In April 2013 I took a workshop with the amazing Sue Benner . The workshop was all about abstraction and we were asked to bring some examples of artwork from another artist we admired. Sue showed us images of artwork done by past artists who had used artworks they admired as inspiration for further abstraction studies. The artist I chose for my inspiration was Lynne Perrella. This was my first workshop with the Front Range Contemporary Quilters and I was hugely intimidated by my fellow students and Sue herself. In spite of that I had a wonderful time and learned more than I could have hoped to in a few short days. At the end of the workshop I had two very incomplete pieces of art, but seeing as I would be jetting off to Connecticut three weeks later I was not able to continue working on these pieces when I got home. The workshop in CT with Lynne Perrella and Michelle Ward was one of the best things I have ever done and also left me with unfinished artwork. I spent the summer working on those pieces and then along came the workshop with Katie Pasquini Masopust and more incomplete art. Well, I'm happy to say that I have now finished all the artwork I started in these various workshops. At the end of the Sue Benner workshop my first piece looked like this:
And now it looks like this:
The photo does not do it justice as you cannot really see the lovely sheen of the silks and the sparkly organzas. My best friend made the little polymer clay faces for me and I just love them! Wow, putting these photos together is an interesting instruction in photography! Hmmm.......
The second piece that I began at that workshop looked like this when I got home:
Sorry for the blurry and off color photo. Knowing it was nowhere near finished, I did not put much effort into taking a good shot. I was pretty excited by this piece as it was quite a departure from my usual stuff and I liked where it was going. After practicing on other things to explore monoprinting and quilting options, I ended up with this:
One of the most important things I learned from the three workshops was that I tend to be much too literal. I am now exploring ways to take things further and to expand on my original concepts. Invaluable! Each of the pieces I began in a workshop last year has led to other pieces of art and more ideas. I learned new techniques and made friends and I can't wait to do it again in 2014.