I had a lovely diversion teaching two workshops in Santa Rosa last weekend, oblivious to the horrors unfolding in other parts of our country until I returned home.
On Thursday, I drove to beautiful Santa Rosa, a small city in Sonoma county about 2 hours from Sacramento, that I lived in for 3 years in the early 80’s, to teach at Meissner’s sewing and Vacuum. Meissner’s is a fabulous company in Northern California that I’ve had the privilege of teaching at many times over the last several years.
On Friday, I taught a one day Painting imagery with textile paints workshop.
This is one of my most relaxed classes, and is always such a pleasure to teach.
In one day we cover the basics, with lots of info about how to deal with all those issues that make painting on fabric so challenging compared to canvas, but unfortunately the paintings don’t get quite as far along as when we have 2 days to paint together.
On Saturday, I taught Tea & Ephemera: an intro to mixed-media techniques on fabric.
This class moves at a much faster pace as we go through multiple mixed-media techniques in one day while creating mixed-media samplers.
For this class I brought prepared tea fabric in a variety of shapes, and this student chose a long rectangular piece that I had to photograph in 2 parts.
The other students chose squares or rectangles to work on.
Nina Shortridge took this class two years ago at Craft Napa, but unfortunately she lost her piece while there, so she took the class again to create a new piece. This one she based on Alice in Wonderland, isn’t it fun?
Want to spend 5 days creating with me next spring?
If these two workshops look like something you’d enjoy, join me in the gorgeous rolling hills of northern Wisconsin, where I’ll be teaching a 5 day workshop at Woodland Ridge Retreat May 27-31. Over 5 days we’ll cover Tea & Ephemera, Color theory, and Painting imagery with textile paints, in one of the most wonderful retreat settings. Fantastic accommodations, food, and workspace in a beautiful part of the country. You can see some of the fabulousness of Woodland Ridge in this post from last August when I taught a 5 day Paint and Printapalooza workshop there.
On a more personal note…
I think it’s more important than ever to find balance in our stressful lives. I want to encourage you to find time to get into that creative zone, where you can temporarily escape from the day in, day out barrage of horrific news we find ourselves living in and find some peace of mind.
Art is so beneficial to ones mental health as a way to process stress, decompress, quiet the mind, and find internal peace. Pull out some fabric to stitch, paint, embroidery, knitting, or even some colored pencils, crayons or markers and a coloring book, whatever it takes to zone out a bit. Art heals. Take care my friends. Big hug!
Keep creating,
Judy
I’d love to spark your creativity at one of these upcoming events:
2019
September 27, 28 River City Quilt Show, Sacramento, CA
Color Theory, and Painting Imagery with Textile Paints
October 31-November 2 International Quilt Festival, Houston
2-day Paint and Printapalooza, and Tea and Ephemera
2020
Craft Napa Jan 15-18, 2020!
February 2020: New Zealand! Christchurch, Napier, Palmerston North, Tauranga, Whatakane, New Plymouth, Ngarawhahia, and Whangerei
May 27-31 Woodland Ridge Retreat, Menomonie, WI
Tea & Ephemera and Painted Imagery
July Australia! More info TBA
August 11-13 Calico Cutters West Chester, PA
Tsukineko Inks, Tea & Ephemera
October 18-24 Hudson Valley Quilt Retreat, Greenville, NY
Paint and Printapalooza
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.