From their reference photos to the final pet pillow or wall hanging, a pack of fabric dogs made their way in and out of my studio recently. This group of canine portraits and memorials graced my design wall. I’m pleased to report they all were on their best behavior, even when felines were interspersed between them.

Similar to the blog post Fabric Pet Portraits: A Clowder of Cats, there are certain aspects that are critical to the creation of a dog portrait. These are the reference photograph, background choice, and the interactive part of the creation process. Let’s look at these together.

Mo’s reference photo

Photograph Selection

Sometimes folks know exactly which photograph they want for their art piece. Other times, someone has a number of favorites and needs some guidance seeing what would work better for them, that is, a wall hanging, canvas art, or a pillow. I welcome multiple photos when someone isn’t sure.

I then discuss with my clients the photographs I feel would translate well into fabric pictures and WHY. My distance from the pet allows me a bit more objectivity to see what each photo shares about the beloved animal’s personality.

The pictures below show different possibilities for Sami and Cody. Notice that at the top left, the two photos are enlarged to different sizes. This helped her see the difference between a 16 and 18 inch (41 and 52 cm) pillow since size is another consideration.

Enlargements of different possible reference photos for Sami and Cody

Taking the time to get the photo enlarged and even a second resizing is so worth it. Starting with the best “personality” photo ensures a solid foundational point for all the remaining steps.

The blog post Chosing a Photo for your Pet Portrait talks further about what makes a good photograph.

Backgrounds

When people send me their photos for consideration, I explain that the background of the fabric pet portrait can be (almost) anything.

Some prefer a portrait background for their pet pillow or wall art. At the beginning of the creation process, I lay a cut-out enlarged version of the chosen photo on top of various fabrics of the individual’s chosen colors.

Cody on possible blue fabric, and Sami and Cody auditioning a new blue fabric

In the first photo above you can see one of the blue background choices for Cody. My client initially decided on the green and light blue in the second photo. Upon further consideration, she asked for a dark blue. That fabric is spread out behind the working drafts of Sami and Cody so she could see how it would work with both dogs.

As you can see below, I created each of the dogs with a green and a blue background. I affectionately referred to them as Sami-on-Blue, Sami-on-Green, Cody-on-Blue and Cody-on-Green.

Sami-on-Green and Sami-on-Blue

Does the dog spend its time outdoors walking or hiking with its owner? A scenic background might work best, emphasizing that part of the animal’s personality. These could be a grassy area, mountains with a field in foreground, a lake, or any sort of natural element. Morty (below) is standing in a grassy field by the forest.

This second draft of Morty is all pinned and, having received the client’s stamp of approval, is ready to be sewn. His collar was in the reference photo and its inclusion here adds that pop of color to a predominately tri-toned fabric picture.

Mo (the featured photo at the beginning) started his background with a lake scene. It then changed to a solid piece of spring grass only to evolve into Mo walking through a field with daisies waving in the breeze with mountains in the background. Such a perfect representation of Mo’s Colorado life!

Is there a certain blanket, bed or toy that no one better touch or a playful tug-of-war game might start? Those can easily be incorporated into the pet memorial or portrait picture.

Leslie’s granddog and Winston

The Creation Process

As mentioned in Making a Pet Portrait: Cooper’s Memorial Pillow, the process of creating a pet portrait or memorial involves many progress photos. Each email usually contains a set of “Goldilocks” questions, where I’m checking to see if something is too dark, too light or just right.

I often say the creation of a fabric pet picture can be completed in several days when it’s not a custom portrait. For the most part, somewhere in the multiple fabric bins that line these studio walls, there is a piece that comes close enough to a reference photograph. It is the interactive process that takes a longer time.

