10+ Techniques with Acrylic Inks in San Luis Obispo, CA and a New Quilt for Yvonne

On August 12-13, I’ll be teaching a 2-day acrylic inks workshop in San Luis Obispo at SLO Creative Studio. I’m really excited about this not only because it’s a beautiful area of California and I get to visit an old high school friend, but also because it’s my favorite class to teach!

There really is nothing better than working with a group of enthusiastic explorers of creativity, because together we all learn so much as we each put our individual spin on the different techniques. There’s new discoveries in every workshop.

I wanted to give you the heads up that there’s only a few spots left, and I’m not scheduled to teach this particular workshop anywhere else in the next year, so if you’re interested contact SLO Creative Studio asap.

 

This will give you an idea of some of the things we do in the 10+ Techniques Acrylic Inks workshop:

We begin by creating lots of different textured base fabrics.

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Then we start building on those base fabrics with a variety of new techniques for adding pattern, texture and imagery.

There’s lots more I could show you, but the most important thing for you to know is that this is a jam packed information and technique filled workshop that’s a lot of fun. For more details you can also check out the  SLO Creative Facebook page.

 

My contribution to the Yvonne Porcella tribute exhibit

Pokey Bolton (founder of Quilting Arts and now Crafting a Life) has organized a wonderful exhibit called ‘Live Your Brightest Life‘ to coincide with the Quilting in the Garden Show at Alden Garden this September, to honor the life of renown art quilter Yvonne Porcella who also happens to be the founder of the world wide organization SAQA – Studio Art Quilt Associates.

 

 

 

I started my quilt by cutting up and randomly piecing fabrics that I had created using acrylic inks.

The striped fabrics were made using a shibori pole wrapping technique.

Many of the other fabrics began as colorful painted base fabrics that were then stamped with wood, foam and hand carved rubber stamps.

Some of the more complex printed fabrics have images that were printed using thermo-fax screens with textile screen printing inks. (Acrylic inks are too thin to use with thermo-fax screens.)

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The beauty of using thermo-fax screens for creating fabric is that textile screen printing inks can be very opaque (acrylic inks have transparency), so using white, or lightly colored textile screen printing inks, is the perfect way to add crisp light colored images onto darker-colored painted fabric.

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If you’d like to learn more about creating your own personally designed fabrics this way, I will be teaching my new workshop Print-A-Palooza in January at Craft Napa.

 

I have always loved the simple hand-quilted stitching lines used on the highly patterned patchwork Kantha quilts from India, and I think my new patchwork quilts have a similar kind of aesthetic, so, I prefer simple straight line machine-quilting that doesn’t compete with the colorful, heavily patterned pieced quilt top.

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Planting A Seed

 

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18″ x 24″

I often use leftover workshop samples that aren’t particularly beautiful, from my acrylic inks workshops, for the backs of my quilts, hanging sleeves, and on occasion, faced-bindings. On their own, the samples may not be too pretty, but when combined into a random patchwork, they become far more interesting, so I like that nothing goes to waste.

 

Enter a quilt in the Yvonne Porcella tribute exhibit!

The latest from Pokey

“There is still just about three weeks left to enter a quilt and celebrate the life of this beloved and prolific artist. This tribute exhibit will debut in Northern California at “Quilting in The Garden” taking place September 24-25th in Livermore, CA at Alden Lane Nursery where C&T Publishing, Alex Anderson, and myself will be on hand. Please help spread the word and, I hope you will join us!”

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I’d love to spark your creativity at one these upcoming events:

August 12-13 SLO Creative Studio, San Louis Obispo, CA  2-day Acrylic Inks workshop -just a few spots left

September 21 Quilting in the Garden Livermore, CA – Painting Floral Imagery with Textile Paints -almost full

Nov 3-6 International Quilt Festival, Houston
Nov 1  Tsukineko Inks
Nov 2 Tea and Ephemera
Nov 3 Tsukineko inks
Nov 4 Blessings in the Wind: mixed media prayer flags

January 12-15  Craft Napa – Sign up Now!
Jan 12 Painting Imagery with Textile Paints
Jan 12 Fast and Fun Foam Stamps
Jan 13 Paint and Print-a-palooza
Jan 14 Blessings in the Wind, mixed-media prayer flags

Keep creating, Judy

ABOUT JUDY
Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.