Are you ready for the new year? I’m thrilled and honored to be teaching at Craft NAPA in gorgeous Napa Valley, California at an incredible new retreat created by Pokey Bolton. She is bringing together many fabulous teachers for this event to get your creative juices flowing and help guide you into your creative passion. The teachers are textile designers, fiber artists, sewinistas, painters, mixed media artists and art quilters. During this three-day retreat, you will have the opportunity to master your skills in collage, quilting, sketching, printmaking, painting, art journaling, and mixed media, all the while enjoying outstanding cuisine and wine, too.
Please join me in one (or all three) of my classes. I’m teaching creativity, collage, composition and painting in my three classes. Read on below. Sign up now…registration closes December 15th.
Thursday, January 7, 2016 $180
Creativity is not something you do, it’s who you are. In this one-day workshop, I will help you tune in more deeply to your creative urges and passion. We will take a walk through the pages of myThe Little Spark–30 Ways to Ignite Your Creativity. In this inspiring and uplifting workshop, we’ll work in a group setting to discover more about yourself, your creative process and even the old roadblocks and obstacles handed to you through your life. We’ll work to let go of self-limitation. You’ll learn what your Little Spark of creative passion looks like, how to capture it, and how to make room for it in your life.
The class will culminate in an inspiring activity called a Soul Box. You’ll each create a super special mini vision board inside of a cigar box that you will paint, decoupage and decorate with inspiring reminders of your creative journey and desire. It will be a little altar–there to remind you of the greatness within you and ignite your creativity in 2016.
COLLAGE! Composition & Design Techniques for Fabric and Paper Collage
Saturday, January 9, 2016 $180
How do you create an image? Where do you start? That can be hard for some people but Carrie Bloomston will offer you some art school tips and techniques to demystify the empty page and help you have confidence in your compositional layouts.
In this fun day of play, artist and fabric designer, Carrie Bloomston, will enlighten you to the intuitive process of creating composition for collage. Carrie’s soulful yet whimsical designs for fabric are created in a very hands-on way and she will help you listen to your urges and trust the process of finding the composition through both traditional and non-traditional methods including basic drawing and art history for reference. This inspiring day will be filled with fun art school techniques and exercises to help you create original art collages in your choice of fabric or paper. We will use Carrie’s most favorite tool, glue sticks, for both the paper and fabric designs. Several sewing machines will be available in the classroom if you wish.
THE ART OF FINDING: An Exploratory Painting Workshop
Friday, January 8, 2016 $180
What are you looking for? Join artist, fabric designer and creativity enabler, Carrie Bloomston, for a one-day workshop of abstract painting techniques and inspiration. No experience necessary (other than an open heart and willingness to play). All levels welcome. Carrie will teach some cool painting techniques from art history and some intuitive color theory to get you going. You’ll have the opportunity to work with antique Indian wood blocks to create printed layers in your paintings.
You’ll dig in. Make a mess. Paint in layers. Wash them off. Paint more. Use some old block printing techniques. Excavate the page. Excavate your soul. Find what you like. Find yourself. Let the rest go. Do it until you like what you see….then stop.
What you find when you step into your desire isn’t just a painting–
you find yourself–
your passion–
your Soul.
And it makes you whole.
My greatest wish, is for you to fall in love with yourself and what you find as you poke around in your messy heart.
Please leave your comment by Dec 10th and answer this question: What are your creative goals for 2016?
If you leave a comment you may win a $500 Gift Certificate from eQuilter.com. All comments from this blog post and on the others below will go into one big grand prize drawing that will happen after December 10.
CRAFT NAPA Instructors blog hop:
Nov 30- Jane LaFazio – http://janeville.blogspot.com
Dec 1 – Lynn Krawczyk – http://smudgeddesignstudio.com/blog/
Dec 2 – Judy Coates Perez – http://www.judycoatesperez.com/
Dec 3 – Jenny K. Lyon – http://quiltskipper.com/blog/
Dec 4 – Jamie Fingal – http://JamieFingalDesigns.blogspot.com/
Dec 5 – Melanie Testa – http://melanietesta.com/blog/
Dec 6 – Elizabeth St. Hilaire – http://www.paperpaintings.com/
Dec 7– Leslie Jenison – http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com/
Dec 8- Carrie Bloomston – http://www.carriebloomston.com/blog/
Dec 9 – Cheryl Sleboda – http://blog.muppin.com
Dec 10 – Pokey Bolton – http://pokeysponderings.com/
I’d like to thank the wonderful CRAFT NAPA sponsors, BERNINA and Meissner Sewing and Vacuum Centers.
My art goal for the coming year is to be less critical of my art work and follow my soul on creating beautiful pieces of art.
My creative goals for 2016: be more precise in my stitching whether by hand or machine, attempt some art quilting ideas I have floating around in my head and overcome my fear of sharing my artwork with others especially in trying to sell some pieces.
My 2016 goal to concentrate on color me increase my skills through doing.
I will be in your painting class, looking forward to it!
My 2016 creative goal is to dive in and enjoy all endeavors whether cloth or paint and quit over analyzing.
I’m looking forward to seeing your work in person at Craft Napa!
My goal is to try new techniques. Your art is so inspiring! Thanks for the blog.
I want to try making a landscape quilt & a window quilt.
My creative goal for 2016 is to do more free motion quilting and machine embroidery.
My goal is to be more relaxed with incorporating embroidery, both machine and hand, into my quilting.
My creative goals are in general always the same – try new things! Specifically, I want to do more free motion quilting (like Moewest) and complete more small projects.
My goal this year will be to incorporate what I learn at Craft Napa into the work I already do and to finish my many unfinished items.
My goal for 2016 is to experiment and do more free motion quilting. And to finish some of my big ‘o pile of UFOs.
Like others here, I want to play with free motion quilting. I’ve taken a few classes the past couple of years, but it still intimidates me. My goal for 2016 is to get past the intimidation and gain confidence with machine quilting.
For 2016 I’d love to work on improving my sketching skills and incorporate my sketches into some of my quilt projects. Thanks for the opportunity to win this great prize!
My 2016 goal is to improve my free motion quilting. So looking forward to Napa this January!
My goal is to put myself out there more. Thanks for the chance to win!
one of my goals is to warp my loom and do some weaving. Also to work on an online class that I haven’t finished.
Here are the creative goals: 1. Have an art quilt juried into a show. 2. Draw or make something at least 5 days per week. Now I’ve said it, I have to do it! Thanks for a chance to win!
My goals are to allow myself to let loose and play.
Too many goals to list-oh yeah-my goal is to have more focus! grin.
My goals are to try new approaches to my art – I also want to learn more about dyeing my own fabric.
Master EQ7 and pattern writing and get some patterns out into the quilt world. I’m looking forward to meeting you!
My creative goal for 2016 is to complete my watercolor course I started and to make more time for my art quilting.
Working on my long arm quilting skills and trying some new techniques.
My creative goals are to use more value and neutrals in my work to make the main colors “pop”, to become better on my sit down quilting machine, and to stay focused on a piece and complete it. I also want to do more printing and then incorporate that into art quilts.
My creative goal is to improve my designing skills and free-motion quilting skills.