An example of tweaking: adding more grass and some daisies

During this interactive process, I’m:

• Finding/cutting each piece of material that’s as close as possible to the pet’s actual fur shape and color.
• Taking photographs at different stages of completion for each body section.
• Emailing those photos to my client with questions about color choices.
• Tweaking the fabric picture based on their responses.
• Sending more photos, tweaking again until first draft is done.
• Emailing first draft photo to client.
• Based on responses to “any more tweaks needed?” making those changes for the second draft.
• When a stamp of approval is given, stiching the portrait together.
• Sending another photo for confirmation that it’s right.
• Selecting backing material with photographs of possible fabric choices.
• Conducting a final photo shoot with studio lights.

Here’s an example of two dogs together

Handled with Extra Care: Dog Memorials

Some thoughts on pet grief…

Whether my client is the individual who has lost their pet or it is a pet loss sympathy gift, there is a somewhat different sense when creating a tribute to honor the life of the beloved pet. The tangible images of a lost pet, whether photograph or art piece, are frozen in time. We can no longer see other new facial expressions or nuanced head tilts. They can’t go to the other room to take a better photograph of their eyes or side view of their face. Capturing the spirit of the pet is so critical.

The loss of a pet is heart wrenching for the owners, neighbors who looked forward to handing out a treat or two, and for the extended family of the owners. There is an emptiness and confusion and even as time passes, there remains a difference within.  Instagram user @thepetpsycholoist has a post that says “Our grief doesn’t grow smaller. We grow around our grief.”

Chip was Susan’s niece’s dog, yet Susan spoke about how she missed “my boy” tremendously. The reference photo had an unusual background, so much so that I seriously doubted I would be able to replicate it or even come close. Then I remembered the white and black paw print fabric that I often use for the backing of pillows. PERFECTO!!

Chip’s reference photo and memorial pillow

The memorial pillow included fleece bedding and Chip’s name on his special dog bed. Even though this was a gift for her niece, Susan shared that when she unwrapped the pillow, she gave him a big hug while thinking “He is home.”

Winston, Cody, and Sami (all above) were also memorial pictures. Winston was a sympathy gift for a friend and Cody and Sami were two sets of memorial pillows for her daughters.

There’s another dog in this Pack!

There is another finished dog in this particular pack of pet portraits and memorials. However, he has not been gifted yet so he will have to wait for his turn in the media spotlight.

In fact, since he is an all-black dog, he probably will be one of the featured pets for my future blog about the one color animals.

As I typed this blog post, he sat there so patiently on my design wall that I had to share just this glimpse of him. You can see a bit of the Colorado mountains in the background. How many different blacks do you see in this portion of his neck?

Actually, it seems as though the “woof-woof” line is working well as more dogs walked into my studio this month. Three are already for their final grooming (being sewn up), three are awaiting for their reference photos to arrive so I can begin working on them, and one is wandering around to see what type of sky he wants to rest under.

There has been a clowder of fabric pet portraits and pet memorials on my design wall this fall/winter. What’s a clowder? Clowder: a group of cats.

Over the 16 years that I have created custom pet portraits and memorials, the overwhelming number of customer requests have been for dogs. However, these past 5 months the number of furry felines I made into pillows or canvas mounted cat art has definitely been a clowder’s worth.
Whether it was a memorial wall hanging, cat pillows for birthday presents, or special Christmas presents, each of these creations delighted the recipient and gave my customers a special warm feeling of gifting a one-of-a-kind pet portrait.

Paul

In creating fabric pet pictures, there are certain aspects that are critical in the creation process of a cat portrait. These are:

• • • Capturing the correct essence of “cattitude”
    • Blending of fur
    • Representing their ever-changing eyes

Here’s how I intertwine these concepts into my pet portrait art:

Cattitude

Frequently I receive multiple photographs for a pet portrait. This allows my client and I to determine the best reference photograph for the personality traits or look of the cat that they want portrayed.

Below are four enlarged photos of Wispa, a recent pet portrait commission. While I received others, these four photographs struck me as the best possibilities. I’ve written the message I interpreted from each photo below.

