Well, Jessica so kindly shared her happiness with Art is…You. Go back to read about the dremel class here. My experience was shorter but I think more positive overall. Due to the price I had a one day shot and decided to make the most of my skills by attending Linda Willis’ Mixed Media Sewing class which absolutely blew my mind! The description was short and sweet reading,

We will be weaving fabric and paper, rubberstamping, making patchy fabric, using paper and fabric interchangeably and creating embellishments that we will use to create a unique mixed media collage.

Here are a few of her pieces and they are SO much more incredible in person. Great photos but they just don’t do her art justice!

Let me start out by saying that my grandmother had me on a sewing machine as soon as she was sure I wouldn’t sew my fingers together. That being said, I went from standard and simple quilts to clothing: all of which was hyper focused on form, ironing, carefully laid out pieces. Now, if you peruse my art books you would quickly realize how much I desire and yearn to break free of those bonds! Being the more submissive type that I am, I knew I just needed ‘permission’ and a strong guiding hand to shoo me in this new direction.

That is exactly what Linda and her friend Tracy Stilwell provided for me during those 6 or so hours. They kindly and quickly encouraged us to let go, to not question our alterations, to not worry about form, function or whatnot until we had our direction down. And even then to be non-committal to our ideas of the creation being facilitated by our hands. WOW!

Linda did not say, “Do x, then y, then z” but rather said, “you can choose to do or not do x, y, z, a, b…”  And so we began! First she taught us about creating a foundation for our work, and different ways that can take form. We began with batting and sewed random scrap bits to it, overlapping, unworried about seam placement other than to cover the batting.  We then quilted the pieces into place either systematically or, as I chose, in complete chaos.

It’s amazing how much I need a first push artistically (and in most life matters) but with a bit of guidance to start soon I’m off running and often times being told to reel it back (which I rarely do: something that can bite, but more often serves me well).

From our base, she taught us a number of tricks and tips from sewing fibers to making paper into fabric to stamping and using ephemera of all sorts. And though the class was not without its glitch or two (one darling had sewn her finger and broken a needle in it) I was ultimately left quenched with art but thirsting for so much more.

My wonderful partner gifted this class to me as a mid-year Yule present and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have received a better gift! I do wish these events allowed for a student cost as by FAR the majority of attendees are at an age to have more disposable income, and most even have an empty nest. But, I’m hopeful for saving up for future events and cross my fingers and toes that future instructors will be as magnificent as Linda Willis and Tracy Stilwell!

I promise to post photos of the work I completed soon. In the meantime, do you have artists conferences to promote from self experience with them??

What a busy weekend! From Friday till Sunday evening my sister and I attended sporadically the exceptional 5^th year anniversary of the convention Art is…You!, set this year in Petaluma CA, wine country. Offering 70 different worand reknown artisans from all over the world, Art is…..You was an aspiring adventure.

Go ahead and visit the web page for Art is…You. They will be hosting next years event on October 19th and are currently taking advanced reservations.

After waking up at the mind number hour of six on Friday morning, we set off, driving from Fremont to arrive early, for Ali’s six hour class on Mixed Media  Sewing (which she will describe most colorfully in a future blog) and I returned back to Fremont for work, only to return later that night for my class at seven, and my what a class! I was attending the Dremel Usage for Mixed Media Artistist, by Thomas Ashmon.

Let me step back for a moment and give you some history: This past Christmas I received a hand-me-down dremel set, my first ever power tool all of my own. So without the faintest clue as to how to use it or what to do with it once I figured out how not to kill myself with it, I set out to try and decode the mysteries of THE DREMEL.

Having become part of an elite group of people destined to create beautiful works of art (crossed fingers), all I now needed was a sure fire way of insuring I didn’t cut my finger off with my way cool new power tool. This is how I found myself at seven o’clock at the Sheridan Hotel in Petaluma CA, weighted down by a shiny red tool box, my new and till then unused dremel kit and a purse willed with four large 99 cent plates, ready to embark on my first ever how-to -class for making art with power tools.