Sherri Woodard Coffey

So little time…

2012-01-31T03:04:00.000-06:00

I wrote about the the color wheel above earlier. It’s on my studio wall, but is going to have to be moved so that I can read it more easily. It’s crammed with information. Now, thanks to Donna, I know about Joen Wolfrom’s blog. She’s got some great exercises to play with color. As a dyer, this will be helpful, I think. Plus, ever since I read about Matisse and his paper cut-outs, I have thought about coloring my own paper and then using those papers to cut out shapes and explore designs.

This also reminds of notan, the Japanese designs, something else I would like to explore more. Kit Eastman does beautiful katazome. On her blog, she has a couple of pictures of notan. Kit is teaching classes in both katazome and notan at The Textile Center in February. Wish I lived closer!

Color blogs

2012-01-26T03:00:00.000-06:00

Even though I am so NOT an interior decorator, I enjoy reading a few blogs relating to interior design and color. One of my favorite is called Color Me Happy written by Maria Killam. There’s always lots of pictures, lots of information, and Maria is so knowledgeable about color and undertones.

Thanks to Donna Kallner I got to add another blog to the list—Colourlovers. Check it out.

The blogs listed below are not strictly about color, but include design inspiration.

You might also want to check out Donna’s Spoonflower page. She’s designed some great fabrics. I may want to try that myself someday. Hmmm…if only I sewed—long story there.

This is not a blog, but couldn’t resist ‘cause the colors are so great. It’s from Oprah’s website—who knew? There’s a whole group of pictures with teal goodies.

And then there’s this by Joel Cooper, found on Colossal Art and Design. Isn’t this wonderful! Made from one sheet of paper! Take a look at his masks, seen at the above link.

In weaving news—I finished the new piece in two weeks! That’s a first for me. AND the next warp is tied on, ready to go, only waiting for the yarns to ball themselves. Between the long weaving days, sorting files, organizing, and regular stuff, well, there’s not time for anything else.

Technorati Tags: tapestry,contemporary art,color

Publication redux

2012-01-24T03:00:00.000-06:00

Way back in October, I wrote about joining Surface Design and subscribing to Fiber Art Now. Today I made a rare trip to the post office to pick up my mail. Rare because there’s usually an empty box once I peer in. Today was a bonanza. I first issue of the Surface Design Journal awaited me, along with a sale catalog from Dick Blick. Well, as the saying goes, they had me with the cover. This is by Anne Wilson, called Walking the Warp, a performance with the Hope Stone Dance Ensemble. I haven’t read this article or any others yet. I think the first article that will get read an article called Painting in the Round about Elizabeth Whyte Schulze. This is a link to the artist’s page with the pieces in the article. I love these! By the way, the surface design organization sends out a nice email newsletter several times in between issues of the journal.

Arriving a week or so ago was the winter issue of Fiber Art Now. Above is the Table of Contents from that issue. There’s a nice couple of pages on tapestry weaver Linda Wallace. I like Fiber Art Now because all kinds of fiber art is included, from rug hooking to weaving to well, just about any kind of fiber art.

With the stringent weaving schedule I’ve set for myself and the organizing that continues, I don’t seem to have time to read much lately, but I can look at the pictures!

Technorati Tags: tapestry,contemporary art

Cup holders

2012-01-20T03:00:00.000-06:00

Last night, after waking with a leg cramp, I realized that I need a cup holder on my loom. You know, cup holders are a deal breaker when it comes to buying cars! Instead of installing a cup holder, I am going to set my phone alarm for every hour. Then I will get up, walk for a bit, and drink some water.

Now for some amazing fiber art…Take a look at this site. No, this is not some strange plant growing in the woods. It’s felted. Poke around here a little and look at other award winners. Beautiful and interesting. Here is the artist’s website for the piece above.

Weaving and derechos

2012-01-18T03:00:00.000-06:00

I’m weaving a design that I’ve woven before, with a few modifications, lessons learned from the first time. I don’t know why this particular weaving is so satisfying to me, but it is. Maybe it’s because I love the colors, the design engages my brain, or maybe it’s just that I’m listening to a fairly interesting book as I weave. But I also have to admit that I wonder if I’m “cheating” by weaving something I’ve woven before. Guess it doesn’t matter at this point—I’m doing it! Weaving along at the rate of one inch an hour. At this rate, it will take me twelve 5-hour weaving stretches to finish. But that won’t happen; I can’t weave everyday. Life gets in the way.

I am also reading a book, which does cause problems occasionally. The two get intertwined in my head sometimes. The book is Northwest Angle by William Kent Krueger. One of the many reasons that I like to read, is that I learn things, even if it is “just fiction.” In this book, a major even happens--a storm called a derecho. I had never heard of a derecho, although I did recognize the Spanish word for right or straight (as in direction) or derechos, as in derechos humanos. It is the straight definition that lends its name to this storm. The winds are hurricane strength straight-line winds. The leading edge of the storm appears like an arc, as seen in the picture above, comes from the NOAA. More can also be read there. Evidently a huge derecho came out of Minnesota in July, 1999, causing much damage along the way, traveling all the way east to NY, out into the ocean and back to South Carolina. You can see more derecho pictures here and find more links to check out if interested.

Technorati Tags: tapestry,contemporary tapestry,art

Fractals?

2012-01-17T03:00:00.000-06:00

While grocery shopping yesterday, I came across this container of veggies. Aren’t they gorgeous? The last picture includes the sign for these green wonders. They are called Romanesco (If the Wikipedia is down, they are closing for a day in protest of SOPA, so here’s another link.) and are described as a “fractal member of the cauliflower family with a mild creamy and nutty flavor.” I admit that I don’t really understand fractals, so really don’t know if they qualify, but they’re still pretty interesting, and probably qualify for that Fibonacci thing.

Weaving goal-short term

2012-01-16T03:00:00.001-06:00

It’s Stock Show and Rodeo time here in Fort Worth. We’ve had this event since 1896. During this three week period, those of us who live here see an influx of horse trailers, many more cowboys in their Wranglers, many more shoppers in the stores, diners in the restaurants, and drinkers in the bars. One can occasionally see boots and spurs in the grocery store at any time of the year, but during stock show season and cutting horse events, those spurs are almost the norm.

The crowded streets makes this a perfect time to weave, although our weather has been great the last few days. I’ve set for myself a pretty stringent weaving schedule for the next few weeks. I want to get two pieces woven, finished, and photographed in time for an entry on March 15. I’ve plotted out on my calendar what I can possibly do, weaving at my current rate of one inch per hour, that is if I don’t get sick and tired of sitting on that hard loom bench for hours at a time. This is when I wonder if a walking loom would be helpful. I’m still working with the organizer (and may be for the rest of my life!), but on those days I can work in the morning. I have to admit, if I can get those two pieces done in a timely manner, I will be pretty proud of myself! However, I am also not going to beat myself up if it doesn’t happen. There is real life out there, and one’s psyche does need other outlets.

Technorati Tags: art,weaving,tapestry,contemporary tapestry

More color of the year and …

2012-01-11T08:53:00.002-06:00

I wrote about Pantone’s color of the year in one of last week’s posts. Below is a quote from the person responsible for these colors. I’ve highlighted the portion that most interested me. So, the color of the year seems to be not a fashion statement or forecast, but a representation of our thinking or feeling.

Will orange become ubiquitous? Probably not, Ms. Eiseman said. “What we’re trying to do is get the feeling of the zeitgeist, to use an overused word,” she said, speaking by phone from her home on Bainbridge Island in Washington. “What are people talking about they feel they need, that color can help to answer? For us, the color of the year is not the hot fashion color, but an expression of a mood, an attitude, on the part of the consumers.”

I love the graphic quality of this photo accompanying a book review about parking lots. Some of the lots in the photo slide show are pretty neat!

Yann Arthus-Bertrand/Altitude

A sea of Green? A working lot at Disney World in Orlando, Fla. More Photos »

And then there’s this headline, also from the NYTimes. Obviously I couldn’t post the photo, being xxxxx and all. It’s from the time when London was an outpost for the Romans. And, obviously, since it’s xxxxx, I can’t post a picture! Check it out by clicking on the headline. You’ll like it. Instead, click here. Never mind, I can’t give you the link, even though it comes from the NYTimes. Facebook won’t allow me to post the link to my blog post because “The content you're trying to share includes a link that's been blocked for being spammy or unsafe…” I have removed all links, but still am not allowed to post on Facebook. Hmmm....

Working efficiently

2012-01-09T03:00:00.000-06:00

Path to the Sun, 35.5 x 42 inches

Recently I was asked how many pieces I could finish in a year, which brought to the forefront—again—what’s been ambling through my mind—how to work more efficiently. For the most part, I amble through my weaving. I am sure there are more efficient ways to work in this slow tapestry process. The first thing that comes to mind is my most recent experience: I gathered all my yarns that I wanted to use, put them into the order that I wanted to use them, only looking at the colors, and only just assuming that each color group had enough yarn to complete the specific section of the weaving to which it was assigned. I paid for that mistake. When I realized that there might not be enough of a couple of colors, I had to go through all the bits of small balls of yarn and butterflies to find more. Then I had to blend those colors to complete the section. Even though I enjoy that blending process, it’s not exactly an efficient way of doing things.

Of course, the big bugaboo is the computer. I love computers! However, I think I’m going to have to make a change there, and I know I’m not the only one to have this problem. I will think about this more as I weave…

Now, in case you haven’t read this, check out this NYTimes article about Native American influences on 20th century art.

Technorati Tags: contemporary tapestry,tapestry

Art Date

2012-01-05T20:55:00.000-06:00

Richard Diebenkorn
Ocean Park #79, 1975
Oil on canvas
93 x 81 in. (236.2 x 205.7 cm)
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and with funds contributed by private donors, 1977
©The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn
Image courtesy The Estate of Richard Diebenkorn

I took myself on an art date this morning. The Richard Diebenkorn exhibition is to end in a couple of weeks, and since the Stock Show begins soon, I though that now was the best time to get to the museum. Parking is always at a premium when the Stock Show starts. It’s a pretty big event in these parts!

I’m not very familiar with Diebenkorn’s work, but after seeing these paintings and other works on paper, I plan to do a little research. I am especially interested in how he worked. Sometimes the paintings looked like he changed his mind mid-painting and that the original markings were left in place. There were also a series of works based on spades and clubs from playing cards. Isn’t it wonderful to be allowed these small glimpses into the creative brain?

