Good Morning, Quilters!
My daughters recently treated me to a creative evening out. We all went to A Watercolor Creative Workshop from The Lab, Minneapolis
The class was taught by Megan Gonzalez of MaeMae & Co.
The class was held in a beautiful space in downtown Minneapolis.
We had a great time playing with a few new art supplies.
The three hour class really wasn’t enough time to delve deeply into watercolor painting, but we all left wanting to learn more.
Of course, I had to put my spin on it!!!
Now the wheels are really turning!
What about YOU?
Have YOU ever tried watercolors?
Have YOU tried an exploratory class on anything lately?
Do YOU creatively cross-train?
We’d LOVE to hear!
Happy Watercolor Quilting,
Lori
PS…All tutorials, images and information are the property of Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt and are intended for personal use only. Feel free to re-blog, pin or share with attribution to The Inbox Jaunt. For all other purposes, please contact me at lckennedy@hotmail.com. Thanks!
44 comments
Sue McDonald
Took my first watercolor class last winter and look forward to more. I love how each adventure into something ‘new’ opens all kinds of new doors. Thanks for sharing!
Vanessa
My other love…watercolor. I got to take a few community classes while we lived in FL. Your class sounded so fun! The other thing I love is the wood shop but my hands don’t take it like they used to. I haven’t touched a brush in years ( except painting with Charlie! )…this makes me want to get them back out.
Norma
I have embroidered since I was 5 years old. I also have done needlepoint, counted cross-stitch, and crochet. I have made my own cards and scrapbooked. I play the mountain and hammered dulcimer. Then I discovered quilting and even though I’m retired I don’t seem to have enough time. So now I mostly quilt.
Marta
I have friends in north FL who play ham. dulcimer. They practice together. They attend dulcimer events at Stephen Foster Folk Culture State Park in White Springs, FL. Every October the park has a quilt show with variety of categories that any quilters may enter. Just FYI….
Norma
Thank you, Marta, I will check that out if we get down to Florida.
Marta
Just in case you ever do get to the area., the Park is 3 miles off I-75 not far south of the Georgia-Florida state line. Their website publishes a schedule of events.
Kelly Ashton
What a lovely way for you all to spend time together!! I would love to take a watercolor class! One of these days…..
Lorraine Doyno Evans
Yes! I look at art doodling now and wonder how to make it into FMQ thanks to you. Also many quilters are now painting on their quilts. I haven’t the nerce yet to do that!
jbaner
Yes! Watercolors helped launch me into improving my art quilting skills. although I don’t dabble with it anymore (though I’d like to if I had more time), it led me to colored pencil in which many of the layering techniques are the same and can be combined. Of course they spill over into my art quilts as well. Love to see your “cross training”!
Shar
It’s very interesting that so many of you “cross train”. In college I dabbled in most of the offerings from the Art department. I chose drawing and water colors as my favorite. But many things happened and I ended up being a quilter and now an art quilter. I, also, dabble in many other surface and art techniques with friends. It makes being creative interesting and fulfilling. Lori, keep on exploring, and to the rest of you, thanks for the inspiration.
Kathy
That is so cool! Would love to do that Lori! Have always been an avid crafter and love trying new techniques. Purchased a big set of Inktense pencils awhile ago to have a go at watercolor on fabric as a new avenue for me in quilting, but alas, they are untouched. Fabric dying is getting my attention as well, and has gone on the ever growing list of things to try. I’m a want to run before I walk type, with the attention span of a gnat, and currently trying to learn EQ7 to help with desgning my own quilts, which I enjoy as much as the execution of making them. So much to do. So little time… Thank goodness for online learning and classes and people like you to help us with exploring these interests!
Delores
Fun! While finding my own longarm “voice”, I discovered I was zentangling with thread after my daughter showed me her new passion. When I showed her a quilt, she laughed and said to put it on paper. We did try a watercolor event as you did with her sister and their daughters-had a great time. Made me go home and dig out the Bob Ross CD, easel, supplies and practice. I’m so much better at FMQ on either DSM or longarm! Love your work and look forward to your blog!
Susan
I don’t know if you would call it cross-training, but I am first and foremost a classically trained musician. Although I am a beginning quilter, I find a parallel between the two, yet they are also quite different. I also do a lot of paper crafts in which I find similar parallels to quilting.
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I would call that cross training! I would love to hear you play!
Linda Rhoades
I just took a class on making pine needle baskets! It was a basic class, but gave me enough to get started and whet my appetite to keep going! Hopefully I will soon be creating some lovely pine needle baskets of my own!!! I love learning new things!
Laura
In the past couple of years I have been playing with “lettering” or calligraphy. I have used concepts from that on quilt labels and FMQ’d names and bible verses into quilts. I have purchased inktense colored pencils and plan to combine use of them with lettering someday!
I just finished ICAD, which was a wonderful experience in pushing me to be more creative. I used many mediums. It was like I was a 56 year old kid again. I dug out old watercolor paints from when I was a kid. So much fun!
https://daisyyellowart.com/icad-base/
Debby
Lori, Annette Kennedy offers a great fabric watercolor class on Craftsy.com: “Painted Pictorial Quilts.” You might enjoy combining your amazing quilting talent with transparent fabric paint. I had a blast creating “Zymurgy,” a quilted wall hanging which is posted on Craftsy’s project site: https://www.craftsy.com/quilting/projects/classes/painted-pictorial-quilts/35469?page=2&selectedProject=307657.
