Design for the Original Abstract Quilt

Well, today I had eight students in my studio for my workshop on design for the abstract quilt. I worked everybody pretty hard and they all agreed they got their money's worth from me! That's what I like: satisfied customers! But we also had fun and learned a lot!

Sitting at this table are Kristina, Christina and Jean, all having a good time cutting and pasting

And here we have PaTi and Sally

Followed with Debbie, Graer and Michelle.

Well, after a number of different types of exercises and explanations about the design elements and the principles of design...you know, putting all those elements together every body did four small little compositions (4 x6") of four different things that I told them to do...such power I wield!

So above in the first three columns, are examples of symmetrical balance. The next three columns are asymmetrical balance. The third set of three columns if about contrast of various kinds, and then the last grouping on the right is about rhythm. I took a bunch of small groupings of them but you can just see them all together...it is so impressive.
And here you have the final eight compositions which were worked from thumbnail tracings from much larger images that they found. The idea was to look for interesting compositions in parts of the whole and to make lots of different little thumbnails. Then they worked the design some more and then translated it into pasted fabric on index cards. No time for sewing or neat edges or many choices of fabric...everything was very time oriented. They had to work very quickly so they didn't over think the process.

We also critiqued all of the pieces that were done and learned about what worked, what didn't and how to improve them.

What a great group of women! Lots of fun and energy until I wore them out by the end of the day!

A commercial note: You too can participate in one of my classes...the next one will be a color class on August 11, costs $60 and is all day in Oakland CA. About half of these women traveled from two to three hours to get to the class...that is a lot of driving