Back Home from J C Campbell and a Bit About My Class

Okay, I've talked about all the other classes at J C. Campbell, now it's time to show what my class accomplished during the week.

Our class was small but that turned out to be a blessing.  This class is very intense, there is a lot of information to process in five days.

We begin the class by creating the canvas, which in the case of this class is a landscape.

We have two days to get it under construction.  We then move on to the eight layer/value portrait.

I always work with my students before class to help them select a photo/photos that they want create.  Often we go through many photos before we come up with just the right one.

We can use a photo with a portrait/background/landscape that is the original photo or we can take two different photos and overlay them so that they make one.

Debbie M. had this photo of her husband Jim in a beautiful setting.  We tried isolating him and putting him in other landscapes but this one was by far the most satisfying.  Keep in mind that these are unfinished pieces.  The white around Jim will be cut away and he will be attached to the landscape and then quilted.

We discussed that I thought Jim's eye color was too blue but she can correct that when she quilts the piece.  I can't wait to see this one finished.

This is Gretchen and her piece.  Gretchen's landscape was by far the largest in the class.  We had a problem in the beginning because she didn't have the best sky fabric.

I always bring fabric from my stash just in case.  This piece just made her landscape.

When we do our before class prep I have the students have their photos enlarged so that we get the proper proportions.   Gretchen had a friend enlarge the landscape and then the portrait.  The portrait was enlarged a little smaller than the landscape so this was as far as Gretchen could go in the class.  Really, it's all she had time to do anyway.  She will have the enlargement done again in the right size and finish out her body.  Great Job.

Jane took my class last year.  She was going through a difficult time in her life but did a great job finishing her landscape and the portrait of her granddaughter. (show about her head)

She had chosen quite a large project for a beginner to portraits.  Three people in one piece takes a while to finish.

Jane decided that she wanted to come back this year to refresh her memory.  She has the second one almost done with one more to go.  This is going to be stunning when it is finished.
Jane is going to either quilt or applique sea oats behind the kids. 

Jan really moved along with her piece.  She has the background almost finished quilting.  She used some roving to add a little sparkle to the water and a shadow by the drift wood on the beach.

Jan was worried, for a while, that the portrait wasn't looking like her grandson, August.  Look at the two of them side by side.  See any resemblance?   She wrote this week that the piece will soon be done.  I love it when a student get's into the class so much that they keep going when they get home.

Lucy came to the class just a week before it was to begin so she had a lot of work to get done in a week.  She was having trouble finding digital photos because they usually only take photos of landscapes.

I totally understand that because I tend to do the same thing.  However, I finally decide to have her take a photo of her husband and he one of her and we came up with a merged image that worked.
Lucy's husband had something to do with the restoring of the lighthouse in the background, I hope I'm getting this right Lucy, so this landscape was important to them.

Lucy had the most incredible piece of batik that worked beautifully for the trees in the background.  That is one piece of fabric cut into shapes to resemble trees.  I might give my eye teeth for a yd of that fabric.   Lucy wasn't happy with the sky fabric but she left it there for this class.  When we were almost through she said the fabric was growing on her and she might leave it as is.  I'm kind of agreeing that this looks pretty good.   Lucy is an artist and it usually doesn't take me long to spot my artist.  This was very apparent in the placing of her light and dark against each other to make the trees look realistic.  Another great job.

What a great class.