Far left: the head tilt says “Hey there! Are you going to play with me or what?”

2nd: Paws on chair arm clearly state “We both know who’s queen of the house, don’t we?”

3rd: Eyes down and sitting posture speak of her intention “I’ll pay attention to you after I’m done fluffing myself”

4th: Straight on view whispers “Stare into my eyes and you’ll come under my spell”

My customer narrowed it down to the two on the left. In our email exchange, I spoke about the artistic differences between them. The first one would show off Wispa’s fluffiness on her face and chest area in greater detail, a more intimate pet portrait; the second would project a majestic, yet casual nature. As seen at the beginning of this post, she chose fluffiness.

Just to be clear, any of these photos would have made an amazing pet portrait pillow and surprised the birthday girl to no end.

Wispa’s final reference photo

FABRICating CAT EYES  

As mentioned in two previous blog posts, ( Making a Pet Portrait: Cooper’s Memorial Pillow  and  Their Eyes Speak: Different Techniques for Fabric Pet Portrait Eyes) I talk about how eyes are critical to capturing the essence of any beloved pet. Often this is where I begin laying out the fabric since the eyes then frame the rest of the creation process. 

Shakespeare’s close-up

With solid color eyes as with Shakespeare, an eye itself is usually three pieces of material and thread painting for the eye sparkle. The surrounding eyebrows and eye-circle fur can be just one piece or several appliqued one on another.

The marbling effect of cat’s eyes is captured by finding a scrap fabric that has lines within the pattern or painting that look on fabric. In Paul’s eye below, the tiny vines of green material give just enough contrast to create an impression of marbling. For Iris’s eyes, I painted her eyes and used fabric marker to achieve the depth within her eyes. Both have eye sparkle: Paul has thread for his and Iris uses white acrylic paint.

Iris’s eyes

For memorial portraits, the connection between the cat and owner is often the aspect that my customers choose to emphasize. Being able to look into those adoring eyes and feel warm memories come flooding back can be such a powerful healer. In The Art of Remembrance:Pet Memorials in Fabric, I speak of how healing from pet loss is a journey and creating a pet portrait memorial can be a part of the healing process.

WHISKERS

Some of the recent cats had whiskers that were longer than their faces. It just made me laugh each time I looked at their photos on the studio wall!

Whiskers can be created with thread or fabric markers. I usually do them with thread, just to emphasize the texture.

In Iris’s portrait above, the whiskers are several strands of embroidery thread. I’d like to say it was because I wanted to emphasize the color difference against the dark brown face. That, however, would have required forethought. Nope, this was simply that I forgot to thread paint the whiskers with regular sewing thread.

My options were to either 1) rip open the seams, sew the whiskers on, and resew as a wall hanging or 2) sew the whiskers without disassembling the completed portrait. With my customer’s permission, the whiskers were done with embroidery thread. This was an “oops” that, in my opinion, turned out for the better in the overall design.

Here’s a close up of Gabby’s whiskers. Created with sewing thread, these were done with free motion quilting, a technique where the material is guided by one’s hands as opposed to the feed-dogs of the sewing machine.

The Queen of Whiskers in this round of cat portraits, however, is Wispa. If you compare her pillow at the top of the blog and reference photo, you will see that I didn’t even approach the number of whiskers she has.

Fabric Fur

With cats whose coats are solid, colorpoint, bicolor or tricolor, it is usually easy to find corresponding fabrics. For me, it’s a question of whether I search the Fat Quarter totes first or the Big Lengths totes first. Even some of the tabby cats can be simple to create.

It is the tabbies where the overall color is blended onto a different color background or “field” and the torties and torbies that require a deeper fabric search.

Gabby

As you can see with Gabby, the patterns of the fabrics lend an air of patched fur and give that depth or field. In this portrait, I also used fabric markers to create some black fur lines as well as the dots on her snout.