While at the museum, I had to go into the gift shop, and since I seem to be a sucker for these, here is what I bought. The cover covered with Pantone “color chips.”The inside pages are interesting. Two thirds of each page is graph paper, with the bottom 1/3 blank for other kinds of writing. If you go to Pantone, take another look at the color of the year. What do you think? I like it and consider it a big improvement over the 2011 color, Honeysuckle. But then, Honeysuckle just looks like pink to me, and I really don’t like pink! The graphic for Tangerine Tango is pretty cool, too!

Last year in the weather

2012-01-03T03:00:00.000-06:00

How might this apply to weaving? I am fascinated with shadows, which may end up in a weaving someday. I’ve already used the wildfires as a piece. Not sure about the dry, cracked earth, but …. And I just love the Texas Longhorns—the animal, not the team—and this particular longhorn really has a good set of horns.

Last year was a year of weather extremes all over the country. Here are just a few of ours. We also had 108 degree days, many at a time. There are no pictures of that, but spring will show all the trees lost to the heat and drought. Actually, the heat probably caused more damage than the drought. We’ve had droughts before, but most of the time in conjunction with normal temperatures.Tree limb shadows in the snow of my backyard

Associated Press photo

This is what many of the lakes look like.

Star Telegram photo/Paul Moseley

Longhorn after fires near Possum Kingdom Lake

http://images.christianpost.com/full/47573/texas-fire.jpg

Wildfires near Bastrop

Knitting

2012-01-02T03:00:00.000-06:00

Blume Hat by Connie Chang Chinchio

I am NOT a knitter. But every couple of years I decide that I am going to become one. If it involves yarn, well, it’s gotta be good, right? Recently, I fell in love with this hat. It’s an e-pattern from Interweave Press. I also love all the cute, hand knit socks. Actually, I can knit and purl, making simple rectangles or squares. Hmmm…I even remember making a couple of triangles, but actually making something. Hah! I lose track, forget what I’ve done and where I’ve been. But, this is maybe that every couple of years that I want to knit something beyond rectangles. Not as a New Year’s resolution, but just as something to do for the cold winter months. Maybe…

New year

2011-12-30T03:00:00.000-06:00

All Squared Up

Wool tapestry

34 inches by 34.5 inches

The fresh calendar is out, dates are marked, everything is fresh and new. Unfortunately, the to-do list is not fresh, many items have been carried over to the new year. But at least there IS a list and I know where it is! Further good news (for me) is that there is a plan in place. Before I was floating with no destination in mind. Implementation, of course, is another critter all together.

Floating in a Deep, Dark Sea

Weft-faced ikat

34.5 inches by 56 inches

Technorati Tags: Tapestry,Contemporary tapestry

Pencils

2011-12-28T08:28:00.000-06:00

The bowl from Monday’s post reminded me of the pencil sculptures that I’d seen. The first time I saw pictures of her pieces was after hearing of my grandson’s effort to try and sharpen his pencil to have the shortest one. I immediately realized that he was destined to be a great artist like Maestre! You can see Jennifer Maestre’s work here. More information about her process is here.

As I was trying to find Jennifer’s website (sorry, couldn’t remember her name), I found this:

A larger picture can be seen here. This is a sculpture by Dalton Ghetti. There is a post, complete with pictures, about how he makes these sculptures here.

Tools

2011-12-26T03:00:00.000-06:00

My go-to hand beater from Weaving Southwest

Weavers use a lot of tools. I once had someone tell me, after seeing my studio, that “You have a lot of cool tools!” We all use them in different ways, some of us use tools that others don’t and vice versa. This brings me to a very interesting idea:

Mark Lindquist, Dowel Bowl, 2011

The Tool at Hand brings together artworks resulting from an unusual and slightly eccentric experiment. Last spring the Chipstone Foundation invited fourteen contemporary artists to break from their usual practice and make a work of art with one tool alone. This exhibition presents these works, and the tools used to craft them, together with short, explanatory videos produced by each artist. This exhibit is at the Milwaukee Art Museum. And again, I wish there were more images of the works.

Tis the season

2011-12-23T12:44:00.000-06:00

May all your weaving days—and others—be shiny and bright.

I can’t believe it’s tapestry

2011-12-22T03:00:00.000-06:00

That’s the title of the page from where this information came. I absolutely love these tapestries! What do these pieces remind you of? Go here to read more about how this Australian exhibit came to be. If you click on these pictures to enlarge, you will see that there is a designer (or two) and a weaver. Somehow, that kind of disappoints me, as I’d like the designer and weaver to be one and the same, but it does nothing to detract from these wonderful pieces. And you really need to see the beautiful flowers here.

Then, moving back to North America, there is the Woven Bridges exhibit at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte, Ontario. I think the pictures included with the description is a montage of various pieces, but I’m not sure. There are no other pictures to see, but it does look interesting.

In my own small part of the world, progress continues on the current weaving, although it may turn out to be an oval instead of a circle by the time I finish. I’ve been considering bubbles—champagne, anyone?

No, they don’t have anything in common…

2011-12-19T03:00:00.000-06:00

MEXICO CITY.- A 67 year-old debt has been paid with the opening of the Tlatelolco Museum, whose plans to be built go back to the 1940s, and now are a reality thanks to the efforts from two fundamental Mexican institutions, the National Institute of Anthropology and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). In this image: Female tlacuache. Photo: Meliton Tapia/INAH.

Disclaimer: These two topics have absolutely no connection whatsoever.

I saw the photo above in ArtDaily, and since I seem to like all things pre-Columbian, I like this also. Reading about the new museum made me want to hop on a plane, which then brings me to the sad state of Mexico. I love Mexico. I have been to places in Mexico that had no electricity or running water, where we took the soaked corn down to the community mill to grind it into masa for the daily tortillas cooked over a wood-burning stove. It makes me so sad for all the regular citizens of this country fro what they are enduring.

For the second topic of the day, have you seen the community Facebook page about the weaving of the tapestry The Graduation Party? Pretty amazing. As usual, I love to see process, but more than that, the weaving itself is fabulous. I clicked through all the pictures last night, seeing some that I’d missed before, so it’s also kind of a “day in the life” selection.

Women rug weavers in Turkey and…

2011-12-16T08:54:00.001-06:00

I saw this article about women rug weavers in Turkey and then ran across this article about women artists in Turkey in the NY Times. Makes for some interesting thinking, a nice juxtaposition—well, I don’t know what—maybe ancient and modern? There are lots of pictures on the rug weaving site, but the newspaper article only includes two pictures of the works/artists mentioned in the article. I would really like to see more.

Yapi Kredi Collection

Aliye Berger’s ‘‘Sun Rising’’ was her first oil painting and set off a controversy when it earned first prize in a painting competition in 1954.

Optical Illusions

2011-12-14T08:28:00.001-06:00

Do you see the wheels moving? You can read more here. This is from a National Geographic interview with a brain researcher. I am somewhat fascinated with some optical illusions and often thought of weaving one—only the simplest, though.

I did not weave my unintended design—sorry, Donna. But I am thinking more and more about breaking out those spiro tools and try one more time. I spent yesterday weaving in the morning and working with the organizer in the afternoon. After about two hours of organizing, I’ve had enough! Progress is being made, though!

It wasn’t until the afternoon session, though, that I realized that I had not woven anything for a hem on this piece. More needle weaving in store for me. Bah! Humbug! In my head, at least, I have decided that anything that is of the wrong size to go on the floor as a rug, will have a hem. Like I said—in my head…

Unintended design

2011-12-12T08:56:00.001-06:00

Does anyone remember this toy? It’s the Spirograph. I played with one about a kazillion years ago. I would always about halfway finish my design, then something would slip and the design would be ruined. Several years ago, I bought this book from Klutz at one of the art museums, thinking that surely I could do this better now. Wrong! I would still get so far in the design and something would slip. Must be that I can’t do the contortions necessary for completing the design. And why am I mentioning this at all? I mention this because my warp looks like a spirograph. After marking the design on the warp, I realized that it was upside down. So I turned the cartoon to the correct direction and marked again with a different color. Then I decided a correction needed to be made and went back to the cartoon-drawing table. Then there was a third color. My warp is actually very attractive. Maybe I should weave the unintended design.

By the way, Klutz has lots of really interesting and fun books, and even though they are supposedly for kids, there are others that I’m tempted to buy. I’ve been thinking for years about the knot book. They can also provide extra supplies in case you run out of the original included supplies.

Chaos in life and tapestry

2011-12-09T03:00:00.000-06:00

Have you ever searched for an image of chaos? Most were mythical creatures, perhaps from video games. The ones above are the only ones that made any sense to me. And, as I look at them, I kind of like the one on the right. Hmmm…what does that say about me?

So, why am I searching for images of chaos? Because that’s my life right now. I’ve mentioned before that I am designing a new life for myself, and it’s definitely a work in progress. The hardest part seems to be in finding new routines. For the first time ever, there are no routines that come from outside sources, unless you want to count night and day.

I am a great list maker and can plan a project with a multitude of steps, but implementation is a problem. So, I have taken a big step—called a professional organizer. The hope is that someone else will see the first string to start pulling. She will come out weekly until we finish the areas in most desperate need of help. One of the most helpful things she said to me was that most people who work from home have some of these same issues about routine. I am not alone!

Now for some GOOD chaos--Janet Austin has written about her series of tapestries called Chaos. In this blog post, she writes about all of them and includes pictures of each. I would really like to see them in person. If you’re close by, you can see the one above at the East Greenwich Free Library until January 6. You can see all her tapestry photos grouped together here. Fascinating—I love seeing how people work! There is also a Kilim tapestry series, which I don’t remember seeing before.

Thank goodness for tape

2011-12-07T02:00:00.000-06:00

For years I have been using a method to tie on my warp called the Nyquist method. I wrote (and included pictures) about it here in 2009. Now, when I do a search for the method, I found a book by her which is open for all. That method worked fine while I was using the 4-ply wool warp, but the last time I warped, I put on 30 yards or so of 12/9 Swedish cotton doubled. While weaving with the cotton, some of the warp threads in some of the bouts, were getting loose. That means going back to the ol’ tried and true traditional way of tying on the warp, but that cotton is tough and hard on the fingers. Thank goodness for Johnson & Johnson and their tough tape. Maybe my fingers won’t have blisters now. I have heard tapestry weavers talk about about seine twine, and I have no idea if this Swedish warp is the same stuff. Next time I warp, I am going to try some linen.

Week in review

2011-12-05T01:05:00.000-06:00

Wait! is it December 5 already? Can’t be!

Midnight Fire

29.5 x 48 in.

The past week has been pretty busy. I got the fire piece finished, all those many warp ends woven in. It has been shipped. Did I mention how obsessed I was with the wildfires this past summer?

