Patty Hawkins

I have just finished a three-day workshop with master quilt artist Patty Hawkins.  What a wonderful, wonderful experience it was!  I am tired but energized and I really learned a lot.  If you don't know Patty, go check out her work on her website.  She makes the most gorgeous abstracted landscapes, and is most well known for her aspen scenes.  I can now verify that she is just the loveliest woman -- an excellent and encouraging teacher, too.  I was repeatedly struck at how clearly she gave feedback, but with constant positivity and generosity.  (Here is Patty with my friend Diana in the background.)

She had some wonderful exercises to help us with abstractions, one of which was to compose a mock-up of our chosen image using 5 values of ugly colors of construction paper.  We were to focus on value and shape, not color ... and using that paper was very freeing because had we been working in fabric, we would have been so distracted by the fabric color and pattern.  Here are some of the results:

(You can see mine on the top right, next to the waterfall one -- it was a scene of Eucalyptus trees and a curving road.)

Then we moved on to making smaller pieces in fabric, working in part from our value studies.  I was having such a good time that I didn't take many pictures, and totally forgot to take a picture of my own!  So here is my friend Marion's, which was turning out beautifully...

I came away with a small piece ready to be quilted, and a larger piece started.  I never used my "ruby beholder" and my reducing glass so much!

So, it was a very fun time.  I've yet to unload the car, but I'll take pictures of my results when I get them inside.  Now it's catch up time for laundry and household chores, not to mention tidying my studio from the mess I made when I was pulling stuff out to take to the workshop.

I just can't recommend Patty enough as a teacher.  If you ever get the chance to take a class, DO it.  Just meeting her and spending time with her and her sweet, generous, and funny person is worth the price of admission.