Here is Iris’s portrait. While she wasn’t created recently, since she was included in this blog post, Iris deserved to have her full portrait to be shown here. The red is a velveteen fabric, soft like the blanket in her reference photo. It just sets off her piercing eyes perfectly.

Via (my cat) and I hope you sign up for the monthly newsletter where I share studio updates. As Head Supervisor, she even has her own section now.

Preparing for an art show is like getting back on a bicycle, except since it’s been 32 months since my last show, I had to: take inventory, redesign the booth layout, order what I needed, put fresh covers on the matted pictures, rewire some wall hangings with stronger wires, cut and drill holes in new flat hangers for other wall hangings, and redo all pricing tags (since I couldn’t find the old design shape).

And that’s before the grid walls…

Decisions: the grid walls

This year’s addition of cloth covers for my grid walls is an investment to achieve a gallery look for the booth.

Decision 1 – what color/ colors? With the help of my crafter friend and my daughter, I went with pewter for the display panels and black for the featured panel.

The photo below (to the left) shows one of my trial runs minus a sign talking about Evening Song Farm CSA as my inspiration. At each show one of my bigger works will be featured on a black cloth background. What About Me?, my climate action piece, is the first one.

In the right photo, you can see two bags of matted pictures and the larger canvas ones in the distance. They don’t get loaded up until the day of set-up.

Note my assistant, Via. She decided to bat a bottle cap around. I reminded her that those are her toys and she should be cleaning up after herself. I was ignored.

Decision two – Even though the previous themes for each gridwall panel are the same, what to hang on each one? There are new pieces as well as ones from before. Multiple versions of the possible layouts were made. The final ones are tucked away on my clipboard. I learned years ago that this makes the set-up go much faster … then I’m not having to make decisions on the spot.

Once that is done, the totes are packed accordingly. Extra inventory is packed and a list of what’s inside each one is posted inside the lid. This prevents the frustrations of “Now where DID I pack that piece?” when someone asks if I have XYZ with a different background color.

Fortunately my show preparation/packing list didn’t need much tweaking. Hand sanitizer and masks were two additions… a sign of the times.

The car is fully packed!

Setting up for the first show

You wonder why you’re doing this when:

• You are placed 15 feet away from the music stage and there’ll be bands all day long.
• It’s been so long since you set up your tent and it’s hot and it takes you an additional hour and you’re not even done.
• Getting the bungie cords through the gridwall covers takes so long that you just attack/slice more of the sewn openings to get it done quickly.
• 9 feet on paper does NOT match 10 feet on the ground.
• The sides of the tent billow like sails while you’re trying to set the tent up.
• You wake up at 4:15 AM the day of the show and can’t get back to sleep. Oh, and the show goes from noon until 7 PM.
• You get there 3 hours early the day of the show because you never finished the night before.
• There’s no breeze for most of the first day and it’s 89 degrees F and your booth faces the afternoon sun.

You do a happy dance because:

• You got moved away from the stage.
• You have the location of everything already decided and it’s all in one tote and product placement is a breeze.
• You like the way the booth looks and it’s not even all finished.
• A fellow crafter you haven’t seen in 2+ years pops by your booth and his booth is diagonally behind yours.
• You see your friend for the first time in 32 months and it feels like it was just last week. (Of course, that could be from talking on the phone 2-3 times a week.)

Inside of booth with featured panel in the middle

Not all shows are the same

So craft shows are a unique entity unto themselves. Some have only crafters who make their own product; others allow people who assemble pre-made things. Some have just crafters with a small food section; others have the vendors and a food court. Some add additional attractions to bring people in – petting zoos, bands on stage, beer tent, etc. Each draws a different crowd.

Even shows where a crafter/artist has been before, things like the weather, economy, world events, or other things happening in the nearby towns affect who attends. One year you could have a buying crowd, the next a strolling crowd. As a vendor, one never knows.

Since shows are a way for people to find out about my custom pet portrait and pet memorial work, I never determine “the real success” of a show until the end of the year when I find out how many custom orders came from a particular show.

