Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Velda Newman Workshop

October 12, 14, 15, 2011

The tables were turned and I got the opportunity to take a class instead of teaching one.    And what a great class it was!  On Wednesday, October 12, Velda taught her Creating Realism-Techniques class.  She also calls it her Kindergarten Class because we got to play and couldn't do anything wrong.  We experimented with discharging, foiling, bleaching, and painting.  Velda supplied her paints as well as all the other tools she uses to add color to fabric - watercolor pencils, oil pastels, and permanent marking pens.  We experimented shading paint from very light to dark, blending one paint color with another, and adding shadows to add depth and dimension to an object. 



On Friday and Saturday, Velda taught her class entitled Texture & Form.  We made several samples, including a lemon, basket, cantaloupe, sea shell, several tulip petals, and leaves.  Once these were made, we spent the remaining time on Saturday applying color to these objects.  Some were painted, and on others we used pencils and even splatter brushes to add depth and dimension. 



Throughout the entire three days of classes, Velda was very gracious about telling us all her tips and tricks she uses to create her astonishing quilts. Velda brought several smaller samples for us to look at, in addition to her Baskets quilt.  Class participants also got to get up close to (and help hold) Zinnias, one of her newest quilts that is seven feet long, and see the detail in each leaf and how she achieved such realistic flower buds. 



I hope that If you ever get the chance to take a class from Velda Newman that you'll take it.  She is a marvelous teacher and has inspired me to look at my quilts and quilt making differently.  I can't wait to try out some of her techniques in my own work.  Thank you, Velda!

No comments:

Post a Comment