Pieces were also shipped to the Ann Street Gallery in NY, where I was honored to be asked to participate in a tapestry exhibit, Woven Stories: Contemporary Tapestries. If you click on the gallery link, they’ve got an amazing slideshow of tapestries. I am always amazed by the works of tapestry weavers. Work that I can’t even imagine doing.

And, speaking of tapestry weavers, I just read the latest issue of Tapestry Topics from American Tapestry Alliance. It’s all about wedge weave. If you aren’t a member, please consider joining. The newsletter is great! The website as undergone some substantial improvements that are just wonderful. Check it out.

The very occasional, once-in-a-great-while newsletter went out, AND I figured out how to do real sign up links. If you look to the right column, you will find a place to put in your email address. Then, in six months or so, one of those newsletters will arrive. I also added buttons on my website and Facebook page.

On the home front, I got firewood delivered, so now I can have a nice, warm fire in the studio while I weave. Saturday I got new cartoons enlarged, so now I’ve a couple of options about what I weave next. I go to FedEx Office for that. I’ve noticed that there’s a big difference between the ease and turnaround time in getting these enlargements done, depending on the available employee. Dare I say it—the women seem to get this done much more efficiently. The last time I had this done (by a male employee), I got home and half the design was missing. So, just as I was ready to get to work, I was driving back to town instead.

Poster-sized color wheel

2011-12-02T03:00:00.000-06:00

This poster is double-sided, but the side above is my favorite. It can be found at Dick Blick or Amazon. This is a close-up of the poster. As you can see, for each color, the possible ideal color combinations are shown. The opposite side of the poster shows the colors illustrated with quilting fabrics.

It is by Joen Wolfrom. She has many quilting and design books, plus this handy color tool. And, if nothing else, the poster really brightens the studio!

Exploration continued

2011-11-30T03:01:00.000-06:00

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
― Ira Glass

Right after I wrote the post about exploration, I read another post that seemed to apply to apply and my dissatisfaction with the finished product. It’s the quote above by Ira Glass. I found it on Tien’s blog via A Moveable Feast. Since the quote is from Ira Glass, that prompted a search for the quote. I found it on Good Reads, but it could probably be found in other places. The piece above is another not very successful piece. To get the angles I wanted, I wove it sideways, but I hemmed the sides. Because of the hems, it doesn’t hang very well and is not good for a rug. I may dig it out and see if it can be salvaged someday, but for now it’s deep in the dark recesses of the closet. And notice how the red lines appear to curve? I have other not successful pieces, but I cut them off early without completing them! They’re lying around with hangtags that explain what went wrong.

Exploration

2011-11-28T03:00:00.000-06:00

I read a post by quilt artist Ann Brauer that really spoke to me. It’s all about pushing yourself to try new things. I have to admit that I don’t know how long it takes for Ann to make a quilt with those tiny pieces of fabric, but I do know about how long it takes me to weave a piece. That means it’s really disappointing when I try something new and it doesn’t work. Then I hesitate to try again and keep on doing what’s familiar. The above ikat piece is not totally successful. I haven’t quite mastered the width of the warp needed for good bubbling and keeping the design.

Maybe this is kind of like my sketchbook ideas. Sometimes I will spend time on an idea, drawing it, coloring it, and it just isn’t worth spending more time on. So, I abandon it, only to look back months later and the see the seed of a more successful idea. This is why I never tear pages out of my sketchbook. I stick magazine clippings of colors and shapes that sometimes become full blown weavings. Since I’ve got a few out-of-the-box ideas, maybe this means I need to get that baby loom warped up and experiment there on a smaller scale. Note to self…just think of it as another sketchbook.

Well, this is what happens…

2011-11-25T03:00:00.000-06:00

This is what happens when you weave a design sideways. Instead of having the warp ends on the short ends, they are on the side with 48 inches of warp ends times two. It’s only about 30 inches on the short side. Oh, well… I’m also not entirely happy with my selvedges with this design. Will take some practice to get them the way I like them.

I am actually doing the finish work on two pieces before two or three months pass. Will get them photographed next week—that’s the plan anyway.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T03:07:00.000-06:00

I was going to post a stereotypical Thanksgiving clip art, but liked the exuberance of this boy and his pumpkin. Even though I try to do this frequently (the goal is daily, but, well, you know…) this is the time that we stop and are grateful. Even in the midst of terrible events, I think that in the back of our minds, maybe deep in our subconscious, we know that we have much to be grateful for.

And because I like to look at art, sometimes in awe, sometimes horrified, sometimes with absolutely no reaction at all, take a look at this website. Again, I am amazed with the creativity of us humans. This is the link to art by Alexa Meade. Ms. Meade paints her models and then photographs them. Spend a few minutes looking at the slides on the page. Curious…how do you feel about these?

Art and purpose

2011-11-21T03:06:00.000-06:00

Woman's scarf: "But salvage your rubber", Designed by: Arnold Lever. For: Jacqmar (English (founded 1932)), English, 1944. Wool. Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

I love the idea of this exhibit. We’ve all heard stories about rationing and the sacrifices that everyone made during WWII, but this scarf kind of brings it to life, while still being an object of beauty.

“Man’s Wrapper,” African, Ghana, Early 20th Century

Global Patterns: Dress and Textiles in Africa-another case when I wish I could get out my travelling shoes. Beautiful cloth that serves a purpose.

And then there’s this…I really don’t know what to say about this except that it reminds me of the old “cheesecake” photos of the move stars of the forties. Look at that robe thrown back to reveal his shoulder. Jane Russell, anyone? Anyway, it came from this article.

Aleksander Deineka, Self-Portrait, 1948. ©Pinacoteca Estatal A.A. Deineka, Kursk.

Kid ‘n’ Ewe and Llama too

2011-11-18T02:58:00.003-06:00

After I spent all my money at Creations, I then went to the Texas version of the wool festival. I specifically wanted some natural colored wool to spin at night. The idea is to get the spinning wheel out and instead of completely vegging out in front of the TV (something I never did before), I will do some spinning. And since I have no desire to dye shades of gray, I’ll spin it. That’s the idea anyway. Hasn’t happened yet!

I found a squirrel cage made by Hokett Would Work that I just had to take home with me. It’s going to get a workout soon. Hokett’s does not have a website, but here’s a write-up about them. And here. There is also an email address: jimorcat@tilanet.com. He does beautiful work and has all kinds of spinning, weaving tools. In addition to the squirrel cage, I bought a new shuttle. Don’t have a picture of the specific shuttle, but here’s what it looks like—except for the wood.

Hockett uses all kinds of exotic woods. In fact the base of the squirrel cage is made of zebra wood, below.

When I was in Austin, there were lots of interesting picture-taking possibilities. Unfortunately, it’s hard to do that driving down the highway. I happened to be in a parking lot when I saw this tableau. And no, don’t have a clue what it represents.

More Creations in Kerrville

2011-11-16T03:00:00.000-06:00

While shopping at Creations, I bought some fat quarters of silk and other pieces of hand-dyed wool, seen above. And, no, I haven’t suddenly taken up quilting or applique. I have another plan in mind, but it has not fully formed, nor have I experimented. If it works (or not), I’ll write about it at that point. But aren’t the colors of the wool beautiful!

The silks are also beautiful. I did not buy a boxed set like the one below, but the color I bought were similar to these. They have many colors in yardage and other boxed collections.

Cave drawings

2011-11-15T03:00:00.000-06:00

A cave painting of pair of spotted horses, found in the Pech Merle Cave in Cabrerets, southern France. Scientists estimate the drawing, measuring about 4 meters wide by 1.5 meters high, is about 25,000 years old. An ancient DNA study found that Ice Age artists drew horses based on their observations rather than imagination. AP Photo/Center for Prehistory of Pech Merle, P. Cabrol.

This is a wonderful drawing. I love the spots and the way they are also around the the outline of the horse. And look at that proud stance, the angle of their heads. You can see and read the article here.

I wrote the above text several days ago, then amazingly, heard a story from Weekend Edition about these very same horses! The question is, do the drawings reflect what they were seeing or do they reflect imaginary animals. Through DNA testing, scientists have discovered that there really were horses with polka dots! So the drawings of wool mammoths and other extinct animals were based on reality. Gotta love it!

Gotta get out more

2011-11-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

Admittedly, I’m not a shopper and really don’t get out much. Last weekend I decided to drive to Kerrville before going on to Boerne, and Austin. Kerrville and Boerne (pronounced Burn-y) are in what we in Texas call the Hill Country. This is a really pretty part of Texas and is always a pleasure for me to travel there.

I had been to Kerrville once before and went to a fabric/quilting store there called Creations. Actually, I didn’t remember the name of the store, just a general idea of where it was located. What made it so memorable to me was the fact that it actually had “real” fabrics of wool, cotton, and silk. The store is located in an old house, and each of the rooms holds a different variety of items.

I bought a pattern for a purse which used something called Texture Magic. When I asked about this stuff, I was shown several items in the store that incorporated Texture Magic. Above is a pillow that has this magical material. I know you can’t see the texture in the picture, but it’s there. The pillow is made from a panel like the one below

The way this stuff works is to put it on the back of a piece of a fabric then stitch on a sewing machine in a design of your choosing. After stitching, hold a steam iron over the Texture Magic. It shrinks up, giving the puffy texture seen in the After picture below. Here’s the website with an explanation. So, back to my not getting out much—who knew there was such a thing as this out there? And take it from me, the flower pillow has really nifty texture. The stitching follows the lines of color with a special stitching effect in the center.

All over the store are attractive items made from the patterns and fabrics in the store. A few pictures below.

Happily weaving and loom bench woes

2011-11-11T03:00:00.000-06:00

It is soooo nice to have moved past my inspiration-free zone. I am happily weaving away on a piece based on my obsession with the fires that consumed thousands of acres here in Texas this summer. The weaving is interesting, so no chance of getting bored. In fact, I have to stay on my toes to keep up with the colors and where I am in the design. The design is being woven sideways, something I've only done once before. I'm a little concerned about the selvedges being the top and bottom of the piece, but felt this was the best way to weave this design. Fingers crossed!

The other issue I have had is my sliding loom bench. I think I bought the bench from Fireside Looms back when Convergence was in Cincinnati--a lot of years ago! The owner at the time, built me a bench like the one above on the right. It has a storage shelf under the seat, as opposed to the one on the right. Fireside Looms I love my bench, but after so many years, the outside covering of the wheels has broken, and it's not sliding so well. You can see the parts that have come off in the picture below. The wheels that they belong to are on the left. Click one the pictures to see enlargements.Below is a picture showing what they should look like.Here is a picture of the new kind of wheels on the bench. Michelle was very helpful and my new wheels should be here in a few days. I’m really hoping they work on my bench because it’s different than the one pictured above.

