Mastery + Mentors (with Dylan M)

Today’s show in tell is a story of my going to Nashville for Quiltcon in 2019 (I think it was, it was the before COVID times is all I remember). One of the most amazing things we did in Nashville was visiting Jack White’s Third Man Records. Not only was the interior as striking as the exterior, when we went on the studio tour we were shown all the woodwork done by a master builder who also did all the woodwork in Kenny Rogers’ studio. Now the photo is a little hard to see but it’s all I could find on the internet (they don’t allow you to take photos on the tour). Let’s just say it was absolutely amazing and it left me feeling, yes! Mastery, it’s something to aim for.

Spring forward to earlier this year listening to my favourite podcast, The Huberman Lab. I listen to it on Spotify but it’s also available on YouTube and all other major streaming platforms. I was listening to the interview with Cal Newport. I’m now reading his book Deep Work. In that interview they mentioned Robert Greene, which turned out to be one of my favourite interviews. I learned that he wrote a book called Mastery. Now I haven’t read that book YET but I have discussed it with my ADHD coach (did I mention I was diagnosed with ADHD last summer? Let’s just say things make a WHOLE LOT more sense now!) who has read it. I was really craving working one on one with someone and really wanting a mentor. I’ve taken enough online course to know it was time for a change. I didn’t want a whole group setting to get lost in again.

Then, low and behold, in pops this newsletter from Dylan M saying, hey I’m doing 1:1’s through Skillshare! I’ve been following Dylan since 2017 (I remember because I did a floral Skillshare class of hers). Below are my Zinnia Warrior Princesses (* wink!) I did from her class.

She does the dreamiest florals, fascinating lettering and most whimsical creatures. I’ve watched her talents grow from seeing her early gouache studies to her now amazing paintings. Her sketchbooks are to die for! She also does Cozy Painting retreats at her agent, Jennifer Nelson’s, Smiley Manse in Vermont! I’ve got it marked on my todo list! In a nut shell she’s done the work and she’s exceptionally concise and intuitive with the information she shares. Oh and she also does Human Design readings! But that’s for another post!

Okay so where am I going with all this…? Here I am craving to learn mastery and needing a mentor. Hello Dylan! Her call out about doing one to ones popped up in her newsletter and I reached out. Afterwards I sent her a message saying, hey I’m looking for a mentor, are you interested? We’ve been meeting twice each month since and I’ve also just registered for her Patreon. Oh so many goodies in there too!

Since I’ve taken so many online courses I feel like I have gathered all these bits of knowledge but I didn’t necessary understand how they all fit together. Dylan is helping me bridge those gaps. A big gap was how I was doing my portfolio and understanding what a sales sheet is. I have seen photos of them at trade shows but I still didn’t understand; if I’m not doing a trade show at the moment, why would I need to do my portfolio that way? Well, it’s the industry standard and understanding that I completely feel a big shift coming on how I do my work and create collections. In the mean time I had over 175 separate prints and illustrations I’ve been putting on to my very own sale sheets! Here’s a sneak peek at a few of them. I will soon be changing over my portfolio to password protected so enjoy this peek!

It’s been an exciting time and of growing pains, but I know in the end it will be totally worth it in learning mastery over my craft.

P.S. Want to learn more about Dylan M? Click HERE to see her website, Skillshare classes, Patreon, One on Ones, Artist Sanity Checks, Newsletter and Human Design reading. Oh and her Instagram is HERE and her YouTube Channel can be found HERE.

 

PRETTY PLEASED ABOUT PURPLE!

… BEFORE IT USED TO MAKE ME PUKE! Okay well that’s a bit dramatic but it has been on my “No thank you” list for a long time. When I started designing for my Goin’ Surfin’ collection I wanted to push my colour palette and decided now was the time to make friends with purple. I had done it with grey about ten years ago, so I knew it was possible. Have you ever had a colour aversion?

I think A LOT about colour and I’m curious about these aversions. I don’t know what it’s like for you but for me colour is instinctual. I’ve taken all the colour theory courses, but to be honest, I can never remember all the rules. All I know is when I use certain colours or combinations they give me strong feelings that I react to.

I know about the symbolism of colour, which I find surprisingly conflicting for some colours (like yellow which can be both happy and anxious). I know purple is a hard colour to make and that’s why it was reserved for royalty, but that never helped me warm up to it.

Then there’s a psychology to colour but I think it gets muddy with your personal relationship to it. Let’s say a colour was a hot trend when you were a kid, for example avocado green, and you have memories of your mom making you peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as you basked in your avocado green kitchen. You might have warm fuzzy feelings whenever you see avocado green but others might have the exact opposite reaction to it.

When it comes down to it, I think the specific hue is the important factor to making friends with a colour. For example, my father in law and I both love yellow. Except, he loves school bus yellow and I love a bright lemon yellow. To me, it’s not the same colour at all! Kind of like growing up with other Lisa’s in my class room. I didn’t think of our names as the same ever, even though they sounded the same!

So in the end, I searched and found a hue of purple I adored and used in Goin’ Surfin’. Not only did I stretch my colour palette, I finally made friends with purple and I LOVE what it did for this collection, especially my Sunshine Floral! Those pops of purple really made it sing!

 

MAKING WAVES FOR SURFERS!

Designing the waves of this intricate surfer print was one of my favourite design challenges in this Goin’ Surfin’ fabric collection!

Once I got my head wrapped around the repeat, and realized I needed to bring each wave to a point (otherwise it looked like toothpaste, ha, ha!) AND then when I put the surfer silhouettes on the waves, it was pure joy!

Then of course I played with ALL the colours (my very favourite thing to do!)! While I didn’t end up using the pink and yellow waves for the surfers I did end using it for the base of the sunshine floral!

In the end we went with the above colourways. ALL of them I’d LOVE to swim in! Or Surf! :D

 

VMQG Repeat Block Printing Workshop

I woke up at 2am.

Wide awake.

I felt nervous. Wait... no. Excited. Was that butterflies in my stomach? I realized I hadn't felt this way since I was a kid waiting for Christmas day to arrive. 

This all had fallen into my lap. Months before, in the back of my mind, I was thinking, "Gee, I'd like to get back into teaching again." This past June, Vancouver's Modern Quilt Guild's workshop coordinator, Amy popped by my booth at Maker Faire. She asked if I'd be interested in teaching a surface design class. Weird how stuff like that sometimes just lines up, hey? We chatted back and forth and landed on a Repeat Block Printing class.

Jump forward... so there we were, October 2nd in Vancouver at the Croatian Cultural Center. I was tickled when I found out it had sold out! We had the ink, the lino blocks, the carving tools, the brayers (rollers) and the time. The students jumped right in with both feet. They embraced each step as we moved along through the day. 

Then repeats. Gah! Repeats get me every time. I showed them how to create and carved a true repeat. It was our last project of the day and the students didn't disappoint. I was taken by their prints; their motifs, the colours they used, some people even blended their inks! I have even more photo's posted on my Instagram feed. These guys really stepped up to the plate.

There's nothing better then to see someone's face light up to, "Oh I get it!" and resolve to that mutual look, "Okay, I'm hooked."

I know I was there to teach but I think it's me who needs to say thank you to everyone for being so keen, so open and just going for it. Thanks for quenching my thirst to teach again!