Don’t get me wrong, I do a huge happy dance inside when I sell my works at shows. Seeing how much the person likes that particular piece is always so gratifying and affirming. I love knowing I’ve covered all my expenses and more. And at this time, shows are also a strong marketing strategy.

Here’s some of the new Faces collection and the Spirit Animals collection on the new shelving unit. Looks like Calvin, the Crafty One, and Tom-Tom, the Pouncer, made their way off the shelf and over to the adjacent panel.

Notes from behind the scenes

Going to the bathroom at a craft show or getting lunch at a food stand is a developed art form. It involves finding a nearby vendor to “cover your booth” as well as timing it perfectly (looking for that lull in the crowd traffic) and then hoping there isn’t a big line ahead of you at the porta-potty or food truck. And when the stars align, you can get there and back before another customer shows up.

Wind is not an artist’s friend at a show. A slight breeze, yes, for that can certainly cool you down. However, the gusts that grab your tent top and sides and turn them into sails are not welcome.

There is a learned skill to holding onto a truss or side pole with all your might to keep the booth from going slightly airborne. Even with heavy weights, tents can lift. I bring four or eight 5 pound weights to go at the base of the legs, stakes to pound legs into the ground, 4 concrete-filled PVC pipes with rope attached to tie onto the tent at the corners, and, in case of strong wind forecast, dog screws with 4 ratchets to attach at corners. Not that I use them all each time; however they’re there if I need them.

Rain and dew aren’t a vendor’s favorites either. Besides the fact that rain keeps crowds away, it’s a matter of protecting your art as rain hits the side of the tent and roof. Some sides are completely waterproof. Mine are not, thus requiring plastic to go behind the panels when there’s moisture. On those cool late summer/early fall nights, dew forms inside a tent requiring everything to be covered with plastic or tarps at the end of the day.

But the most challenging thing for me is when it’s raining hard during a show and the rain starts coming into the tent. Clear shower curtains clipped to the front tent trusses and weighted down with clamps have worked the best for me. There is an opening for people to come through and they can still see what is being sold while the clamps prevent the curtains from flailing all over.

This event was held on a recently mowed field. There were crickets everywhere! One or two came home with me.

What makes it all worthwhile

At my second show, I was so moved when two different former clients came up and talked with me about how touched their daughter and wife were with their holiday (2019) gifts. Here are those portraits…

Kitchie and Tanner

Other tidbits

There are certain things that are constants and require no thinking at this point in my career: insurance, a shopping app, and a packing list.

I use SQUARE for my transactions. I find it simple to use and even with my sometimes wonky phone, it worked like a dream this past show. An investment in a battery pack is invaluable so that you can still process sales if the phone runs out of battery.

I have ACT insurance. Prior to moving to Vermont, I only had a rider on my homeowner’s insurance. At one Spring Marketing Conference sponsored by the Vermont Crafts Council, there was a couple who shared what had happened to them. Their studio had burned down completely. Listening to them talk about the help and support they received as a result of having their insurance policy through ACT just convinced me that this was an investment I needed to make. I chose to get annual coverage because that way it was on auto-pilot. I didn’t have to remember to apply for insurance for one show and then the next and I had that backing all year. Besides, it ended up being less expensive.

A packing list is another necessary tool. I was able to pull up mine from 2019, tweak it a bit and use that to be sure I had everything I needed. With the exception of the phillips head screwdriver I left on the kitchen table, everything made its way to my first show. Even had extra tent stakes, electrical tape, and string to lend to other vendors who needed some supplies.

For the following three shows, my routine was basically the same. It definitely was an advantage that I had been to two of the shows before.

Olivia at her first show. I decided to bring her even though she is still a WIP (work in progress).

I’m currently unpacking from my last show. The next one is in 6 weeks, which gives me plenty of time to go through my winter-themed inventory and make whatever is needed for the November shows.

