It’s All About the Face: Part 1
...and another class!
Near the end of my Click Buy Now binge, I signed up for a class series about quilted portraits. For many years I have wanted to delve into making quilts from photos of family, friends and animals. Some of you may have seen my first attempt when I created a pillow for my sister in memory of her beloved dog, Tyler—it’s my most popular post.
I belong to the Facebook group, “It’s All About the Face.” Phyllis Cullen and Cindy Richard are the authors of the book of the same name, and solicited group members to join a group where they would teach the process. My girlfriend Cindy and I jumped at the idea.
I think we started with 12 group members, not including the instructors. We meet by Zoom and I’m sure scheduling was not easy; the authors are 12 time zones apart in distance. We met on Sundays at 12:00 noon; easy enough for me, and I’m glad I’m not in any of the other time zones.
The first of five sessions was a lecture of what we would be learning in the process; not just creating the actual projects, but also learning how to create the patterns. While the first project would be a pattern created by Phyllis, our next project would be from our own photos, with Phyllis creating the patterns for each of us from the photos submitted by the group members.
Before the class series started, Cindy borrowed all of my portrait quilt books (I have several). When she returned them, she told me she purchased one of the titles because it did such a great job in explaining how to manipulate the photo into a pattern. I need to re-read that book, which is:
Both books are available for purchase at Amazon (NAYY).
The second session lasted 3 hours and it flew—this was one of those great times that I lost myself in the process, had no issues following the instructions, and thoroughly enjoyed it! Do you know how many times I have started a class project only to take the partially completed item home and lock it up in a bin for future completion? Those who know me know that doesn’t work out well for me. I am psyched about this one. This is where we were at the end of the second class:
By the third session, we had added items to our subject AND had our patterns for the next project. Phyllis demonstrated techniques for adding highlights to make the subject more realistic. Here’s where I was with my project at the beginning of the third session:
Not necessarily realistic with the leaves and beads, but fun!
At our fourth session we had our individual projects for which the teachers had made our patterns, and we then started learning how to create our own patterns. I have created 5 patterns to date; 3 were sent to the instructors for critique. I seem to be on the right track and you will see the results in the future.
In the fourth session we were also taught how to quilt the piece to add contours and enhance facial features. I started adding highlights last weekend.
Moving forward, I reached the point of no return and added what the instructor called “pasted-on lips.” Yeah...I want to rip them out but I also want to finish it. All that’s left is to face it and trim a few threads (and maybe remove those lips). I may leave them in to serve as a reminder of what NOT to do.
The second project is a photo of our youngest and his wife. I had the layers fused down by our fourth session, and I scrambled this past weekend to get more done on Dave and Emma’s portrait. The eyes are the hardest things to do. I think Dave has never in his life had his eyes open as wide as what I’ve done to him. Emma’s left eye looks a bit weird to me but that’s partly due to the way the light hit that glass lens. I took a chance with the thread I used for one of the layers—a Sulky 30wt variegated thread I’ve hoarded for years. This one is taking longer to quilt because (1) it’s bigger than the hula man and (2) it’s a bit more intimidating because I’m the one who has to determine the contours to quilt. Cindy and I were laughing about this on Saturday because while it’s fun it’s also a bit daunting.
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| This is where I was Sunday afternoon; I spent Monday afternoon ripping out a lot of this stitching. |
Sunday was our last session. While I have not finished my 2 projects, I’m working on them. I received some critiques and observations on my work, and will do what was suggested. The best thing I heard in the session yesterday was that you spend as much time observing your art as you do creating your art. I think that’s very true. In this technique there is a lot of critical thinking from start to finish. On Saturday I began quilting the portrait of Dave and Emma. I probably spent at least 3 hours or more deciding the path for the quilting, but stopped with each section to determine if what I had stitched was right for the desired effect.
I have been mostly happy with the way this is going and I’m going to continue creating with this technique. I will do my best to document my process along the way. The goal is to create a portrait of each of our kids and their significant others, along with one of the Hubs and myself. I have some other quilts in my head (and in my photos) that I want to make utilizing this technique.
I highly recommend this class to anyone wanting to explore quilted portraiture, and here is the link to the authors' website: https://quiltedportraitsandmore.com/. If you’re into instant gratification projects, this is not the way you want to go. There’s a lot of critical thinking necessary (which I love); so bear this in mind. This is also a good course to take with a friend—you will be each other’s cheering squad. Cindy and I laugh when we talk about how much fun it is, but that it can also be daunting.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. Go make!
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