Nancy Crow workshop: Lines, Curves, Shapes; days 2 & 3

nc4-proj2part1A funny thing happened on Monday night. We went to bed, all tucked up in our little RV, when we noticed something terribly wrong with our very comfy, very reliable air mattress. It started getting rather flat. Sweet hubby valiantly tried to re-inflate the poor thing at 1 in the morning, but by morning it had completely died. Thankfully, we had a thin foam pad on top, but we had a horrible night’s sleep! Sweet hubby dropped me off for class and headed for the nearest Target to buy a new mattress, but I was shot as far as any brain power was concerned.

(To complete our little saga, the new air mattress was way too big for our space. RV mattresses are shorter and are set up on a pedestal. This one was regular length and extra thick, so the top of the bed ended up being higher than my waist! I had to climb in using a stool. That was rather humorous! We tried it out for a few nights, but realized it would not do for any long term use, so we returned that one. Instead, I went online and ordered a really nice mattress from an RV supply store. It should arrive tomorrow!)

Back to the workshop. Today’s exercise was about using flat and glowing colors. (Nancy used to call them warm and cool colors which completely mixed up everything for me. I think of red, orange, and yellow as warm colors and green, blue, and purple as cool colors, but she didn’t mean that at all. Her idea is similar to saturated and desaturated colors, but not quite, and it’s not related to value either. Don’t worry, I still haven’t quite grasped it yet either!) In addition, she wanted us to use four colors in the first two panels, but only two values. So we sketched out a simple design in black fabric like we did yesterday, and then we sewed one panel with half saturated and half glowing colors and then we reversed it for the next panel. That is the right hand side of this image. I ended up rotating my lower panel 180 degrees because I liked it better that way.

nc4-proj2part2

That side used up all of my available brain power for the day, so on the left side I simplified things immensely. We had to use eight colors this time, which I did, but otherwise I totally gave up on her assignment, and I just made simple curves, one part with more glowing colors and one part with more flat colors. In reality, I think I just ended up with a dark side and a light side. I’m going to have to revisit the dull verses glowing issue more thoroughly over the next few months. I signed up for another workshop in the fall, so I’d like to have a really good grasp on it by then.

Maybe because I was already exhausted and sleep deprived, too, but days 2 and 3 were pretty bad ones for me. On Tuesday afternoon, we had a little show and tell time. The half of the class that brought in some of their recent quilts hung them up for everyone to see. On Wednesday, people who had their quilts on PowerPoint got the opportunity to show their work. I brought Windblown and Cabin Window. Granted, I know I’m a fish out of water from the start because no one else in the class makes portraits or any kind of realism. I’m okay with that, and I’m pretty satisfied with both of these quilts, and people were very kind with their response to them. What I wasn’t prepared for was feeling like an utter failure upon seeing everyone else’s work! (I know it’s not true, but the temptation to feel that way was there.) I was completely blown away by the sheer volume of work that everyone else was putting out. I may make one or two very small quilts in a year. These people were churning out hoards of really nice work, and big, too.

This was a wake up call for me. One that I obviously needed. I am determined to start managing my time much more efficiently. Yes, I have other commitments, but I really need to make better use of the free time that I do have. For years, when I was working a 9-to-5 job, I would whine about all that I could get done if I didn’t have to work. I guess it’s time to put that into action!


Comments

5 responses to “Nancy Crow workshop: Lines, Curves, Shapes; days 2 & 3”

  1. Barbara Avatar
    Barbara

    Oh Maria, don’t be so hard on yourself!!! Your work is wonderful and how much or little you do compared to someone else shouldn’t be taking up space in your head. 🙂

    1. Thanks, Barbara. It was a really interesting and unexpected sensation, but I do appreciate the kick in the pants. It’s so easy to let little unimportant things to commandeer all my time, and as we all know, a lot of little time wasters add up. This helped me realize that I need to be more purposeful in how I spend my time.

  2. I have heard that Nancy’s classes are very demanding and what you are experiencing is very normal. You are being extended and it is a struggle but it will pay off in the future, maybe in a way that you won’t understand now. Thanks for sharing.

  3. Don’t forget, Maria, God puts certain talents into certain people. Ex 35 there were gifted artisans among the women who could do different jobs, and even Bezalel and Aholiab had their specific talent. God has given you a gift of showing people well. I am glad for the ways you use it to get people to think on Phil.4:8 types of things.

    I do understand the idea of re-awakening to the concept of using time more purposely though. Sometimes it is hard to transition from the variety of things we need to do through the week…especially when some of those things use our creative side to meet others needs. I find myself asking God for focus but also balance.
    God bless.
    Sandy in the UK

    1. Thanks, Sandy! I like that idea of focus and balance. I am definitely an “all or nothing” personality. My words for this year were “Focus” and “Self-Discipline.” Maybe I need to add “BALANCE” — yes, in all capital letters!