Magical Metal Altars at Create

Thursday I taught Magical Metal Altars to a full class with 20 students. This is a new class, kind of a larger modified version of the popular Fiesta Ornaments. What fun this was! 

I gave the students a wide range of options to create their altar; from using a template with everything predesigned by me to simple templates with various door and window shapes and imagery that could be used for reference and inspiration, to completely open ended templates allowing for total creative expression of painted imagery and embossed metal work.

I was amazed by the number of incredibly beautiful pieces that were made in this class.

Fantastic work done by everyone!

I think Create is a perfect name for this retreat, there was a lot of incredible work being done in so many class rooms. How difficult it must have been for students to decide what class to take when there were so many great options.

I want to give an extra thank you to all my wonderful students who chose to spend the day in my class.

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Painting Fabric Class at the Create Retreat

The Create retreat got off to a wonderful start on Wednesday. My first class had 8 students, it's such a pleasure to have a class that small on occasion, teaching 25 (my usual number for festival) can be challenging, because I always like to give everyone individual attention along with the class demos.

These gals were focusing on making smooth gradations, looks like they are really getting the hang of it.

I think it is interesting how many students I have who tell me they have never painted before and then they do really great work. I like to think I have helped open new doors for them in their creative process and allowed them to recognize their potential is so much more than they realize.

This student brought photos of birds that she had taken at the Field museum in Chicago to paint.

My trusty assistant Nina came along to help and spend some time painting and drawing in class.

Karen Becker who painted the birds, just sent me this photo of her finished quilted painted birds, beautiful!


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Sign up for Create before it's too late!

Interweave's Create Retreat is fast approaching and classes are filling up!

The retreat is going to be located in Lisle, Illinois, which is a suburb southwest of Chicago. You can fly into Midway (a smaller airport) or O'Hare, it's about the same distance from either.

I will be teaching two classes: Painting Fabric for Whole Cloth Quilts and Magical Metal Altars.

Painting Fabric for Whole Cloth Quilts (Wed, Aug 24, 6 hours)

Magical Metal Altars (Thur, Aug 25, 6 hours)

Click here for more detailed information about the painting class.

Both my classes have pretty small supply lists, which is always good when you are traveling by plane. I will be supplying the paint, fabric and metal (for the altars class), you bring paint brushes, rinse water containers, a paint tray and a few other things for the Altars class. The Create website shows the supply list for each class. For both classes, I'll provide patterns to work from if you want to concentrate on learning new techniques or you can bring your own designs to work from.

If you sign up for the Altars class and are local, I'd like to encourage you to bring your sewing machine, Bernina will be providing machines but they are shared for this class. I will bring one of my machines from home as well for students to use. 

There are many wonderful teachers you'll recognize from the pages of Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines and many teachers from last summer are making a return this year, check out this great class line up.

Last year was a blast, click here, if you want to check out what it was like. I hope to see you there!

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Have you always wanted to paint but don't know where to start?

Oh Deer, Look What's Become of Me!   detail

In August I am teaching one of my favorite classes Painting Imagery for Art Quilts at the Create Retreat in Lisle, Illinois, just outside Chicago.

I love to teach this class not only because I love to paint, but also because I love seeing peoples amazement when they are able to do things they never thought they could. People are hesitant to try painting, because they have this misguided notion that certain people have an "artistic gift" that they themselves do not possess, so they don't even try.

Learn to use freezer paper masks and painting backgrounds

Well I am here to tell you that is baloney, painting is a skill, consisting of various techniques that with practice you can perfect, the more you practice the more natural it will become. The reason some people are so good at painting is because they do it a lot and you need to keep in mind it's never too late to start.

Learn to paint smooth gradations

Painting on fabric is unlike painting on canvas though, with canvas the paint sits on the surface and you can push it around and manipulate it. On fabric the paint sinks in and stays, so there are different techniques you need to learn to cover large areas smoothly, avoiding blotchiness and keep the paint from bleeding.

Learn what tools and techniques to use to control the paint more effectively.

The consistency of the paint is one of the first things we talk about in class, it is such a simple thing that can make the act of painting so frustrating for people. Too thick and the paint is hard to spread on the surface evenly, too thin and it bleeds in places you don't want it to go.

Learn to paint smooth gradations, work with transparent glazes and paint fine details.

Besides learning different painting techniques for creating gradations, glazing paint to create more visual depth and painting smooth lines, you'll also learn about different types of paint, how each affects the hand of the fabric, increasing value contrast in your work to create more dynamic imagery, basting a painted surface for quilting and non traditional binding methods.

This is an information packed class geared to help you feel more confident working with paint on your next textile project.

I would love to see you at Create this August, last year was a blast.

Chicago Create Retreat registration is open now!

The Create Retreat class info is up on the website and you can register now to take 5 days of fabulous mixed media and artquilt themed classes. The retreat is going to be located in Lisle, Illinois, which is a suburb southwest of Chicago. You can fly into Midway (a smaller airport) or O'Hare, it's about the same distance from either.

I will be teaching two classes: Painting Fabric for Whole Cloth Quilts and Magical Metal Altars.

Painting Fabric for Whole Cloth Quilts (Wed, Aug 24, 6 hours)

Magical Metal Altars (Thur, Aug 25, 6 hours)

Both my classes have pretty small supply lists, which is always good when you are traveling by plane. I will be supplying the paint, fabric and metal, you bring paint brushes, rinse water containers, a paint tray and a few other things for the Altars class. The website shows the supply list for each class. For both classes, I will provide patterns to work from if you want to concentrate on learning new techniques or you can bring your own designs to work with.

There are many wonderful teachers you'll recognize from the pages of Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines and many teachers from last summer are making a return this year, check out this great class line up.

Last year was a blast, click here, if you want to check out what it was like. I hope to see you there!

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