pamgarrison

past weekend's class

I'm back from teaching art journaling at Donna Downey Studios.  What a great studio, and yet another great group of creatives along for the three days of fun. Always appreciate being welcomed with open arms and a roomful of people with a passion for making.

North Carolina is on the other side of the country for me, and with all the weird weather that's been going on, I didn't want to risk missing a connection somewhere, so flew out of LAX vs. Santa Ana (which is so much closer to home and so much nicer. man, LAX is a hot mess right now with all the construction going on!) I do love that sign above though...and also the sight of this iconic LAX building that I've been seeing on trips to the airport since childhood: 

I snapped this photo with my phone when I hopped out of the car- look how empty it looks- just a little red light timing luck with the traffic, it was actually as busy as usual last Thursday. 

The first view of the studio from the outside...how fun is this? :

It's just as pretty from the inside:

Seeing the brushes above and the Pantone bathroom (below) instantly got this color junkie's juices flowing!

So so good. AmIright?!? Oh yes!

Donna, being an artist herself, has the very best supplies and lots of them that we all used all weekend. Very fun as a student and as a teacher to have so many delicious goods at our fingertips with no restrictions!

The studio also has a shop on one side. So, so tempting. I was pretty good...I only spent $100. at the end of the day...and with the free shipping they offer, it seemed crazy to resist some things ;)

Not sure why I didn't restock some of my Neo Color II crayons...this is just one third of their stock. 

Most of the three days looked like this. There's Jennifer, who came along and TA'd for us. It was a fun surprise for those that are familiar with her artwork. Uppercase magazine also generously provided an issue for each student (love that magazine) and because I mentioned JM was TAing when I asked for sponsorship, they sent issue 22, which has a feature on Jennifer and her paintings. Love it when a plan comes together like that ;).

One of Jennifer's pages in progress...she loves color the way I do. 

Some of my demo pages in progress. 

At one point I ran outside to capture all the fun going on from a different angle. Pretty sure every inch of every table was put to good use. 

Can you feel the enthusiasm?  

On the last day, we went out front to take a group photo. I snapped the classroom when we were all out:

Doesn't that look like the happiest, most colorfully fun art space? 

Photos of the group gathering above and below.

Such a great group. Truly. I wasn't smart enough to have my phone used, so I don't have the actual group photo (yet). 

More from my table ...and Donna made the most delicious rum drink - the color of the drink, with the color of the straw amongst all my colors= happy making for sure!

Photos at the end of class. ;)

Perfectly sums it all up I think. 

And just like that, three long days of making were gone in a flash and I was back on a plane...

I am always exhausted after traveling, and teaching too. Yesterday, my first day home was spent mostly on the couch. I did get out some of the papers from class (made during Gelli plate demos) and a favorite pen and doodled...that was pretty much it:

But today, I'm coming around again...

I'm about to hit publish on a blog post...so I did something today ;).

More tomorrow....xoxo

 

art journaling pages in progress

What?!?! An art journaling post? Just when I'd been talking all quilts, all the time.....

If you follow me on instagram, you know I still have quilts in progress to share...and I will! But today, as I continue to prep for my trip to Donna Downey's art studio to teach art journaling, I realized it's been way too long since I've shared some pages in progress. So here are some recent bits of art:

It's Friday! Ahhhh....

I hope you've got some nice plans ahead of you for the weekend. I'm going to continue class prep, finish sewing the binding on a quilt, patch some holes in my jeans...you know, the usual creative pursuits tucked in among the other parts of life...

Have a good one!!! xo

 

a baby quilt gift

Hey there! How goes it out there? I wish I had some good excuse for being away from the blog for so long, but the truth is, the speed with which time passes is befuddling me. It's crazy!

Anyway, I'm back with one of the things I was up to in my absence; a gift for sweet baby Vincent, born to Maggie and James, and my dear friend Charlotte's first grand-baby!  

a little dedication for baby

 After seeing Maggie's posts about nursery decor plans for her baby to be, and being on a quilting binge, I couldn't resist a little patchwork quilt. I went to JoAnn's fabrics one night and bought a bunch of fabrics, then raided my own stash once home to come up with a selection of various prints and solids. The mix and the match, the choosing combinations, it's so much fun for me. A big reason I've always been drawn to fabric and occasionally go on purchasing binges with no specific project in mind. It's also likely why I haven't used solids alone in the past, missing an opportunity to play with design and color specifically. Just more fun things I'm noticing along the way as I continue to explore and learn about quilting. 

I improved a little bit with matching my corner points, but there are still many many non matching points:

I'm totally fine with that because it's handmade with so much love. I never even used to look at things like that when looking at quilts, but the more quilting books I look at, and linking around I do, I really respect the quilting artists out there and their mad skillz, and that aspect of the art form. I am not one to pursue perfection in my creating, but I do want to pursue precision when that is something that I believe adds to the creation. And some quilt designs would definitely qualify for that category. 

Luckily, this patchwork baby gift doesn't qualify for that. I don't think the journey of learning (thus the imperfect quilting) is anything to be secret about so that's why I'm sharing them up close. Not because I'm proud of them, but because it's a totally welcome part of any creative journey to me. I embrace the participation in something creative so much more than any result. 

I made the binding trim out of one of the fabrics. 

I did everything on the sewing machine, except sewing the binding to the back, that I did by hand. 

I quilted it by sewing machine, sewing first in the ditch, and adding one, two, sometimes three more stitches to the inside of each square. Making things up along the way vs. following any pattern or rule. 

Just enough to give it that puckering after washing. I love the way the back looks because of it, those big puffy squares:

I can't remember what size the finished quilt ended up to be. I think it was around 38x58".  A baby quilt or lap quilt makes an excellent size if you're not a quilter yet but want to start exploring with it. It's not too big to easily fit under a home sewing machine. And overall it can be done pretty quickly, decreasing the chances of getting intimidated and overwhelmed, (or even bored). 

Baby and Mama should receive it today ;). 

A little bit of California warmth sent to the other coast this crazy winter season. 

Welcome to the world baby Vincent!!!! xo