water color quilts
Jason R. Baron
I was thinking of trying my hand at water color quilts. For those of you
who like doing water color quilts, did you take a class or did you just
learn the technique from one of the many books out there? The Magaret
and Shlusser book comes to mind, but I've noticed that there are lots of
wonderful water color books out there. I've also enjoyed paging through
Gai Perry's book, Impressionist Quilts and I was wondering if anyone can
tell me if they've enjoyed using her methods (which seems to differ a bit
from the Magaret and Shlusser book). Thanks so much in advance.
Robin
John & Phebe Musselwhite
Jason R. Baron wrote:
>
> I was thinking of trying my hand at water color quilts. For those of you
> who like doing water color quilts, did you take a class or did you just
> learn the technique from one of the many books out there? The Magaret
> and Shlusser book comes to mind, but I've noticed that there are lots of
> wonderful water color books out there.
>
I read the book, Watercolor Quilts and played with the fabrics. You
will need to collect, because you will need to look at fabrics
differently than you probably have up until now. It is an
individualized expression of color, and some people may need to take a
class. You can also get a lot reading about color theory (Joen Wolfrom
books), so you can play with irridescence effectively, etc.
Phebe
Diana Orhun
OOOOHHHH Robin!!!! I just took a two day (6 hr/day) class with Gai Perry
at the "famous" Pincushion quilt shop in Davis, CA. It was WONDERFUL and
knowing myself, I can say I would never have been able to do it without
taking the class. Gai was SO nice and gave such helpful tips, guiding us
through the whole process. If you can't take a class from her or from
someone who learned from her, the next best thing would be to read her
book, Impressionist Quilts BEFORE starting. What attracted me to HER
method over the "Margaret/Slusser" method is that Gai Perry's quilts use
only 7-9 different fabrics!!!! instead of many, many fabrics in the other
method, and because they are "on point" like square diamonds (2 1/4"), it
seems to blend in easier and look more like a Monet watercolor. The quilt
we did was "Field and Stream" (which will be included in her newest book
coming out this September). We started with the stream, using a
watercolor batik or a variegated blue or green--the darker part of the
fabric going closer to the "banks" of the stream and the lighter parts in
the center. Above and below the stream we used flowers for a
"meadow/garden" effect. (The flower fabrics MUST have a dark background
which gives the illusion of shadowing) This is where it was really
helpful to have Gai advise us and remind us to step back and visualize...
Above the meadow was grass, then foothills/trees, then mountains, and
lastly the sky. It was wonderful to see what everyone came up with. She
told us that on her quilts, where it was difficult to blend for a smooth
transition, she just painted over the area with fabric paints! and if an
area needed a flower, she just appliqued one in (in an oval shape with
some of the background included so it looked like it was just part of the
picture!!!
All of us finished cutting and designing the pieces on our flannel "board"
during class. (Of course,there were two who even finished sewing their
pieces together!!!!)
Sorry this is so long....but, Robin, if you DO decide to tackle this,
please let me know if I can be of any help! It really is a lot of fun and
not as difficult as I thought it would be!
Diana
"The Flamenco Quilter"
On 1 May 1997, Jason R. Baron wrote:
>
> I was thinking of trying my hand at water color quilts. For those of you
> who like doing water color quilts, did you take a class or did you just
> learn the technique from one of the many books out there? The Magaret
> and Shlusser book comes to mind, but I've noticed that there are lots of