What has been so satisfying has been sharing my art with others in-person once again. Being able to describe the how-to to interested visitors and watching people’s reaction when they go through my Look Book of completed pet portrait and pet memorial custom orders is always invigorating as an artist.

Sunflowers, fuschia, coneflowers, black-eyes susans, painted daisies, tulips, lilies, zinnias and pansies are some examples of fabric flowers I have created, as well as tended in my gardens over the years. Fabric flowers offer a fabulous opportunity to play with color and textures to create a single bloom or a bouquet in a realistic or whimsical style.

Gardening and flowers have been a big part of my life for over 45 years now. The gardens on the estate we lived/worked on and our own land reconnected me to the earth through growing our food. My first ever-expanding perennial garden grew and grew because I didn’t want to mow the lawn at my house.

Two of the perennial beds at my current home.

Here in Vermont I have slowly converted a chunk of my lawn to perennial beds, a “foster garden” and a row of elderberries. Most of the FLOWER POWER collection is inspired from photographs of my own flowers.

Sometimes I have to chuckle at how that young city girl who rode her bike in the alley, played stoop ball off the building steps into the street, and lived in apartments ended up with her soul and feet deeply connected to the earth.

Fabric Flowers

Early on in my fabric art journey I took an online FLOWER POWER class from Quilt University. I learned how to make flowers in different ways: “the free form collage method, quick and easy fusible applique, the complexity of freezer paper and upside down applique.” I created a tulip, black eyed susans, a coneflower, and an abstract flower in that class. Then, just like my in-the-soil flower garden, the flower art grew and grew.

From an exhibit in Manchester, Vermont

I found the “sandwich” method (below) to be one of my favorite techniques. After cutting out the petals and leaves, a piece of tulle is placed over the whole piece. The leaves are sewn using the blanket stitch while either free-motion quilting or zig-zag stitch holds the “flower sandwich” together. Thread painting (free motion quilting) provides texture to the stems or petals.

What I enjoy about this way of creating flowers is that it brings one back to drawing as a child. The petals are misshapen, the width of the stems uneven, and the leaves look like a triangle with curved edges. And best of all, there is no way to make a mistake. It WILL look like a flower.

Painted daisies with batik material for leaves, the simulate the fern-like texture of the leaves

Sunflowers are a staple at Evening Song Farm. Besides being Kara’s favorite flower, they tower above the perennial garden as well as frame the borders of the CSA Pick-Your-Own garden.

The fabric sunflowers require just some in-and-out cuts to create the petals, semi-circular inner petals, thin strips for the stems and a shrub shape for the leaves. Free-motion quilting holds the flowers down; my “staple” blanket stitch anchors the leaves and stems. You could also use a zig-zag or satin stitch.

Sometimes the fabric I have guides me in the direction of a creation. Below, the background fabric called for a hanging plant. Fuschias used to be one of my mother’s favorites, plus I had this amazing piece of fabric with pinks, magenta, and purples splotched here and there.

Fuschias at the exhibit in Manchester, Vermont

Can you believe that, besides the background, only two other materials were used? Again, that is one of the special benefits of using batik fabric. There always are so many colors and/or hues in one piece you pick up. A simple zig-zag stitch created the stems. A while after the piece was finished, I felt the leaves were too flat, so out came the fabric paint sticks to create veins.

Flowers Through the Seasons – A WIP (work in progress)

This basket of flowers began years ago. At some point, I put it aside as it just wasn’t “grabbing” me. Recently, it emerged and is in the queue of bigger works to finish in 2022/ early 2023.

Starting with the early spring flowers of daffodils and pansies, this piece moves into the warmth of the later spring/ early summer blossoms. The lilies have thread painted pistils and stamens; the irises are awaiting theirs. The approaching autumn air leaves behind summer’s black-eyed susans and coneflowers. The long lasting sunflowers (top right- just the tips shown in this photo) transition well through the waning warmth of summer to those crisp autumn mornings. These are followed by the brilliance of the winter poinsettia.