Sliding is important when weaving wider widths of 48 inches or more. I haven't woven 48 inches since I wove Peruvian Mask at the beginning of this post.

Variations on a theme

2011-11-09T08:27:00.000-06:00

Monday I was thinking of simple ideas and repetition, which to me is variation on a theme. Not sure if this really counts, but for me, these pieces were a variation on a theme of zigzags. First, I gave the illusion of zigzags by using rectangles. Then I practiced with “real” zigzags.

Then I stretched out the zigzags. I remember that while weaving the piece below, I had to change the design during the weaving process because I didn’t want stair-steppy angles. That meant lots of going back to the drawing board, but I was happy with the finished result. And then I thought I was done with zigzags, but they still creep back into my design thoughts, so maybe not.

Simple idea, repetition

2011-11-07T08:21:00.001-06:00

Source

A visitor stands at an installation entitled "Forever Bicycles" by the Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei at the “Ai Weiwei is Absent” exhibition in the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. The exhibition opens Oct. 29 and will run for three months. AP Photo/Wally Santana

As this picture loaded on my computer, it loaded from the top down. I could only see the circle shapes and their repetition, which was intriguing. It was only as the bottom of the picture neared that I could tell these were bicycles. I am reminded that simple everyday objects can be turned into art. I also thought about variations on a theme, which I have done, but then forgotten. Maybe I need to concentrate on that for a while, since I have also been thinking about series in art, which is just another way of saying variations of a theme. Lots to ponder. What series or variations on themes have you done?

Wow! That was fast.

2011-11-04T03:00:00.001-05:00

Last week I wrote about subscribing to the new Fiber Art Now magazine. Well, it arrived today. How great is that! I can’t believe how fast that was. There are many articles about fiber in different uses, with a special emphasis on rug hooking (and believe me, it’s not your grandmother’s rug hooking). But one of my favorite is the Artist Profile of Joetta Maue. Both of the images below accompany the article.

I am continually impressed with the creativity of human beings. When I first saw the mother and baby, I immediately felt emotion and connection that one might feel when standing before a painting. Both pieces are embroidered, appliqued, and painted.

In the On View section, thee is a “gallery” of Korean Textiles, which were on view at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco. Darn! Missed that one too!

All in all, I enjoyed looking and reading this issue of the new fiber art magazine and look forward to the next issue. And, I am very impressed with the quick service!

Trompe l’oeil

2011-11-04T03:00:00.000-05:00

I was reading American Style magazine and saw this on the last page, Parting Shot page. Trompe l’oeil. And, if you’re like me, you’ve probably heard it pronounced bunches of different ways. Internet to the rescue! Pronunciation here—at least one version. The picture above does not do the mural justice so go here to see it ad many more. The artist is John Pugh. American Style has more pics and the article for the “Parting Shot” are here.

O’Keeffe and color

2011-11-02T03:05:00.000-05:00

Georgia O’Keeffe, My Autumn, 1929. Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in. Estimate: $2,000,000 – 3,000,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2011

I love the colors in this painting. Funny how one day one thing is very appealing and another day, it’s not. So, who knows whether this will appeal tomorrow, but for today, love it! And, of course, it could be mine. Christie’s is offering it at auction.

The last time I went to the Georgia O’Keeffe museum in Santa Fe, the exhibit Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction was showing. Many of the paintings were monochrome, but still fascinating because of what she did with those subtle colors.

Clouds

2011-10-31T03:04:00.000-05:00

I seem to be obsessed with clouds lately. Hmm, well, not lately, but since summer of 2010. The storm clouds across the New Mexico desert, plateau in the background—this started it. At first I was thinking I could do something with it in my weaving, but soon realized that I really don’t want to dye and weave with various shades of gray.

Along with this obsession about clouds came the realization that I really don’t remember much about the vocabulary of clouds. The picture above seems to be pretty clear about the different kinds of clouds. It came from here.

The picture above is one that I may attempt to work with, or maybe I’ll go back to that NM picture—if I can find it, that is. The tall building is the Will Rogers tower, which is close to Will Rogers Coliseum, the domed building to the right of the tower. This whole complex is located in the arts district in Fort Worth. It’s nice to have so many art venues grouped together, although parking can sometimes become an issue.

Magazines and organizations

2011-10-28T09:03:00.001-05:00

Anyone else out there who used to read Fiberarts magazine? I did. Even though some of the art covered was really “out there” to me, I still enjoyed reading/seeing everything and have missed it since it stopped publishing. There’s another magazine that’s stepping up: Fiber Art Now. I bit the bullet and subscribed today. When the link is followed, you can click on the Premier Issue and see the table of contents.

I have also been thinking about joining Surface Design Association. Done! And it only took about three years to finally get it done. I have always enjoyed their journal, which I could sometimes find on the newsstand at Borders (Gosh, I miss them!). Even though I don’t “do” surface design, the journal pages were nearly always inspirational.

Blankets

2011-10-26T03:00:00.000-05:00

I looking at my home page, which has the latest news from NY Times, then flip over to the Style section. There’s an article about a collector of camp blankets, antique and new. Never knew these blankets were known as camp blankets, but I’m sure my knowledge is lacking in many other areas also. The collector is Tyler Has, who is a designer of high-end furniture. Take a look at the website—I really like the arrows they use to navigate from page to page. And the furniture is nice too! I’m partial to the Nude rug. A couple of makers of blankets were linked in the article. Who wouldn’t like a blanket from Warped and Wonderful? The other is from a farm in Connecticut that has pictures of sheep being sheared. So, why, one might ask, are there pictures of tapestries on the page and not blankets. Those two pieces shown above have found a new home. I haven’t woven anything like blankets in a really long time, but the one that I did weave was really quite attractive. Wish I had a picture of it.

Tools

2011-10-24T03:00:00.000-05:00

Blues Interrupted is going to a new home on Monday, and it needed a new board for hanging.

During the summer when I was madly finishing five pieces (I know, I know), I decided to gather everything together for the last step before a piece goes out the door. The cans of flat black paint are used to paint the hanging board. Also in the bag is a jigsaw for cutting the boards, a small portable drill that is dedicated, so that I don’t have to switch out bits for any other jobs, and an inexpensive sander for sanding the newly cut ends and the area around the new holes. In the various pockets is a charging device for the drill, screws, and most importantly, directions for the sander. The order sending the piece to its new home:

cut board to size
measure/mark for screw holes
drill holes
sand ends and area around newly drilled holes
take board outside and spray paint one side
spray other side after it has driec
staple Velcro onto board (unless using the self-stick kind)
put screws, prepared hanging board, and hanging directions inside tube
roll piece onto tube
cut plastic to fit and put the whole package in the plastic
close ends of bag
deliver to new owner! Yeah!

Thanks to my new tool bag, this process went so smoothly this time.

Marimekko, anyone?

2011-10-21T02:11:00.000-05:00

There’s something so appealing about these designs, yet they also seem so retro. These images are from new “flagship” Marimekko store in NYC. The times ran a piece about the store, and picture that accompanies the article is very attractive with the colorful banners hanging from the ceiling. But the shoe below is what I want. More shoes here.

Weaving? Yes, I plan to weave again. Soon, really soon. I’ve been playing with a few design ideas, but mostly I’ve been trying to wrap estate matters up. Well, that and a couple of naps. Oh, and a couple of printers that decide at a most vital time that they don’t want to work for minimum wages anymore. Unplugged them and out the door for those printers. And then there’s the Office 2010 program that cem with the new computer. Hate, hate, hate it. Uninstalled it and went back to 2007. And the drivers for the scanner that could never tell if the scanner was attached or not. Fixed! But weaving? Tomorrow I will go into the studio, pick up, sweep, and maybe tie on the next warp. What width? Anybody’s guess.

Fascinating!

2011-10-19T09:21:00.000-05:00

This article starts out by saying “…Herb Williams is one of the only people in the world to have an account with Crayola.” Go to the article and see more sculptures and the process he uses to make them. Fascinating! And who doesn’t love Crayons?

I think I’ve found a use for that drawing workshop I took. Will practice what I’ve got in mind this week and report later.

Taking pictures

2011-10-17T03:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, I’ve got the big fancy camera, but who wants to drag that thing around all the time? I finally broke down and bought a small Nikon Coolpix 8100 that I can stick in my pocket and still get good pictures with. (You’re probably not supposed to end a sentence with ‘with’, but, oh, well.) Yesterday I drove all the way across town to take pictures of the Fort Worth skyline. My pistol league ended earlier than usual a couple of weeks ago, and the skyline at dusk was absolutely gorgeous. In fact, that was the impetus for finally getting the camera. The pictures that I took yesterday were not nearly as interesting, but I think they will serve the purpose.

Friday I drove to my friend’s ranch, where I took pictures of these plants. I don’t know what they are—forgot to ask—but the buds are very nice. The plant above has several on the verge of opening. the one below has only one bud, barely visible on the lower left.

According to my friend, the flowers themselves are quite beautiful but unpleasant to smell. I only got to see the fallen blossom below, still quite interesting. The center has lines or rows of purple and orange, two of my favorite colors.

Now, how can I use the star bloom in designing?

Striking

2011-10-14T03:00:00.000-05:00

Dale Chihuly, Lime Green Icicle Tower, 2011. Blown glass, steel 7 ½ X 42’ *Artwork © 2011 by Chihuly Studio, All rights reserved. Photo: © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

I’m beginning to get a little frantic. All the designs I'd thought I’d do next have no appeal. Lots of dyed yarns, but for what? Yesterday I gathered those dyed yarns together again, hoping that something would jump out and knock me on the head. In the meantime, enjoy the green glass sculpture by Chihuly. It is so striking while lit, as in the picture above. You can see a daytime picture and read more here. When pieces are like this, I always think about the hailstones we have here in Texas. One famous year they left huge dents in the wrought iron chairs and broke tiles used for a path in the herb beds. You can imagine what happened to roofs.

On top of everything else, my printer/fax/copier went out. Well, technically, not out. I opened the top to gain access to cartridges and now cannot close it back, and the printer won’t work this way! I only use this for copies and faxes. I like to make copies of possible designs and fool around with color.

BOSTON, MA.- The 42-foot-tall Lime Green Icicle Tower, a glass sculpture by renowned artist Dale Chihuly that has been on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), since March, will continue to reside in the MFA’s Shapiro Family Courtyard, the Museum announced today.

