Life In An Esterita Austin Class

The ridgeline & brooding sky that greeted us as we arrived for our first day of class

You know the old beginning "...it was a dark and cloudy day...", well something along those lines anyway! Such was last Friday - the day on which our Esterita Austin journey began. Esterita offered two classes, a one day class called "Painting For Illusion" & a two day class called "Creating The Illusion of Depth". Naturally, my thinking is that if one day is good then three days is better and so I embarked on a colorful quilting journey last Friday, 6th February. I was so engaged in the process that, unfortunately, I neglected to take photos of the two day class project - although I may be able to add a photo or two of the class pattern that we used for the class at a later date.

The class venue was excellent. It is right on water in a veritably new building that is owned & operated by one of our local Indian tribes. There was actually room enough to have one table per student - and as someone who invariable spreads all of her stuff all over the place, this was really a boon! Fidalgo Island Quilters is a fabulous organization. Known for offering classes by well know teachers & for always having something interesting going on. It the most active guild I have ever been pleased to belong to. The dues are such a bargain for all of the wonderful opportunities that exist within this talented group! The FIQ folks are also truly remarkable women;gracious, friendly & supportive - it's just a pleasure to be around these gals! If I lived closer I would love to be able to be more involved with them - and that says a lot for a non-joiner type like I can be!

The one day class was perfection in a nutshell - just enough to make one realize that there really was something special about this technique - do-able for those who had no experience with fabric & paint and yet complicated enough to engage the most experienced of quilter's/artist's as well. Esterita provided a photograph of a still life that she had composed - a simple matter of a cup & saucer & two small pitchers. Piles of batiks brightened the room and scissors and Exacto cutters started clacking away. The key to Esterita's technique is to use fabric to it's very best advantage & then to add paint to make it even more perfect - painting adds the 'pop' factor in this technique. You just have to see it to believe it!
When Saturday rolled around I was still feeling a bit 'pie-eyed' from day one but I was eager to begin the next journey. The photo that we used for the 2 day class was piece filled &, at first glance, a challenge. I generally paint pieces of fabric to applique onto a quilt. Esterita uses ready made fabric that she enhances in order to make the pieces work. I had to re-shuffle my thinking a bit. At the end of day one I realized that I should concentrate on finishing only a portion of the piece.Choosing the best pieces of a batik print to use was a more daunting challenge than I had thought it would be! That being said it is also really a very engaging process - more like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together. Very enjoyable - and it could even become a bit addicting.

I should mention that when I attend a class I just about never anticiapte finishing the piece that I make - or using it - for anything other than a learning tool. I like to make sure that I understand the process being presented & I never worry about whether or not I finish the piece or not. I like to take what I have learned & store it away in my memory bank (what's left of it !) and use it in way that speaks to me & my own work. I have developed that thinking because I used to get so dang frustrated when I could not "keep up" in a class & then would become stressed because of it. Now I have no stress to compete or complete - as long as I understand the techniques that are presented - I am a happy student!

Sunday brought refinement and more experimentation. Unfortunately, those of us (there were 5) who traveled to the class from our island home, had to leave much too early in order to make a suitable ferry back. The Winter ferry sailing schedule is limited to begin with & one needs to get in line at least an hour before sailing time for the 1 to 1.5 hour journey home. Esterita is one of those teachers that I love to work with because she is one of the most 'student concerned' teachers I have met; circulating through the room constantly to make certain that everyone is comfortable with the technoque & gets the attention & guidance that they need. Some teachers use time to work on a small project of their own - not Esterita! She is all about her students - really a most excellent, gifted teacher! Anyone who considers hiring her to teach will not be disapointed. I want very mcuh to take a portraiture workshop with her - that class is almost tailor made to suit me I think! Thanks to Fidalgo Island Quilters for offering this class ,and to Esterita for developing her fabulous techniques & for her enthusiasm for her students! It was a really memorable few days & I also must thank my friend Janet for enabling me to have a great off island jaunt! We also enjoyed some retail therapy time - and that was lots of fun!

This is the beach right near to the door to the class room area

Here is another view of the beach to the right of the door

This, however, is the view directly across from the beach - an oil refinery.

That's Mount Baker shining beautifully in the background. It's very difficult for me to reconcile these two very different views. My friend Janet noticed an oil slick on the waters of the small cove that we drove by on the way into the hall area - that's the difficult thing and, when I notice all of the wonderful wildlife in the area I think of how fragile & precious they really are. The dichotomy between these two very different views is, to my way of thinking, a very good argument for development of wind & other alternate energy solutions. We simply cannot afford to endanger our wildlife.

