Abstractions From Nature

Led by Helene Knott

Creating a beautiful design involves assembling forms into a pleasing arrangement, considering aspects such as balance and composition. This is true of any design, whether representational or abstract, geometric or organic. Some people have an intuitive sense and skill for combining shapes and lines into lovely compositions. Still, for many, the distractions of image identity and lack of 'drawing skills' may interfere with the creative process. My college art professor used to tell us: the moment you decide to draw a fish, the fish is dictating what it should look like. He taught us a process of abstraction by isolating and simplifying a portion of an image to its basic elements of visual interest and balance. He called this process' Discovery Designs'. In this class, I will teach you this method for ‘discovering’ an abstract design from a representational image and creating your own unique quilt pattern.