The Art Quilt Workbook Project

(Feel free to take a pass on this post if quilting seems too dorky!)
I thought it might be interesting to follow along with my round-robin quilting group as we work through our year-long project: the Art Quilt Workbook (by Davila & Waterston). The byline is "exercises & techniques to ignite your creativity"--I can always use a little ignition!

Just a quick review: our small group formed a few years ago to do some special projects together (and basically just have more quilting fun together!). We meet monthly and usually there are about 12 of us in the group. We've done some group oriented projects, have started a 'Christmas in July' gift exchange, and have challenged & encouraged our skill development. Towards that end, we decided to depart from our 'usual' this year and work through this workbook covering some basic art concepts, some 'advanced' skills that can be used in a variety of ways, and streeeetches us to 'get out of the box'. (Some of us are more comfortable with that, but a few of us are needing a brown bag to control the anxiety attacks for creating rather than following a pattern, plan, etc.!)

Each chapter (topic) has reading material, on-line links recommended, two to four exercises to complete, and then a homework assignment. 'Homework' is a completed piece (in this case, all are to be 9 x 11"--that's small; translates to fast, but also a challenge to think 'small'). Recommendation is to select a theme for the duration of the workbook. We are loosely doing a chapter a month--although some are a little more time consuming and therefore may take a little longer.

OK, too much time for the set-up--sorry.

Chapter 1: The Basics ("All real works of art look as though they were done in joy"--R. Henri)

Exercise: have a bowl of words (not of your own choice!), draw a word from the bowl, and quickly sketch the concept. Not hard to guess that these are NOT nouns in the bowl; they were words like dance, twist, whisper, laugh, etc. (Here's a page from my sketch book for this one--'float' & 'tickle'; also had 'switch'. What would you have done to illustrate those words?!) Additional exercise: draw the outline of an object without looking and without picking up your pencil from the page (a familiar task for some art students).
Homework for the first topic was a 'freebie': pick a theme you will use throughout the workbook. We have some interesting themes so far, including flowers, leaves, a poem, a color, etc. Mine is 'a square in a square'--it will become more apparent as the year rolls along. This was a 'work-in-series' concept that I've been gearing up for, so this was the perfect adjunct to get me immersed in my goal.

Chapter 2: Color, Perspective, Border Options. ("Color is my day-long obsession, joy & torment."--Claude Monet)
The basics of color & perspective--or creating a sense of depth by using color, diminishing size and detail, overlapping objects, etc. Exercises: using (only) color chips to illustrate words, music, cool and warm themes, and complementary colors. (Here's my sketch book page for warm, cool, complementary colors, the words 'magical' and 'rich', the song 'silent night' & some perspective approaches.)

Homework: make the first quilt using some/any of the concepts covered in the chapter.

Here's homework project #1. It's complementary colors (blue=cool, orange=warm) with perspective provided by overlapping objects, shadows, and diminishing size.

So now you're caught up-to-date with our project. I'll be adding a post from time to time with work(s) in progress for each new chapter.