Workbook Wednesday

And we're off and running! I have joined Upstatelisa's Workbook Wednesday project in an effort to learn more about art quilting. It's early days yet, and so far, I think Lisa is the only one who has actually started a quilt.

We will be working our way through this book: "Art Quilt Workbook" by Jane Davila and Elin Waterston. The first two chapters are all about colour theory and things like perspective and such. Had I been doing this on my own, I suppose I would just have skimmed through these chapters and thrown myself into the quiltmaking part. But that's actually one of the advantages of doing this with somebody else - you keep on the straight and narrow and actually do those excercises, and there is actually something to learn from having to think things through, do the sketching (I'm definitely no artist when it comes to figurative drawing!), cut the fabric squares and make your choices based on word prompts and such.

We are supposed to choose a theme for the series of quilts we are making, and after a lot of thinking back and forth, I have decided on windows. That can be taken literally: windows on buildings, with a choice of looking in or out. But there are other options: windows of opportunity, eyes being the windows of the soul etc, so I'm leaving myself several choices along the way here.

I have been thinking of a palette for the series as well, and I suppose the jury is still out on that. I tend to go for blues, greens, aquas and maybe a bit of fuchsia thrown in for contrast, but that might just be taking the easy way out. Maybe something more earthy? Terracotta, ochre, olive and pine green, sunflower yellow - and suddenly I have a Tuscan summer in mind.

That's definitely where I was going when I was pulling out these first fabrics, but I do realize that the background here will be far too busy for the trees to stand out. If I go with that Tuscan colour story it might come in handy later, though. I didn't get time to start sewing today, but I'll be working steadily along and report my progress next Wednesday. Meanwhile, check out what we're all doing in the Workbook Wednesday pool.