Dyes and pigments

2011-10-12T03:00:00.000-05:00

When I see ancient drawings, such as the ones from the Maya or Egypt, I always want to know how they got those colors. When I look at exhibit catalogs, I check the index to see if they give information about the colors used. I am currently listening to an audio book written by Geraldine Brooks called The People of the Book. It’s about an ancient manuscript and conservationist main character’s efforts to find out the book’s history. Boy, did my ears perk up when I heard the highlighted words below:

To understand the work of the craftsmen who created the medieval texts she restores, Hanna has made her own gold leaf and created white pigment by covering lead bars with the dregs of old wine and animal dung. She’s familiar with “the intense red known as worm scarlet ... extracted from tree-dwelling insects” and the blue, “intense as a midsummer sky, obtained from grinding precious lapis lazuli.” Looking closely at the parchment of the Haggadah, she can tell it comes from “the skin of a now-extinct breed of thick-haired Spanish mountain sheep.” These lush details, at once celebratory and elegiac, will appeal to the sort of reader who picks up a book just for the feel of it.

The passage above is from the New York Times Sunday Book Review here. I wonder if the insects mentioned are like cochineal or another scale insect, lac. All of this talk of insects reminds me of the origins of the word vermillion, which I just found out this week. Who knew? Guess I may finally have to read the book, Color, a Natural History of the Palette. Now that I have an iPad, I can get the Kindle edition, read on my Kindle and see the color pictures on my iPad. The best of both worlds!

A couple of years ago, I took a one-day workshop from John Marshall in which he taught us how to make our own pigments. You can find directions on his website here. Now, our blue did not come from lapis lazuli, but it was still fun. You can find a couple of ingredients for making blue on John’s website. Maybe making pigments is in the future. You can also check out Kit Eastman’s work and several others who are using dyes and/or pigments creatively: Donna Kallner and Kimberly Baxter-Packwood. Then there is the queen of natural dyeing, Michele Wipplinger, founder of Earthues.

What to weave

2011-10-10T09:04:00.000-05:00

It is Saturday as I write this and I am trying to decide what the next project will be. I thought I knew, but doubts are creeping in. I have tons of red yarns dyed for this next weaving, but now I’m not sure. Anyone else do this?

With the extreme weather we’ve had in Texas this year, I have become obsessed with weather maps and graphs. One of these is bound to end up in a weaving soon. Here’s one about possible precipitation this weekend. Notice that word possible? Mind you, this was posted Saturday and yet the title says “through Monday.” If only it would be true! At any rate, it has great gradations of greens!

The one on the left is essentially another map of wishful thinking concerning precipitation, but depicted differently. Same thing, second verse below. But they are colorful. The one below showing temperatures is my favorite, though. At least, today.

Clothing

2011-10-07T09:17:00.001-05:00

Cofradia Huipil (blouse)

When I saw that the Sheila Hicks exhibit and and exhibit on modern Maya clothing were going to be at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, my mind stated whirring. Maybe I could kill THREE birds with one stone: visit my daughter, and see these exhibits. But alas, I can’t travel right now, so will have to miss these exhibits.

The occasional newsletter from Folkwear Patterns arrived in my Inbox. Take a look at the photo gallery of the many variations on the middy blouse. I love variations on a theme! I like the Cowgirl jacket. Take a look at the original pattern and then at one of the jackets actually sewn. To be able to envision that jacket in so many different looks is talent. I no longer sew, but still enjoy what others do, in the same way that I admire the work of fellow weavers who do such complicated weave structures. Or maybe I should say structures other that plain weave!

Mystery and disappoint

2011-10-05T08:25:00.001-05:00

Originally, I was going to post a blatant political rant, but I have calmed down some, so instead here’s another picture that combines the ancient with the present. The link is here.

CHIAPAS.- During Pre-hispanic times, three or four maya painters guided by a teacher represented Bonampak, which is in the State of Chaiapas. These stunning scenes, made more than 1,200 years ago, have come back to life thanks to specialists from the National Institute of History and Anthropology who have restored the murals. Photo: DMC INAH. H. MONTANO.

I’m not sure how I feel about this picture, but I think disappointed would be one description. I remember the first time that I saw Maya ruins, on a misty day, high point above the Caribbean Sea. The paint, amazingly, was still visible on the walls of the ruins. The mist made it seem so mysterious. I looked out to the sea and imagined the ancient people seeing the ships of Spaniards—almost gave me chills. Tulum was my favorite, even though Chichen Itza was grander. You can see a map and read about the individual ruins here. Would Tulum have seemed so mysterious and wonderful if the paintings had been restored? Or does it make any difference? At least it appears that the colors are still muted and look ancient.

I love this stuff!

2011-10-03T03:00:00.000-05:00

Specialists from INAH discovered in the Tarahumara Sierra five footprints made by humans some 25,000 years ago. Photo: José Concepción Jiménez/INAH.

It’s not just art in ArtDaily. I love this archaeology stuff! Five footprints found in Sierra Tarahumara, in Chihuahua. Isn’t that amazing?

The footprints correspond to three adults and a child that probably lived in the caves that are located in the sierra, in the Valle de Ahuatos, eight kilometers from the town of Creel, in Chihuahua.

Now, I don’t know exactly where they found these footprints were found, but I have been in the state of Chihuahua and ridden the train through what used to be called Copper Canyon, but now seems to be the Sierra Tarahumara, and the town of Creel. The Tarahumara people legendary for their running ability.

Source

And then there’s chocolate. I was always under the impression that chocolate came from the Aztec. At least the word seems to have its origins in the Nahuatl language, meaning bitter water, according to Wikipedia. After hearing a program about the many varieties of cacao in Peru, I did a little research. Here’s an article from the NYTimes about chocolate and Peru. I have bought cacao beans in Mexico, but like coffee beans, they need to be roasted and fermented. However, they do smell like chocolate when ground. From Epicurean.com is an article with a broader coverage of chocolate. Now, if we want to buy some of this Peruvian chocolate, you can get it here. It’s only $12.00 for 2 ounces! Wonder if it survive shipping across the country.

Colorways

2011-09-30T03:00:00.000-05:00

A couple of months ago I downloaded Colorways, an ezine from Interweave Press. It is on my computer, and after my initial perusal, I haven’t looked at it again. It’s all about natural dyeing, and from many of the pages, there are more pages that one can click on to get more information. The pictures are great, and although I REALLY love to hold the actual printed matter in my hands, it’s nice that this is not one more thing to find a home for.

Now that the fall issue is out, I decided to download this one to my iPad, thinking that I would be more likely to look at it multiple times from my comfy chair in the living room and/or while watching mindless TV. I have tried a couple of other types of ezines, I think the format of the ezine lends itself to the iPad very nicely.

In the fall issue, there is even video of blending colors for spinning. The photographs are gorgeous. There is a whole section on indigo, which I haven’t finished reading. However, for me there is one problem with this on my iPad—there are a few PDFs that I would prefer to print. So, only time will tell about this format.

This and that

2011-09-28T03:00:00.000-05:00

After finally having a design that I was happy with, I realized that it would probably work better with a cartoon. So, off to FedEx Office (formerly FedEx Kinko’s and, before that, just plain Kinko’s) I went. It used to be that to make an enlargement, the original drawing was placed in the huge printer. From there, it was trial and error. Now they scan the drawing or picture, size it to whatever you want, then send it to the printer. So, so much better! I usually do my designs on graph paper that has 10 squares to the inch. Now I just tell them to enlarge 10 times, and voila! it works!

To use, I cut the life size cartoon into sections of about eight inches each. And since not of my designs are very intricate, I mark the lines on my warp with a Sharpie. Holding the cartoon in place while marking has been an problem, that is, until I rediscovered clothespins. Ta Da!

In another what-makes-life-easier event, I upgrades my Photoshop. I was using Photoshop CS2. Now I’m using CS5, and oh, what a difference! CS2 had become very slow to load, and everything froze up on my computer at one point. CS5 has no such issues. Now, I have never used all that Photoshop has to offer, but it’s what I’m used to. So, there!

I’m getting excited to be weaving again. Those little dry spells are probably necessary, but they’re a little frustrating.

Keep those ideas coming

2011-09-26T08:18:00.001-05:00

^Source

Ronnie Landfield, What Gauguin Said. Acrylic on canvas, 97 x 78. Photo: Courtesy Stephen Haller Gallery.

Just wish they’d come before bedtime. Does this happen to you? You’re just about to fall asleep, and there it is, how to start the piece you’ve been pondering. I know all about the subconscious mind taking over, and most of the time I am grateful for that. But it’s all I can do to stay in bed and push it out of my mind when those ideas come at bedtime. If I get up and go out to the studio, it will be a really long time before my mind settles down and is ready for sleep. Maybe my subconscious and and conscious minds could work out a compromise. Probably not, our government can’t, why should I expect that closer to home? At any rate, the thoughts were with me when I got up this morning, so it’s off to the studio.

The picture at the top loosely reminds me of what I’m currently working on, except in different colors. From ColorSchemer, the colors are below. Which now ties into my right-before-sleep thoughts—a way to vary the blacks and almost blacks in the piece.

By the way, if anyone is interested in seeing pictures of the Fort Worth Weavers Guild show, here’s a link.

Calder and tapestry

2011-09-23T03:00:00.000-05:00

What a surprise! Tapestry in ArtDaily—again.

Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1974, mohair wool tapestry, 190 by 150 cm. Commissioned in 1974 in an edition of 50 by the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation, produced in collaboration with Royal Lesotho Tapestry Weavers. Estimate €2.000-3.000. Photo: Sotheby's.

It says that they were woven by the Lesotho Tapestry Weavers. After a brief search, I found the information below. Here’s the link for it. I really like that they wove with mohair, one of my favorite fibers. You can also read about Lesotho here. Unfortunately, I also found more than one pronunciation of Lesotho.

Craft Centers of Lesotho

As stated under the description of the mohair weaving tradition, Teyateyaneng (T.Y.) has become known as the “craft center” of the country. The town, however, only has four weaving businesses within. But, when compared to other regions of the country, four craft businesses in one town do legitimize it as a craft center. Other craft businesses are based in Leribe, Maseru, Thaba Bosiu or rural mountain villages. The work is scattered throughout the country and there are few venues for display—one of the many reasons that visitors often fail to discover it!

Ideas

2011-09-21T03:00:00.000-05:00

This was in the travel section of the paper the other day and caught my eye, probably because of the colors, although it is graphically pleasing also. The few paragraphs accompanying the picture told of two exhibits in Austin, just a hop, skip, and a jump from Fort Worth—about four hours. When I looked and read about the door directly from the venue’s website, it was interesting indeed. The brown sections contain signatures of famous writers, actors, publishers, etc. from before the bookshop closed in 1925.

