected and fresh”.
I was all set to say enthusiastically how much I like this piece. Then I read your final comment. Well, I’ll still say it and hope the “meh” feeling is just that you are tired of it and that you will see it differently after time passes.
I really hate those moments when one change messes up something else, like your cropping moving a focus to center. Very hard to catch the nasty side effects.
Thanks Claire-keen observations. Maybe I will like it more as time passes. I have spent a lot of time on it.
Your comment does remind me of a particular garment I made (“Calm Waters”). I worked so hard on that, made so many mistakes, corrected so many mistakes-I literally could not stand to look at it. I was actually mad at it! I made her stay in the closet for a long time before I could look at her again and see her with new eyes!
As to the cropping, that is why every one of us needs critique. I have seen very well-known and experienced artists make similar mistakes.
Hi Jenny – For me, the first version with just the thread outline was crying out for paint or ink or dye or ??? While it isn’t everyone’s desire to throw chemicals on their quilt top, I’ve found that not limiting myself to just fabric and thread has opened up lots of new opportunities for creative expression. That said, where you went with it was wonderful. I love how you used contrast and texture to create a strong focal point. It really added a lot of interest. You do such a great job of leading us through the design process….have you thought about putting together a class on how to create an art quilt?
Oh Schatzi-I’m still stumbling through the process myself, giggle! I do like to expose my process. I think many people think it is a fairly direct process to make an art piece-and it’s never direct for me.
Yes, if I had more tools in my arsenal, I could have gone an entirely different direction with other mediums. The problem is I don’t know much about other mediums. I am really excited to be studying soon with Judy Coates Perez.
Eventually I want to be able to look at my work, decide it needs something, and just pick up inks or dye or pencils or paint or stamps, whatever, and be confident in the use of those materials.
I think allowing a piece to marinate for a bit can really help you evaluate what’s needed. Your changes certainly improved this piece. Ultimately, I hope you feel your “mistakes” helped you learn more than if the piece were perfect from the get-go. I’ll be interested to learn if your feelings about this one change after it spends a month in the closet.
Well that will be interesting Joanna. I am binding it tonite and then it will go into the Marination Room (giggle) and I’ll wait to see what I think about it after marinating.
Thanks for sharing this process, Jenny. I think I would have felt as lost at times with the references to other artists. I really enjoyed seeing how your piece grew and the critiques by Elizabeth. The wonky buildings was a great addition and adding fabric to the path. I am fascinated by how significant the sky quilting was to the composition. Wow! 11 quilts in a year! That would have overwhelmed me. You really deserve congratulations for getting so much done, given the pace of your year.
Thank you! Oh I look at your work and just assume you know all that art history stuff, giggle! This was one piece that had a lot of permutations and I learned from each one so I was excited to share the process. Critiques really do help.
Very nice piece!
Thank you Julie!
Thank you for so thoughtfully sharing your process….fascinating!
I’m willing to expose it all Mary, giggle!
Congratulations Jenny! Another year with waaaay too much on your plate but you were completely successful with your goals! It doesn’t get any better than that. And now, moving forward, you have a tool kit that is oh-so-much more deep.
Gosh Franki, now I have to make better work-the pressure is on! I am taking a deep breath and hope to have a much calmer year.
I like it. It’s a bit whimsical to me. It reminds me of the road to Oz. -:)
Jenny,
I personally think your work is amazing. I quite agree with the one above who wrote to the effect you are probably tired of the work at the moment and will
hopefully like it later. I like it now and enjoyed watching it become what it is.
Sew on,
I love the quilting in the vegetation.
Thank you Linda-it was fun to quilt too!
How delightful to follow along with you as you work out that design! Thanks for sharing all of it with us :)
You are welcome Sue! I enjoy reading about how others work too-I learn from them.
That fabric in the foreground knocks my socks off. It is absolutely beautiful and you matched the other fabrics to it perfectly. Can’t wait to see the finished product.
Isn’t that the coolest fabric? I really don’t know what to do with those fabrics but they are sitting there cogitating.