Some of the stems have fallen off, more leaves need to be added and a lot of thread painting is still on the horizon. I can once again see the potential in this piece. Hopefully, I will finish it sometime this summer …. or fall … and there’s always winter.

Summer Reflections

While living in Vermont somewhat limits the growing season, I treasure those moments of gardening, either for myself or others. There’s something about just watching the bees light on the catmint after a rain or see a butterfly light on the Joe Pye Weed that warms my heart.

Whether you find joy from flowers through plants grown by you or a neighbor or through ones you create from fabric, I hope that inspires you to take a step in caring for our planet.

In January of this year I enrolled in a 5 day on-line animal portrait class with Susan Carlson, an amazing fabric collage artist. Besides being in awe of her artwork over all these years, I wanted to stretch myself as an artist by learning a new fabric collage portrait technique and creating a larger-than-life art portrait.

The Beginning: A Photograph, a Line Drawing and Susan Carlson’s Master Class

I went back and forth regarding my reference photo. Would it be a stunning red fox, a great horned owl, or a barn owl?
While I have done birds before, the fox seemed like it wouldn’t be that much different than the pets I do now. Of course, there was the possibility of making it in blue or purple. I eventually settled on the great horned owl because of the multitude of feathers and its vibrant colors.

In preparation for Susan’s Pre-Class Coaching session, I traced an outline from the reference photo. The balance of not enough details versus having too many details took me a couple attempts to master. I felt like Goldilocks. One attempt had pieces too big, another too small and then, just right. The screenshot below on the left is from my pre-class coaching session with Susan.

Too little detail, then just right

The other parts of the pre-class homework were to gather up a palette of possible fabrics, enlarge my line drawing, trace it onto muslin, and to watch the videos in Susan’s Fabric Collage Online Master Class. I can’t possibly put into words how invaluable this series of videos was. Susan adeptly breaks down each of the steps in creating a fabric collage. While familiar with some of her techniques from her blog, this master class put it all together with step by step videos.

In spite of having created pet portraits for over 12 years, that whole week prior, I definitely had a case of the new student/new school jitters. There were moments of “could I do this?” and “what happens if I’m too slow?” and “what if I can’t combine the colors correctly?” Yes, those mindset gremlins that delight in blocking my creative process were running rampant.

There was a “meeting” the evening before class started. After introductions, I felt as if I was in the presence of the Sorting Hat (Harry Potter reference) as I waited nervously to hear which group/room I would be with. Turns out there were 5 of us who were creating creatures that flew – two owls, two butterflies, and one bee. (Spoiler: this was the perfect group for me.)

Great Horned Owl Head: Day One

Each morning and afternoon began with a mini-lecture/ demonstration from Susan talking about a certain aspect of our creative collage journey. She would then “go” from room to room, commenting on our progress individually, answering questions and providing encouragement. In the course of a day, she came to each room three times minimum. At each break, her husband Tom would “call out” for photos of our progress and he’d quickly take everything we sent him and place it in each of our individual folders for Susan to reference when she came to each of us.

Susan had us start with the eyes/nose area of the face, if there was one. (The bee portrait had a great bee butt instead of a face, as that was deep inside the flower.). As the day went on, there was a huge shift inside me. I went from “Can I keep up/ do this?” to “Look at me. I’m doing it.” I think that evening I sent photos to all my friends and family. I was just so excited by this new technique.

The morning session, and by the end of the day

Owl Face Crown, Ear Tufts, and Beak: Refining Everything

Screenshot of areas to be corrected

By day three, I realized there were things that, in my vision, just absolutely need changing before I worked my way down to the chest feathers. And if that meant I didn’t finish Olivia completely in class that would be fine. I needed to work on and receive feedback on those areas.