The other exhibit is Banned, Burned, Seized, and Censored. You can see a list of the banned books and recommended reading here. But, even though I find the ideas of these exhibits interesting, I probably won’t make down there to view them. And I still like the door—a lot!

This week I have dyed black and more black, because, you know you can never have too much black. The first batch was black at 2%, the second at 3%, for a total of ten skeins, about five pounds. I labeled each group A through D, with the idea being able to keep the variations in color disguised by combining the various skeins. Ask me how I learned that this was necessary!

Really old tapestries

2011-09-19T09:57:00.001-05:00

In the latest ArtDaily that found its way to my inbox, there are tapestries! I am always amazed that something this old could still be around after all these years. They were woven in the 1400s, after all. I also must confess, that this is not my favorite kind of art work, although I really admire the skill and talent to create a tapestry of this size and the detailed story they tell. Then, think of how the colors were obtained. A couple of years ago, we were in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where old tapestries completely surround a huge open space. It was so interesting to speculate on how the work was done, and the scenes themselves.

Probably produced under the direction of Passchier Grenier, tapestry merchant, The Conquest of Tangier, (detail) c. 1471-1475, wool and silk tapestry, overall: 400 x 1082 cm (157 1/2 x 426 in.), Collegiate Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Pastrana (Guadalajara). ©Fundación Carlos de Amberes. Photographs by Paul M.R. Maeyaert.

Jan Austin, on her blog Tangled Web, has recently written about seeing the Unicorn Tapestries. Looking at the pictures there, one can hardly help being amazed at the detail. I am especially enamored of the clothing and the designs on the fabric itself. And to think, it’s all tapestry! Wow! Double wow!

Shooting and drawing

2011-09-16T03:00:00.000-05:00

After my evening pistol league, later in the week I joined an art class. Creative Drawing may be way over my head, both in actual capabilities and understanding. Our instructor is DeBob Jacobs, who is very good. You can see her work here and here.

Most of us have heard about composition using the golden mean, or doing something that is asymmetrical. I knew about things like the light source, but my education is sadly lacking in other areas, like there are 15 composition types and that clothing can only fold in 7 ways when it’s on the body. That bit about clothing is found in an anatomy book, but the composition is explained in a book called Composition of Outdoor Painting by Edgar Payne. This is a small book with a big price, so I won’t be getting it anytime soon.

Other things that we practiced are finding the light source, and different ways of making shadow with our pencils. Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks we practiced is to NOT make a line, but to let the shadows created with the pencil make that line instead. The purpose of the class is to learn about and to improve drawing skills in order to translate that to a canvas for painting or other medium.

I’ve been told that the types of composition are even present in abstract works, so I will be examining some art in the coming days. Actually, it’s already hard to not look for those composition types when I look at any painting.

One type of composition is the pyramid, for which Howard Terpning is known to use in his paintings. Here is a page with complete works. Find the pyramid! The one at the top of the page is one of his and came from the website linked here.

After the class, a trip to our local art store, Asel’s was ~~required~~ desired—always a fun stop.

Fort Worth Weavers Guild and Through the Lens

2011-09-14T18:41:00.001-05:00

The local CBS TV station filmed the FWWG show “Rhythm and Blues: The Music of the Loom.” The video can be seen here. There is no direct link, but if you look below the main area in the center, you will find this:

That link will take you to the video for FWWG. There are some very talented weavers in the guild.

What a hoot!

2011-09-14T08:25:00.001-05:00

Last night was was the first meeting of the fall pistol league of Diva WOW, and my second time to ever shoot a pistol. And I can’t believe I’m even saying those words. The above is my practice target of 10 rounds. Not bad for a second time of ever holding a pistol! The league is comprised of 30 women, and they all seem to be a fun bunch,helpful, and very nice. Now, I do not plan to hunt, as some of these women do, but I do plan to try some of the other activities offered by the organization, like archery. From listening to the women last night, the main goal seems to be sisterhood and friendship.

The next adventure—Creative Drawing. What a juxtaposition!

In the weaving world of my life…the studio got swept, yarns got stashed (finally!), and decisions got made about what the next project is. In the meantime, I will be dyeing bunches of black yarns. I always like to have a stash of black on hand. Why? I don’t know, but it has come in handy a few times. However, I do have two projects in mind that will require those yarns.

Taking Care of Business

2011-09-12T08:18:00.001-05:00

Kilim, 18th–19th century. Turkey, Anatolia. Wool; slit tapestry weave, 335.3 x 180.3 cm (132 x 71 in.). The Caroline and H. McCoy Jones Collection. Gift of Caroline McCoy-Jones.

The above picture came from ArtDaily. I love the colors. It’s too late in my life to achieve the expertise to analyze something like this, but wouldn’t it be fun to examine the weave structure, the yarns used, even the dyes? If you follow the link, there is another picture of a kilim. I also found this information:

The term kilim is not a technical term in that it defines a particular woven structure. It appears to have originated in the Near East as a general designation for flat-weaves—textiles without pile. In the past decade the term kilims has been used almost exclusively to denote textiles in slit-tapestry weave.

For the next couple of days, I'm going to be knocking some things off my to-do list. That, and building a new social life are time-consuming. One of the items on the list is getting pictures of the guild show posted. Here's a little sample of one piece done by Ann Schrader, woven using the Theo Morman technique. I hope to have all the photos up on our Facebook page and our website soon.

One of the items on the to-do list is a new computer, but I am having a tough time making a decision about which one. In fact, all decisions are tough for me right now. That includes things like painting the living room, etc. And when one is incapable of making a decision, well, nothing gets done! If anyone has a recommendation on computers, I'm all ears! My current one is a Dell, and I've been happy with it, although others have been really dissatisfied with Dell.

Designing, but not for weaving

2011-09-09T09:27:00.001-05:00

First—the good news: I am taking a couple of art workshops. One of them is called Creative Drawing and the other is Experimental Water. I think that means water media. We’ll see. But…

For the first time in my life there is nothing imposing any kind of constraint on my life. Yes, there are responsibilities, but there is no school, “real” job, spouse, young children, etc. I am in charge of designing a new life for myself, a really scary thought. Part of this new design is to expand my social sphere by joining a couple of groups and taking some short workshops. The new women that I am meeting are very welcoming, interesting and nice, but, I found myself feeling angry when I got home. To the best of my ability to analyze this phenomenon, I think I am angry that I am even having to do this in the first place. Since I’m not much of a joiner, I would probably be much happier at home, but I’ve got an instinctive feeling that cocooning would be the wrong thing for me to do. So, I am taking an art class with what seems to be a good group of women. Then I am also joining with a group of women who do outdoorsy kinds of things. Putting my toes in the water. Maybe I’ll take an archery class or join a pistol shooting league. That last would be REALLY expanding my sphere. But I’m still angry. I would much rather stay in my comfortable cocoon with my wool yarns, dyeing and weaving. So, my new design is not the picture above, but life. But since the title of that piece is Layers, maybe it applies…

On top of everything else, it doesn’t help that half the state of Texas is on fire. Yes, we’ve got cooler temperatures (they will be rising again by the weekend), but still no rain. I read in the paper this morning that La Niña is back, the cause of all our drought problems. All of this while others suffer from floods!

Think I’ll go clean up the studio and round up all those yarns. I need to dye some other colors, but I’m debating that because it requires a flame. I know, obsessively worrying.

Fascinating

2011-09-07T03:00:00.000-05:00

LUOYANG CITY.- A worker sprays water to keep humidity of the excavation of Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 BC-221 BC) in Luoyang city, central China s Henan province. In the main pit of the excavation, remainings of five chariots and 12 horses were found, suspected belonging to a minister at that time. EPA/ZHANG XIAOLI.

This picture fascinated me when I saw it in ArtDaily. Yes, it could also be considered horrible and gross, but the skeletons of the horses bring such an image of what they were before they became skeletons. It’s unbelievable that they are in such good shape after all these years.

While weaving, I have been listening to In the Garden of Beasts, a non-fiction piece. I’m not sure if one would call this a true biography, but it does follow our ambassador to Germany beginning in 1932, or so, until he was asked to return to the states. During the period of time covered in the book, Hitler is building his power and the US is going through a depression. There is conflict in the US about isolationism, immigration, and, of course, the actions by the government to put people back to work. In Germany there is much “coordination” of the people, press, and the arts to bring everyone in line with the emerging power in government. All in all, an interesting book. The title comes from a park in Berlin, but doubles as a metaphor. The only problem with listening to this selection from Audible is the narrator. I really did not like this guy.

Untitled

2011-09-05T03:00:00.001-05:00

As I write this, I am eagerly awaiting the promised cooler weather. Just look at those temperatures for the coming week. It has been so long since I have felt anything below 80 in the morning—well, gee, I just may have to kick up my heels! That is one reason we have a brand, spanking new record for heat this year. Our nighttime temperatures are just way too high.

In other news: The biennial Fort Worth Weavers Guild show and sale is coming up. I am not actually taking anything to sell as it is just to much trouble to figure out how to display in that setting. I do have a couple of pieces hanging on the wall for the show, though. The show reception and sale coincides with Fall Gallery Night, so there is always a good crowd.

Weaving right along on the piece on the loom. At this point, there are about nine inches left of the design to weave. This is when I start really putting in the time to get finished—headin’ for the barn, you know. However, since I am weaving with colors that are not part of my usual palette, I’ve also got some doubts. Sometimes I take something off the loom and love it immediately. Other times I am totally ambivalent, and other time I totally dislike it. Some of those dislike times end up getting a more favorable review from me later. Those that don’t never see the light of day!

Confusion

2011-08-31T03:00:00.000-05:00

As I write this for posting in the morning, a raging fire is burning, again, in the area of Possum Kingdom Lake, a beautiful lake, amidst what we in Texas call mountains. This lake was a WPA project back in the Depression. 3,000 acres have already burned. It can’t be fought on the ground because it’s so fast-moving. They are using planes with buckets to get water from the lake to drop on it. Our trees look like it’s fall, which certainly doesn’t help, and the wind is blowing. Folks are being evacuated in boats because the roads are blocked. At least 25 houses have been burned. The good news? Our temps are supposed to be normal by the weekend. That means 95 or so. Wouldn’t it be nice if all the flooding and drought areas could be evened out?

The yarns above are familiar—maybe, as I’ve used this picture before. It may not look like it from the picture, but these yarns have a fairly good contrast from one color to the other. The story changes, though, in the weaving. Some colors have a lot of contrast, others run together.

