Ruth McDowell Workshop

Our second week has come to an end at Asilomar, and tomorrow we fly home. I so enjoyed being in Ruth McDowell's class. Although it was my third class with her, I learned many things that had previously passed me by, especially as I watched other students around me work out various problems. I only got as far as making the line drawing from my photo - a shot taken in Namibia almost 20 years ago, of three of our children. They are sitting on the bench beside a watering hole in Etosha National Park, watching the elephants come down for a drink. I will keep you posted on how it develops. Meanwhile, here are some
photos of other students and their works in progress. First is my table-mate, Jan, with her brilliant Poppies. I love the fabrics she's chosen to work with, and can't wait to see it finished. Next is Ann's Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach. Aren't those stripes marvellous on the rock face? Ann will soon be teaching Ruth's method of designing and piecing, now that Ruth is retiring, should any of you be interested in having her to teach in your area. Next are Gayle's Hydrangeas. Gayle's fabrics - at The Back Porch shop in Pacific Grove - is a treasure house of fabrics, many of which showed up in the quilts being
designed. Next is Carole's Monterey Sea Wall. Actually, I don't think that's the exact name, but it's a wall that's been painted in almost sepia tones - two men bringing in a fishing boat. Great subject matter. And lastly there's my line drawing. Just a little taste for you of the class, and of the style of work I hope to be incorporting into more of my own work in the months to come.

Week Two at Asilomar

Our second week at Asilomar is rapidly coming to an end. It has been fabulous being here, in every way. We've seen some magnificent scenery, met up with old friends and made some new friends, and had superb instruction and enough stimulation of ideas and suggestions of techniques to last for months to come. Donna from Yellowknife and Marnie from Timmins are working on their pieces in Gloria Loughman's workshop in the first photo. In the second, Joan and I are enjoying lunch with old friends, Lyn and Bob, who were Maid of Honour and Best Man at our wedding almost 35 years ago. The next two
give you a glimpse of the magnificent scenery along the Monterey coastline. Thanks to Lyn and Bob, we were able to explore this, as well as the charming town of Carmel, on the days off we had between workshops. And lastly, there's Ruth McDowell, whose workshop on Designing from Nature I was fortunate enough to get into. Especially wonderful, as she is retiring this year, having earned her livelihood from art quilting since the early 80's. What an example, and what courage and determination (and as she would probably add, what a terrific amount of hard work)it has taken. Tomorrow after class, we will be able to tour
around all the classes on offer this session at Asilomar, with the opportunity to see what others have been working on. I am profoundly thankful that I've been able to come here for this time, and would recommend the experience to anyone wanting to study with some of the best quilt teachers in the world.

Landscapes with Sue Benner

What a great week this has been. It felt like a week at art school, as Sue packed our classes full of information both within the scope of our landscape class, and beyond it. Not only did we discuss the elements of good composition, the importance of value and colour, the techniques possible for abstracting a landscape, and much more. We also were introduced to numbers of other artists - some familiar and some new to us - working as painters and/or as textile artists representing landscapes. We visited work that was more realistic and other work that was more abstract. I could go on, but will leave it there, and would highly recommend her class to anyone wanting to create landscapes in fabrics. Our own work started with making three small studies from the photographs we'd brought with us, working in our own area of interest. I brought photos from our days in Lesotho, and made one small study with basic shapes, one with more curvilinear lines to it, and a third was a detail study. Then we began to work on a larger piece, based on one of our studies. I chose to make a bigger piece that was a combination of a couple of my smaller studies, and you can see it underway here, alongside the photo on which it was primarily based. I've also posted a couple of finished pieces (without the quilting), the first by Edie and the second by Leslie. The work going on around the room was most impressive, and I will post more photos in a few days. Lastly there is a photo
of Sue, discussing the finer points of quilting ourpieces with us. I only hope I can remember half of what I've learned from her.