Not sure if you can spot things besides Susan’s correction (marked in white in the photo above) but here is what I focussed on:

1. The direction of the crown feathers (dark blue) was wrong. They were vertical and should be horizontal.
2. There were no lightish color feathers to define her face.
3. Ear tufts were too tropically yellow. It needed muted color there and more variation in the darker colors.
4. The owl’s left side (our right) of face wasn’t built out enough. She had no neck at all there.
5. There was too much black on one side of her beak and the surrounding feathers were too dark.

In the first photo below, you can see that I shifted the direction of the loons in the crown (dark blue fabric) and added small golden pieces that matched the golden part of the ear feathers. In the second photograph, I lightened up the area all around the beak. (FYI – I changed it up a third time after class was finished.)

Ear tuft and beak close up

Adding depth to the eyes was an interesting process. It was a freeing experience to create an eye that was 3 to 10 times bigger than my usual size. The level of detail often called for tweezers for the correct placement. I remember exclaiming outloud “wow” when I stepped back to look at the revisions.

There are 17 different pieces of fabric that make up this eye.

Creating Feathers from Fabric

Part of Susan’s technique is to cut the individual pieces following the markings from the original enlarged outline. Having the markings on the muslin meant all one has to do is place the fabric piece over the area and lifting up the edges, slowly cut along the marking lines. While the picture below appears to follow my outline, there were times when I took a shortcut or two and didn’t exactly follow every single line.

The picture below shows when I was working on the white feathers that distinguish Olivia’s face from her chest. Here you have a better view of the blue loons that are in her crown. I also deliberately put in several pieces with additional creatures. Can you spot one?

This also is an excellent example of how one can use unrelated patterned fabrics to achieve a particular look. The ruffled fronds of the ferns give a layered and fluffy appearance. It also was important to have several particular fabrics appear throughout her body. The fabric at the base of her crown (see above left) is repeated on the side of her head and again as a feather.

Creating her chest feathers was fun, almost like a treasure hunt. Glancing at the reference photograph, I would begin a search amongst the fabrics on the table. Once found, I’d hold different pieces up for their “audition.” At one point I realized that if I kept on going, the overall work would be 36 by 48 inches (.9 by 1.2 meters) and decided to shift to working on her background.

Closeup of feathers of Olivia’s neck and lower head

Background: Where Will Olivia the Owl Live?

During this creation process, I kept “listening” to see if I could hear where Oliva came from. The more of her that appeared in front of me, the stronger the call of the forest came through. She wanted to be in her home habitat but not specifically where she nests.

What I like about the chosen fabric is that the variegated colors remind me of the light filtering through the trees, complimenting the golden colors of Olivia.

Olivia is tacked in place with glue (Susan’s technique). The next steps for this piece are to quilt her. I am unsure if I will then stretch the art work over canvas (similar to below) or make it as a wall hanging.

Follow-up: In Susan’s Blog, Going to the Dogs, and More

As part of her class process, Susan always creates at least one blog about her classes. And her online class was no different. Imagine my utter delight when the blog that featured our ”Winging It” group appeared in my inbox one Saturday.

In the end, I was thankful that I didn’t create a dog, cat, or the red fox. The Great Horned Owl stretched me artistically. What is helpful is that the blog posts of the two other groups, “The Colorful Canines” and “Crazy Fur Sure,” are there to give me inspiration for when I do my first feline or canine using Susan’s techniques.

Size comparison to previous pieces, partial fabric selection, and adjusting feathers for photo shoot.

Taking Animal Fabric Collage with Susan was an awesome experience. Besides being a skilled artist, Susan is also an inspiring teacher, who is extremely invested in her students. The teamwork between Tom Allen (her husband) and Susan was incredible. Tom orchestrated receiving multiple photographs from each student, multiple times each day, and getting our work set for when Susan came into each breakout room.

Interested in seeing more techniques? I already have written a blog post, The Making of Cooper, about the technique I had used for over 12 years.