When I weave, I have what I call my plan sheet. I try to actually put yarn samples and formulas. When the weaving is finished, I also try to remember to put the sheet in a plastic sleeve, along with a picture of the finished product. My plan sheet quite frequently has estimates for the amount of yarn needed for each color section—is there anything worse than running out of a color? If it’s a gradations piece, I actually write down the yarn groupings based on the number of colors I have. Then I know how many inches to weave of each color group. The plan sheet below has the yarns numbered and the diagram of the weaving is also numbered, so that I can keep up with which yarns go where, a problem with this design, especially in the center part. The colors meet themselves eventually, so it would be a small disaster if the wrong colors are used. That’s not the problem I’m having though. Since some of the colors are so similar, I can weave a half inch or so before I realize that, Whoops! Wrong color. So, today I have been thinking about how to avoid that in the future. Maybe plastic bags?

Same song, second verse

2011-08-29T03:00:00.000-05:00

Laura Gilpin, American, 1891–1979. Stairway, Temple of Kukulcán, Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, 1932, printed later. Gelatin silver print, 34 x 27.1 cm. Princeton University Art Museum, gift of Mr. W. Howard Adams (x1971-23). © 1979, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas / photo: Bruce M. White.

It’s the same ol’ thing around here, nothing to write home about. I weave. It’s still hot hot HOT and dry. I weave, do the occasional houseworky thing, weave, do laundry, weave….I was thinking yesterday as I looked at the Art page of the NYT, that nothing even sparks an interest. On the ArtDaily, nothing grabs my attention. I am assuming that this is my state of mind and not the state of the art world. I only included the photo above because I’ve been there for the spring equinox, and the shadow really does look like a serpent. I like Gilpin’s photographs. I saw one many years ago of Georgia O’Keefe sitting in front of a window. For some reason, that picture “spoke” to me and I’ve been wanting to find a print ever since.

The picture below is included here because it reminds me of the geode-type weavings I’m working on. This is from a group exhibition at The Pace Gallery called Soft Machines. Not sure I really understand the connection to machines, but…

Holton Rower, Aftertaste of the Breaking Into, 2011. Photo by: G.R. Christmas/The Pace Gallery.

Nuttin’ much

2011-08-26T03:00:00.000-05:00

I don’t know about you, but I think if I was the artist for this piece, I’d’ve gone spotty myself. Or maybe that’s dotty. And that’s what is happening to all of us who live in Texas this year. Just in case this news hasn’t made it to a TV station everywhere in the US, we’ve had between 60-70 days of 100 degrees or higher. No rain, trees losing their leaves, regular old coastal hay is selling for $165 per bale or more. There’s no forage for the livestock, so… kind of scary for agriculture. Okay, enough of that!

In other news, I have actually done a newsletter for the first time since, oh, I don’t know, maybe January. But with the guild show coming up and the pieces coming down at the Doss, I thought it was time. And, I have been weaving, always a good thing.

The one time that I was in DC, the Textile Museum was closed, so I didn’t get to do what I really wanted to do. Just recently, I noticed that they are having a symposium related to the exhibition Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa. Sounds interesting. Maybe a little trip?

Dallas?

2011-08-24T03:00:00.000-05:00

I very seldom travel to Dallas—for me it’s like going to another country. Long ago, back when the children were young and a reliable car was unaffordable, I would always check the oil and other fluids before making a trek to Dallas. Even now, the traffic is something to dread, but I’m considering sucking it up and going to the Dallas Museum of Art. There are two exhibits that look really interesting to me: African Headwear: Beyond Fashion and Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection. The Fort Worth StarTelegram had a good piece on the African exhibit, with lots of pictures, worth checking out. Here is a quote from that article—the highlighting is mine. See, this does relate to weaving!

Several of the headpieces on display are protective in nature, shielding the head from all manner of dangers, such as spears, as well as things that could fall out of trees, such as snakes and poisonous insects. Some are made of thickly woven fibers, others are brass-plated. But they all carry some form of decoration: cowry shells, feathers, fur or beads. One large headpiece from the Democratic Republic of the Congo that looks quite regal is actually meant for an infant. The woven conical hat with a long tapering brim in the back would shield the baby, who was carried papoose-style on his mother's back.

From Santa Fe to Taos and work in progress

2011-08-22T03:00:00.000-05:00

We made several stops driving from Santa Fe to Taos. The chicos that I mentioned before were actually before Dixon on the drive. Love the rocks on this building that houses the Metier Handweaving studio. The town of Dixon is home to many artists, who open their studio doors every fall. Check it out here.

I always love looking at the layers in the formations along the road. A purely gratuitous picture below of a church.

Several weeks ago I posted about a change in palette. Below is a picture (again) of the yarns.

Here is a pic of the work in progress. Not sure much can be discerned, but I cut out all of the loom/butterflies distraction, and this is what’s left.

Chicos, calabacitas, hornos

2011-08-19T03:00:00.000-05:00

The other day I mentioned a sign for chicos.

Chicos: Corn kernels, horno-(oven-) roasted or dried outdoors, chicos are less common than posole but are a treat when available. Often chicos will be served in chicken or pork stock on their own, or added to stews, soups, or calabacitas.

Calabacitas - A summer vegetable sautéd with slices of summer squash, zucchini, or similar squash. Often green chile, and/or corn, will be mixed in and perhaps tomatoes, green beans, or other garden vegetables.

The above came directly from New Mexico Magazine, where I first learned of chicos. I read that they lend a somewhat smoky flavor to the dish to which they are added. If you’ve driven in New Mexico, you’ve probably noticed how many hornos there are. Here’s the Wikipedia link. You can also find directions on building one for yourself. And then you can get your own ears of corn and dry them in your own horno.

At the Santa Fe School of Cooking, chicos are sometimes available and come in the attractive tins seen here. I learned that chicos are very seasonal, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. Here is their recipe for Calabacitas and chicos. When I followed the chicos sign and drove up that narrow, dusty road to buy them, I was asked if I wanted yellow or white chicos. Yellow is good with pork and the other, well, I don’t remember. I got yellow.

The road to Abiquiu and more

2011-08-17T10:45:00.000-05:00

The drive from Santa Fe to Abiquiu is beautiful. The picture above was taken from the dirt road that takes you from the main road to the visitor center at Abiquiu. We later spent some time in the gift shop at the Abiquiu Inn and had a wonderful meal in the restaurant. I ended up buying some note cards with great drawings on the front, and a piece of pottery, all the time saying, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

A friend sent me this postcard to the Andrea Fisher Fine Pottery, so a little trip there was in order. It happens to be just up the street from Pasquals, a popular restaurant. Both places are a feast for the eyes. The pottery is beautiful and comes from many pueblos. Pasquals has many eclectic items around which makes for interesting viewing while waiting for your meal, like this papier-mâché. And the coffee is great!

If it wasn’t so difficult to stop and take pictures of things seen along the road, I would have pictures to post here of signs seen along the way—signs you NEVER see in Texas.

Caution signs warning of wild horses crossing in New Mexico
Caution signs warning of bears crossing along I 25 in Colorado
A small wooden sign about chicos being for sale on the low road to Taos. It said they were available in house #8. To get there, we traveled a narrow dirt road. The sign on the door said that if you were there for chiles, to continue up the road to the house with the red roof. I love this! Got a 1 pound bag of chicos for $9.95. Evidently these are very seasonal. I was asked did I want the white or the yellow. Did I know? Of course not!

New Mexico and Tierra Wools

2011-08-15T03:00:00.000-05:00

My friend Pat Souder (check out her new website) and I drove to New Mexico last week. We had thought that we would be getting away from the record high temperatures in Texas, but we seem to have brought the heat with us. They were breaking records all over New Mexico, with a humidity of 3%. Evidently that is also extremely unusual, since this is the monsoon season.

I have been to Tierra Wools before, but this time we arrived right after a dye session. I was allowed to take pictures, so that’s what I’m sharing today. Their dye pots put my measly two to shame!

Aren’t the colors beautiful? They use churro wool and natural dyes.

The official New Mexico Fiber Arts Trail will take you to many fascinating small villages—well worth doing. I would like to get into the northwestern section one day where one can find Two Grey Hills. A trip like this always makes me anxious to get to work, filled with inspiration.

And last

2011-08-12T03:00:00.000-05:00

These actually may be the oldest of the five that got themselves finished. I think that I may have continued with the square theme after finishing the commissioned squares. Oh, well, they’re done now! And, as usual, have not titles nor measurements for now.

Next up

2011-08-10T03:00:00.000-05:00

A simple gradations piece. It goes from a pale orange (less than 1% dye) to purples. And, as usual, needs a title.

New (old) work

2011-08-08T03:00:00.000-05:00

As mentioned earlier, there were seven pieces that were off the loom, waiting their turn at my finishing table. The one pictured above is the oldest that was sitting in the pile. I think the one below was the next to be woven. If only they didn’t still need titles. They also have not been measured yet. Later …

Division of labor and finally accepting myself

2011-08-05T03:00:00.000-05:00

With all the finish work that needed to get done—I found seven unfinished pieces!—the plan was to work in the studio weaving part of the day and work on the finishing part of the day. For some reason, that just doesn’t work for me, and it’s probably time to just accept that. I found that I had to just do all the finishing, which included the following:

needle weaving ends or hemming
steaming and pressing
cutting cardboard tubes to fit
pressing the hems on the muslin wrappers
sewing the hems on the muslin wrappers
sewing twill tape ties to wrappers
printing labels for wrappers
using the sticky stuff to iron on labels
rolling everything up in a neat, wrapped-in-muslin package

By the way, the wrappers are done differently, so they no longer look like a piece of candy with the twisted papers on the end. The extra muslin is folded over so that there is not excess on the end. By the way #2—I bought 48” long tubes, thinking they could easily be cut. Storage is an issue. After cutting 5 of these tubes, maybe it’s time to get a shorter size????

They are ready to go to the photographer, after which I will experiment with my camera and photograph them again. That is, five pieces are ready. The other two will just have to wait their turn.

Tools and stuff

2011-08-03T03:00:00.000-05:00

While doing all the finishing of pieces this week, I decided—again—that I needed a tool box to keep everything together in one spot. I have a “dedicated” inexpensive drill so that I don’t have to find the correct drill bit for the screw holes in the hanging boards. I bought an inexpensive sander since I don’t seem to be able to cut the boards to size very well. (I thought it might be a little over the top to buy a table saw for these projects. Besides it won’t fit into the tool bag.) My little jigsaw fits into the bag. If there’s room, I’ll even store the Velcro and whatever else I can get in there.

A correction to a comment I made last week. I am basically a rug weaver, but nobody will put them on the floor. So, when I started making some smaller pieces, I made those to be hemmed, but continued to needle weave the warp ends in on the larger pieces. As I was doing the needle weaving chore on a couple of pieces last week, it hit me—these two will probably never go on a floor because of their awkward size! Oh, well…..it’s done now.