On another note, I am finding that fibromyalgia & the attendant chronic fatigue (as well as the pesky degenerative disc issues) have truly impacted the way I am able enjoy class time. I need far more rest than anyone should have to require. Without it, I am useless as an engaged student. Thanks to Janet, I was able to stay in a lovely place with all of the comforts of home. It was a blessing too that both of us enjoy retiring early -but, even with this environment it becomes difficult for me. I get so darn tired so easily. I feel as though a part of my life has been stolen from me at exactly the time in my life when I should be able to enjoy doing all of the things that I worked too much to enjoy earlier in life. At the same time that I am grateful that this is 'all' that I have, I also pray that research will find a 'cure' that will return my energy & pain free life to me. I also pray that doctors will become more understanding of those of us who truly do suffer from this dispiriting disorder. I want so much to travel more before I pass and yet now I wonder how I will mange to do that! That's my pity party for the eon - thanks for getting this far! I brought this up in part to explain why I am also more lax lately about regular blogging. The spirit is always willing by the body sometimes says "no"!

It's My Thing Tuesday: What In The Heck Have I Been Doing All This Time?!

There are times when it feel like I am not accomplishing a single thing. I have nothing much to post and nothing at all to 'brag' about! This is one of those alow times for me. Things are 'in the works' but nothing is really finished so I though that I would, at least, share with you a couple of the things that are not quite there yet!

First is this fabulous hoodie scarf. It was not as easy as I thought it would be to find a hood pattern so I was thoroughly pleased when I found this one from D-Made. It's under the free patterns. I love having some cabling running the length of the scarf - I needed some practice in cables anyway and this was the perfect amount to do. The hood part itself will have a cables edging to it when all is said and done. The cabled scarf part will be 7" when it's done. I am using Knit-Picks Worsted yarn in Fire Brick.

The next thing that I have been working on is something that I doubt too many of you will have an interest in - but it is fun for me! Thisis my first fountain pen restoration project. I am wokring on an old Shaeffer pen. I have to replace the sac (the thing that holds the ink) and also a small washer in the top of the blind cap. Unfortunately, no one makes the washers so I am trying to figure out what matieral i can use to fashion one from. This is truly, a mercury retrograde kind of thing, I can't finish the repairs until i figure out what to do about the washer. Arghhhhh..... Other than this irritation though it is really quite interesting to discover how pens are made. I had never taken one apart before. The book, fondly referred to as "Da Book", was given to me by a kind person on the Fountain Pen Network. This is one amazing site. Friendly people willing to share all of their knowledge and information - no no one knows where to get washer material - everyone has made their own!

Last, but not least, in the on-goingprojects is some painting. I am taking another on-line calss from Paulette Insall called "Enjoying The Journey". The first lesson was on creating backgrounds. This was the first background that I made (there have been several) and, since it was rather pale & relatively boring, I decided that I would start another in my 'cat series' on top of it. I am working on a few painting projects right now that will, ultimately, become whole cloth quilts. The 'cat series' is one of those "soon to be quilt" projects. I am playing with color & facial variations for the cats. This one is really just a flicker in my eye at this point - but what else can I say I am working on things - but nothing is 'presentation' worrthy yet!

Judy Perez Color Theory Lesson 3

Tints

Yesterday I got some time to play & decided that I wanted to forge ahead with Lesson 3 of Judy Perez' Color Theory Class. No matter how many times I read about it, or how many times I am told about it ,shades are what always amaze me - how adding just a bit of black can make such wonderfully rich colors ...this was probably my favorite part of this lesson. I was also very surprised at what a difference adding gray to colors makes when mixing tones. In general I have a difficult enough time remembering what a tint, tone or shade is exactly & I think actually painting them helps to reinforce the names & their meanings. As you can tell, I like to work on the paper - which is just regular copy paper. I am sure that if I followed Judy's simple directions and did the swatches on separate watercolor paper and then cut and pasted - you would see much better clarity and fewer brush strokes !! This works for me though - gives me what I need - & I can always go back & be more precise some other time if I want. This is a great class for really imprinting some of the information - and I am really enjoying actually painting the swatches rather than just looking at them in a book ! Thanks Judy!

Shades

Tones

The Feeling Of Fall's Arrival & A Peek At Judy Perez' Color Theory Class

These are some of the last of my summer blooms. I was once an avid rose gardener but alas, our soil needs some serious improvement to make them happy and, worst of all, we don't get anywhere near the amount of sun they need in order to flourish. These few short blooms perfume the room in a way that nothing else can. The yellow roses in this little vase are called 'Sunsprite' - a floribunda rose with an intoxicating deeply rich scent. Oh! How I love this little rose. It just makes me smile. The other rose is called Joseph's Coat. It a climber with big glorious blooms that turn from brilliant oranges, reds & yellows as buds to softer versions of those colors when they open. Not much scent to these beauties, but they're teriffic. The air has the scent & the feel of Fall now - the nights are already crisp - in the mid 40's - and, although the days warm up well into the high 60's there is just a different smell to air. Fall is coming - the blooms are fading. Generally I long for these first crisp Fall days, but this year our summer was counted in days, rather than weeks or months - and by summer I mean sunny days with temperatures in the 70 or 80's. It's always possible that we will have a belated 'summer' this Fall as we often get a glorious Indian Summer to perk us up and ready our psyches for real Fall and the continuous rain it generally brings beginning in late Octoberor early November.
In more 'color full' news. These were the first two lessons from Judy Perez' Color Theory class. As I have mentioned before in a previous post the class officially began on September 1st but I got a little ahead - a good thing since I never know when an extra busy spurt will start leaving me scrambling for time to do class projects. Thanks Judy - I appreciate having the option of moving along at my own pace! I have never really taken any color theory classes although I have read many books about it on my own & have developed my own sense of color along with an accumulation of many books on the subject over the years! It's been interesting to actually make my own color swatches. Judy suggests making the swatches on another sheet of paper and then cutting & pasting them onto her grids. I did that for lesson one and found it tedious to cut and paste. I just painted inside the proverbial boxes for lesson two and I was a much happier camper - plus I think it looks neater this way. The book that Judy refers to for the calss is called "Exploring Color" by Nita Leland. I know I have mentioned this book in another post, but it really is work mentioning again! I love finding new books on using color that are just straightforward, well illustrated & great. This wonderful tome may be had for a song as a used buy on Amazon. Get yours and check out Judy's class while you're at it !