Lori Hope
That’s beautiful, Debby!
piecefulwendy
I enjoy Zentangle on little 4″ tiles that I get at Blick Art stores or Michaels. I also just bought a little plein air watercolor set (the brush handles hold water) so I can take it with me. I haven’t tried it yet, I’m a little shy about that, but hope to! Some evenings, I just like to sit and color with colored pencils.
KJ
Oh boy, more ideas. 🙂
I cross stich, embroider, as well as quilt. I am now dyeing my own fabric. Have tried ice dyeing and immersion dyeing and, most recently, used blue gel glue as a resist for both types of dyeing. I also tried a flour paste resist. It really gets the creative juices going and I have some wonderful, one of a kind fabric with which to quilt. Cross crafting is definitely a great idea.
Marta
KJ and Gail……..wowow…. now I need to go shopping for blue gel glue… ! Thanks and thank you for the reference for crayons, etc….
Linda B
I love Zentangle on paper and on fabric. Great potential quilting patterns!
Marta
About cross training.. When I first learned PhotoShop, I got a little nuts. I couldn’t look at any scene,, nature in the yard, out the car window, my decor, etc.. without mentally moving things around and/or recoloring/reshaping them. Thankfully, that imagination blip faded pretty soon. 🙂 !! Love making quilt blocks on the screen now.
Marta
My watercolor professor in college told us to loosen up… that watercolor is just playing with colored puddles. LOL… She had us play with puddles with each color before starting exercises and then on to images. Also she said she couldn’t stress enough the importance of using the best watercolor paper we could afford. We learned there are various kinds for different purposes.. Try all you can. They come in large sheets. Get one of each kind, cut them into smaller sheets and experiment… short of attending a class with a teacher of course!
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Very interesting!! Need to go shopping!
Kaylene
I love to use the Crayola crayon method of coloring my fabric and then doing embroidery around it. The water colors sounds like a nice adventure to try on the fabric, as Christina from Florida was talking about. I’d like to hear more about that too.
Marta
I was shown about that in a quilt shop by the owner, but I was into something else at the time. I seem to vaguely remember her saying it must be certain crayons… Do you remember? I tried it at home with my kids leftover crayons (Crayola) but it sure didn’t look like hers… LOL Thanks…
Gail
Look up Terrie Kygar. http://www.meltnblend.com. She does the crayon fabric painting. It is fun and uses regular crayons, heat, and a folded paper towel. So easy and makes pliable fabric…not waxy at all.
Mich Ke
I have been reading books on watercolor and impressionist painting. I have been focusing on the use of light to help me with nature focused art quilts. I am also almost through a book of lessons on 3D design to help me portray perspective. Now I have to create!
Suzanne Crane
I’m going to my fourth watercolor class this morning. Loving it. Terrible at it!
Love your blog.
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Terrible is still fun with watercolors!
annthompson51
Perhaps you could explore using Inktense watercolor pencils on fabric to create a lovely watercolor background, then develop a FMQ design to feature.
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The wheels are turning!
Donna Belisle
I am way past the watercolor fun and then into the oil painting venture and in my waning years, now, I am piecing and quilting. It has been a great adventure all the way.
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Cool!
Claudia
My quilting bee meets monthly for a creative day or evening of play. We’ve made greeting cards with fabric, Shibori dyeing with indigo, cement bird baths from large leaves to name a few of our ventures. And sometimes we sew!
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Great thing to do! I bet it really stirs the creativity!
Christina in FL
Great going Lori! 🙂 And if you use Golden GAC900 instead of water and heat set, you’ll create your own, unique fabric! 🙂
Lori Hope
I’m also intrigued…sounds like a way I could collaborate with my artist husband, maybe?
Colleen
Yes, we need more info on this please! 🙂
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What?!!! I have to investigate! What is this product!?
Brenda/SBD Embroidery & Quilting
Lori, this class sounds wonderful! I know you enjoyed it even more spending it with your daughters!! Years ago, when Bob Ross painting was so popular, my daughter and I took a class at our local Michael’s store, and I was hooked! We took several more classes and learned a lot from our instructor. I then went on to be certified in One Stroke painting and was able to teach it at our Michael’s as well. It’s amazing how a class that is different from your “norm” can change your thinking. Before long I was looking at trees and mountains and thinking, “Hmm, I can paint that!” just using the techniques we learned in class! And I love how each person’s interpretation showed through their paintings. My daughter’s was totally different from mine in that she loved impressionistic paintings and that’s what came out of her beautiful fingers! LOL
I find it much the same with quilting and even find myself using some of those painting ideas with color theory and building quilts.
I am scheduled for a new quilting technique class in a few weeks and can hardly wait until then. So looking forward to stretching my imagination and seeing where the knowledge from this new class will lead me!
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Can you recommend a basic watercolor book?
Brenda/SBD Embroidery & Quilting
I think this is a good one, Lori. https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Watercolorists-Essential-Notebook-experimentation/
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