Saturday, May 17, 2008

Marvellous Maggie.......

the weather was horrible today, persistent heavy rain interspersed with even more persistent drizzle....not a day for driving but drive I did for about an hour to visit the East Kent EG near Canterbury to hear a talk by Maggie Grey.. It was worth every minute of the journey.

Maggie based her talk on her new book which comes out in two weeks "From Image to Stitch". With the help of husband Clive and a wonderful combination of laptop and digital projector Maggie demonstrated how she uses Paint Shop Pro as a design tool and then went on to discuss methods by which the designs can be transformed into testile pieces.

She made it look so easy and the results brought gasps of suprise and admiration from the audience but for me something really important happened. I have enjoyed using Paint Shop Pro for some years but I have always had a vague feeling that somehow I was cheating, that design should be done with a pencil and paper. Today Maggie banished that feeling, she made me realise that the way you use the tools in PSP is as much your expression as being able to draw. Neither is better than the other if it is right for you.

At the end she apologised for over-running...I could have happily sat there for the rest of the day. Thanks Maggie and Clive.

This is just a quick snap of one of the tables They don't do it justice, it's just a reminder for me.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh wow - I would have driven twice as far to hear Maggie speak! how lucky you are.And i love it when you havbe that moment when you realise you arent 'cheating'!

Stitchety Grub said...

Lucky you Pat - I too would have loved to be able to have attended that - bit of a long flight though...I wonder if she will be doing any talks in August next year when I am in the UK hmmmm - Glad you enjoyed it :D
Britt :D

Anonymous said...

Maggie is so inspiring. Your new art work will sing, just from being freed of self imposed restrictions.