I’ve just returned from another workshop with Nancy Crow. What a privilege! I feel so blessed that I live so close and have been able to learn from her. We have such an abundance of great instruction in our area, but many of the great teachers are getting close to their retirement years. I want to take advantage of every opportunity while I still can.
I also think of all those years when I was working full-time in a traditional 9-to-5 job. I would read about these wonderful workshops with longing, wishing I could take one, but never having enough vacation time to do it. I feel blessed that now I work more flexible jobs that allow me to enjoy these opportunities.
This time I took Lines, Curves, Shapes & Figure-Ground Composition: Part II. One of my objectives in taking these workshops is to learn to work more improvisationally. Another is to learn more about color. Both are such big topics. I see these both as life-long goals.
Coming to the barn is an experience in itself. You drive for quite some time on small, back roads until you see a little sign at ground level that says “Crow.” A sharp turn and you’re driving down a long driveway lined with open meadows, farm fields, and then tall trees on both sides. You pass their old gingerbread-trimmed farm house, make another turn, and you see the massive, 160 year-old barn that they have converted into a fully equipped, modern studio. All of the sewing space is upstairs and a huge wet studio for dyeing is downstairs. Sunday is spent setting up your workspace and meeting the other students. People come from all over the world to attend these workshops. Many people take classes every year, so you begin to see people you’ve met before.
I’ll tell you about our first day in tomorrow’s blog.