Color Theory & Judy Perez

On line classes are so cool. They really offer you the opportunity to learn at your rate & in your leisure. I love finding a class that is that is both affordable for me & pertains precisely to something that I want to learn more about. Judy Perez has started offering on-line classes. Hurray! The first one is on Color Theory .This is Lesson One .. done even though the class does not officially begin until September 1st. I love being able to get a head start on class work since you never know what curve balls life is going to throw at you! Believe it or not, I have never done a "multiplication" chart of color mixing before. You can see what I did on the left in the photo above. Mixing primaries. I think it is a good thing to DO an exercise rather than just look at it in a book, somehow it cements the information in your brain better. Judy recommends the book "Exploring Color" by Nita Leland and I have to say it really is an excellent choice. Most of the time I find that color theory books make me start to snooze - but this one is readable &,more to the point, understandable & enjoyable. You can find a used copy of this book for very little on Amazon - another affordable part of this class! Judy chose SetaColor Transparents to work with & happily I had most of them on hand. It's always a pleasure to order something from Dharma Trading however and that's where I got the balance of what I needed . I think this class will give me a much better understanding about color; why I like what I like & how to use my color choices more effectively. Bravo Judy !

I love the way this book is set up

I finally realized that my personal color choices actually have a name -
The 'Bright Earth Palette'

All About Faces- Lesson 1

This was week one of the class "All About Faces" by Paulette Insall. Her video was well done, class notes that she provided were helpful and our homework was to draw apges of eyes, noses and lips. Well, I can't seem to JUST a single eye. So theses were my exercises in drawing eyes. Same issue with lips only - so I had to draw the lips ON something! Noses were easier than I thought and it was fun to see how just a slight variation made the structure wider or more narrow. Ostensible the 'full' nose will be completed with paint. I am intoxicated with paints ...I want them all - alas, at their current cost - I can have but a few ! I am having fun and can;t wait for Lesson 2 !

Class Time !

I am feeling quite "over committed" to a lot of projects right now but, that being said, I am eager to begin the "All About Faces" class with Paulette Insall today. Although mixed media is not an easy concept for me, I am hoping to become more facile with the techniques. I need to overcome an obstacle; I relate "mixed media" to the decoupage that a step mother used to do. My memories are of her cutting things out of magazines, gluing them down onto surfaces,and then varnishing the whole lot. I also remember thinking that the vignettes that were created were not very compelling either! Granted, my memories are those of a young teenager, but those memories are one of things I am trying to overcome with 'mixed media'! I am also eager to improve my drawing skills - which need lots of help! I like having the structure of a "class setting" - it helps focus me and that focus will, I hope, carry over and help me get the other projects done in time for their respective deadlines. Now, surely that seems counter intuitive in a way!

I also have signed up for Paulette's "Organic Backgrounds" class which will begin in May. I guess it is a backwards approach to her classes - but then again, I often seem to do things that way!

Here's a little teaser - one of Paulette's videos. There is still room in her classes y'all!

Knit One Purl One With Anita Muvera Mayer

My friend, Janet, and I went to the mainland to take a class from Anita Luvera Mayer last Thursday and Friday. As I uploaded the photos I realized that I had not taken any photos of her amazing clothing. Partially because it would have been disruptive to the class (it was a small space) partially because of the lighting , & partially because I was busy trying to keep up! I WILL take some photos of the 'modules' that she had us make & I will explain her method (to the best of my ability!). I loved the class because this truly was about FREE FORM knitting - just the way I like it ! No rules, no counting, nothing more involved than knit and purl - and really you could do without the purl part! I broke out a crochet hook for the first time in 30 years - and glory be ! I remembered what to do with it (in a limited way of course!). Anita will be having a wonderful show at the LaConner Quilt Museum beginning on May31st. It's called . "A Celebration in Clothing:One Woman's Journey". It will be a very special exhibit- so go have look if you can.

Anita is an amazing woman. Tall and beautiful with a grace that I wish I had! She was gracious enough to invite some of us "out-of-towners" to her home before we went to dinner to celebrate Janet's birthday! I was mesmerized by the the things she showed us - and probably had to shore up my lower jaw more than once!

I have been trying to upload more photos - but Blogger seems to be having a problem today with photos - so I'll try again later.