I am excited about my upcoming class at Green Mountain Rug School in June, 2018. The class is essentially about developing designs for ourselves from our photos, using the camera as an important tool, and exploring our own creativity. One of my favorite quotes which is on my studio wall is one by Henry Ward Beecher.   

                "Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures."

One of the lessons I have learned from traveling around the world with photography workshops is that we all have an individual perspective on the world we see around us and our creative spirit and individuality comes out not only in what we choose to capture in a photo but how we see it and photograph it. For example, I love pictures of tree bark and roots, but others may choose to photograph the entire tree or just the leaves. In any case, we have our photos as a basis of original designs which capture what we select and lets us play with unlimited possibilities in our art. Whether you like wide cut, fine cut, primitive, abstract, realism, impressionism, vivid colors, subdued tones, architecture, nature, geometric, etc. photography will be your best friend for ideas and your camera will be a very important tool for you to use.

 I will introduce participants to basic photography guidelines and ways to "think outside the box" with some fun field work taking some photos (ok, more like a scavanger hunt!) We will share photos and ideas. We will look at different ways to convert photos to a style of your choice and then to the canvas via software and/or drawing. Other topics include copyright laws and design basics. Our only limits will be time and our own imagination! Come play and learn! Beware however that photography can be addictive....like wool painting!

Pat Levin