“Once upon a time there were three very different little girls who grew up to be three very different women with three things in common: they love fabric, they’re talented, and they work with me. My name is Susan.”
Susan’s Angels is a fabric collage friend group that first coalesced in my October 2023 Live Online Class. Grace Crocker, Brenda Carter, and Mary McKay (that’s her sunlit portrait in photo above) came up with the name themselves for their three-person breakout room and of course the comparison to the rambunctious 1970’s TV show was inevitable (in case you’re wondering, the opening quote above is adapted from the opening voiceover of the series, except it’s spoken by a fellow named Charlie).
In this year’s 2024 February class, my fabric collage crime fighters were joined by a fourth angel, Pam Shaw.
Irony aside, the collage quilts they worked on in class are, as expected, heavenly.
In our Part 1 class post we visited with the other four students in this class who formed the Mane Event group: Liz Imperato, Leslie Beck, Judy Bilardello, and Nancy Semich.
And now for the Return of Susan’s Angels.
At the end of each student’s section of their classroom collage project, you’ll find a gallery of previous work they shared for our after-class “happy hour” one evening that week. It was enjoyable to get to know these ladies a little better as they talked about their quilts.
Please click on those images to see the pieces larger and to scroll through each photo gallery.
Brenda Carter
Brenda photographed this live and feisty turkey on the grounds of January’s in-person class in Tucson. She wanted to name the piece “Tom Turkey” but was concerned that my husband and partner Tom would be offended. Tom graciously accepted the honor for such an exceptional creature.
If a feature of your subject is obscured or difficult to see in your photo, you can sometimes find another image to compensate for what’s missing. In this case (above and below), Brenda “Frankensteined” another beak onto her turkey.
Bird feet themselves are quite interesting. When you look closely at them you can imagine how birds have descended from scaly dinosaurs.
Not all students get to the stage of deciding on a background in a week. But working long hours both before and after each day’s class, Brenda made great progress.
Brenda Carter Show and Share
Grace Crocker
Grace’s fantastic “Sasquatch” was inspired by her late husband Bill’s experiences in the backwoods of Canada, where he was convinced the cryptid roamed. This idea was in Grace’s head for years, and Sasquatch seemingly materialized out of thin air over the course of just a few days. His time had definitely come.
Grace used Australian Aboriginal print fabrics for Sasquatch’s body, then branched out to batiks for his face, hands and feet (photos below), and forest background—adding a perfect moonlit backdrop of hand-painted Skydyes Fabric by Mickey Lawler.
Grace Crocker Show and Share
Mary McKay
Mary brought two in-progress pieces to work on. First was her friend, also named Mary, who was created as a shining sun face. The subject’s family are reflected in her shades.
With the annotations above, it might look like I’m suggesting surgery on Mary’s face, and in a way I am, the fabric collage third-draft kind. I’m indicating areas where, in comparison to the reference photo, (collage artist) Mary, could add additional shadows to the portrait .
Mary’s daughter Murphy, and her family dog Strider, are the subjects of this second sweet and colorful portrait collage that she worked on during the week.
To “make significant progress to the top of Murphy’s head,” was Mary’s goal—and she did. Murphy now sports her own pair of stylish shades, nestled into an enviable head of hair.
Mary McKay Show and Share
Pam Shaw
Pam’s goal was to, “visualize how the patterns in her fabrics might work for her handsome iguana, Iggy.” Of course in addition to visual texture, color needs to be considered, and Pam loves the color blue. So early on, Iggy became a bit of a chameleon and changed color from his original photo.
Above, I used Zoom’s annotation tools to point out exactly which fabrics Pam could try in replicating her iguana’s scaly skin. Some of those results can be seen below.
The key to almost any creature is the eyes, and the eye that Pam created has already brought Iggy to life. More annotated analysis help to figure out how to further define his mouth.
Pam Shaw Show and Share
I am impressed with each one. Lots of talent.
Hi Susan,
Inquiring what computer app you would recommend for making my own patterns?
Sorry. I don’t suggest you use a computer program. I suggest patterns be made by tracing the pattern by hand. I have had students who have used programs that “posterize” images, breaking down the image into areas of value. These nearly always need to be redone to a certain extent because they ignore or obscure important features of the subjects anatomy.