Books, e-books

2011-08-01T03:00:00.000-05:00

I love books and have a lot of them. I also have a Kindle that was given to me for Christmas several years ago. And then there’s the iPad that I bought a couple of months ago.

The Kindle is great for traveling because you can take lots of books with you in little space. If you finish what you have, it’s easy to get another. At the time I received my it, the Kindle versions of new books were cheaper than the regular printed versions. They’re not now. And the fact that you could easily get a new book on the Kindle could also be considered a disadvantage for some of us. However, there were reference books that I wanted, that came in a Kindle version, but the lack of color was a definite drawback. Then the iPad came into my life.

Although for regular reading, the Kindle is easier on my eyes, the iPad has other advantages. I love the fact that I can download a PDF or reference book in color. Then I can take that book to wherever I am working and follow directions at that location. The directions for warping the Mirrix come to mind—since I don’t do it often, I need directions. I also got a book about operating my smarter-than-I-am Nikon. It is so easy to look up exactly what I need and a touch takes me there.

I am grieving the closing of one of my favorite bookstores, Borders. Before they started to have financial difficulties, Borders was where I could find more esoteric books that I could not find and B & N. I was in Borders so often that the employees were like friends. I like books, but I also like to look at books before I buy them. It’s not the same, but with Kindle books, you can get a sample of the book to look at before buying. And for a little bit of trivia: I was always tempted to put an apostrophe before the s in Borders before I read that the couple who founded the chain was named Borders.

E-mags next…

The finishing blues

2011-07-29T03:00:00.000-05:00

I’ve been trying to divide my studio time between weaving and doing finish work. I REALLY don’t like the finishing! (You may have seen my whiney postings on Facebook.) I working on my attitude, but a finishing fairy would be much better. So, because of a couple of deadlines coming up, I sat down last night and made a list of all the details that need to get done in the next 10 days, then plugged those into my calendar. Sometimes it worries me that I am so visual and have to see things plotted out like that, but it just is.

I found an At-A-Glance paper calendar that I like, even though I love having my computer calendar and smart phone calendar. With the paper calendar, I can block out sections of time in that all important (to me) visual way. This particular calendar has a section on the right to make those to-do lists. Most of my list items carry on to the next week. I am trying to train myself to pick out three main things to accomplish the next day instead of having that humongous to-do list staring me in the face.

In the other structure-making part of my life, things haven’t gone as well this week. Not regression back to pre-structure-making, just not as well. It’s hard to get up at six when one does not fall asleep until one. Stopping all screen-related activities did not seem to help with the sleep, as I had read that it might. Will move on to Plan B, as soon as I figure out what Plan B is.

How do YOU say red?

2011-07-27T03:00:00.001-05:00

Peruvian Mask
Wool Tapestry
46.75 x 79.5
Private Collection

ZigZag I
Wool Tapestry
33 x 51
Private Collection

Josef Albers, Homage to the Square, R-I c4, 1968 Oil on masonite. JAAF: 1976.1.1852 40.64 x 40.64 cm (16 x 16 inches) ©2007 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York (photo courtesy of: www.albersfoundation.org)

I read an interesting post from Brown Grotta Arts. It mentioned Josef Albers and his Homage to the Square and featured the gallery’s artists and their depictions of red. This link will take you to the post. The collection of small thumbnails of red art is quite nice. If you click on each one, you are taken to that artist’s page for the gallery and are able to see more work. Since I seem to use a lot of red, I was quite drawn to this idea for a post.

In trying to find a copy of the Homage painting, I found other Albers “experiments,” mostly about the golden rectangle. I will need to go back and explore those when there is more time, but here is a link to one of them. The rectangles get progressively smaller, and the site is somewhat interactive.

So, how do YOU say red?

Changing palettes

2011-07-27T03:00:00.000-05:00

For a couple of years I have been thinking about doing something in browns and blacks. I tried some new dyes, made some samples, dyed some skeins with different formulas, all in the search for some browns that I liked. Some are good, some not. The not-so-good yarns will be overdyed with another color. Now that I have all these skeins, it’s time to do something with them. With that in mind, along with various other thoughts, I am now weaving with browns. I have also decided to work on a series after reading about taking a design you like and expanding on the idea with many designs based on the original one. That idea and geodes keep talking to me. Here’s the cartoon for the original idea. I’m going to try and push this until I get sick of it or bored, whichever comes first. However, I doubt I’ll stick with browns for long. I’m thinking malachite…

On the finding structure front—It’s actually going pretty well. While waiting in the doctor’s office, a health piece was playing about getting more sleep. I already knew this, but they mentioned turning off "screens” an hour before it’s time for sleep. That may be my next baby step. There are so many things that need improving, it’s hard to decide which one to go to next.

Sarah Hood and jewelry

2011-07-22T03:00:00.001-05:00

Big Sur
2000
sterling silver, eucalyptus leaves, wool yarn
14” x 14” x .5”
one-of-a-kind
collection of Tacoma Art Museum

Not a lot here about weaving today, but there IS some fiber.

I saw this piece by Sarah Hood in Ornament magazine and became fascinated with the work. I only skimmed the article, but her approach to jewelry seems very interesting. Now, since the above piece is made of what looks like dried eucalyptus leaves, it definitely is a display piece. What a tragedy to break one of those leaves! The above link takes you to a short piece about Ms. Hood. The physical version of the magazine has several pages devoted to her and her jewelry. I like reading about the process and evolution that happens to the art and the artist.

This particular issue of Ornament has many pages dedicated to prehistoric Southwest jewelry and their sites.

Day Two

2011-07-20T09:08:00.000-05:00

Above is a Visuwords illustration of the word structure. To use, just type in a word, click Enter, and the program does the rest.

Yesterday’s goals were simple:

15 minutes de-cluttering
Tie on warp
Begin weaving project
Continue with maintenance on other items

I’m keeping them simple because the plan is to have success, to be able to cross those things off my list. And I outdid myself! The warp is tied on, prepped for weaving, the design is marked on the warp, and butterflies are made. The colors are in the order in which they will be used, AND, de-cluttering has been started. Yippee! I will not get too excited about this one day’s success—after all, there are many days ahead. And de-cluttering at 15 minutes a day could easily take a couple of centuries or two. That number will have to increase at some point.

Now, about that warp: it was a total mess. When I warp, I make a warp much wider than what I usually use. The extra warp just hangs at the front and advances as the weaving advances. Those extra warps have a tendency to wrap around the pegs for sectional warping. In addition, I double the selvedge warps. This piece will be about twelve inches wider than the previous piece, so those doubled ends had to be rethreaded and new ones made. Took me longer than expected, but it’s done!

Today’s goals are pretty much the same:

Weave, weave, weave
De-cluttering for 15 minutes
Continue other already started goals
Grocery store, post office, gas

I discovered today that the hunt for a new computer may have to happen sooner than expected. My scanner won’t scan, says there’s not room. I know there’s room, but …something else to add to the list.

It’s all about structure

2011-07-19T03:00:00.000-05:00

Structure is all around us everywhere we look. It’s one of life’s great organizers. But for the first time in my life I have no structure to my days. When you think about it, for the most part, structure is provided to us by our parents, school, spouses, children, work, etc. This is the first time EVER that my structure canvas is absolutely blank. I am having to reinvent that structure, to provide structure to my life intrinsically, not from outside sources.Now that I don’t have someone to wait for, cook for, or spend my evenings with, those evenings are running into my nights which are running into my days, which are…... The only structure that I have is the self-imposed kind, which is not enjoying much success at this stage of my evolvement.

So, with all these thoughts in mind, I am trying to force some kind of structure upon myself. The alarm is being set. The calendar is being marked with planned activities. No, not the exciting kind of activities, but the kind that remind me to vacuum, to weave, to do finish work—you know, all THAT kind of exciting stuff. Today was my official Day One in my Learning to Structure All By Myself. If I could rate it, my hand would be wobbling back and forth in that so-so kind of way. I got up on time, finished all the chores in the time I had allotted, only to be flummoxed at the next stage. Although I did get the studio a little tidied up, the warp did not tie itself, nor did the weaving begin. Tomorrow. Is that Scarlet’s voice I hear?

Tomorrow’s goals:

15 minutes de-cluttering
Tie on warp
Begin weaving project
Continue with maintenance on other items

How bad can that be? Trying to keep it simple so that I have some chance for success! My fingers are actually itching to weave, just gotta start!

Does anyone else have trouble with adding structure to your days? How do you structure your day?

Reds and more reds

2011-07-18T03:05:00.000-05:00

Looking at the reds overdyed with Polar Red, I first thought the color looked like other reds that I have dyed before Polar Red entered my life. However, when those skeins were placed amongst all the other dyed skeins, it was clear that the Polar Red skeins were different. Above are four skeins: on the left is Deep Red/Scarlet in 75/25 percentages. Its PR counterpart is next. Third from the left is 50/50 Deep Red/Scarlet and its PR counterpart. This picture does not do any of the yarns justice. I must have changed a setting on my camera, which I will investigate soon—maybe soon.

All of the week’s dyeing are in the wash at the moment. You know you’ve done a lot of dyeing when the washer is almost too full!

Process, Claire Moynihan, Moth Balls

2011-07-15T03:00:00.001-05:00

This came to me via Facebook from Daily Art Muse. Two different links here: Facebook and Website. Read about the journey that Claire Moynihan took to reach this creative venue here and here.

The artistic process, whether it involves paints or fibers, is very interesting to me. Exhibits that include journals and first sketches of works are one of my favorite things to look at.

I am also enjoying the creative process from Unraveling by Meg Nakagawa, a weaver from New Zealand.

I think (for me at least) that in the creative pursuit, we’re going to have some failures. I forget that and sometimes stop pursuing the idea I had because of a failure—or maybe it’s just percolating some more. What is your process like?

Polar Red continued

2011-07-13T09:02:00.001-05:00

Polar Red “sample” on the ProChemical site

I decided that the Polar Red yarns had to go, after taking a good-sized sample for my notebook. Above is the color as shown on the ProChem website and below are the yarns with the Polar Red skeins. None of these graphics really illustrate the color well—at least on my monitor. In both pictures the Polar Red skein is on the far right—in case its bright self was unidentifiable!

Yesterday I overdyed the Polar Red skeins with Royal Blue and Violet. Below is a picture of the results.They’re really quite nice. I haven’t compared them yet to dyes that I use on a regular basis, like Magenta and other purples that I have dyed in the past. The skein on the left is the one overdyed with blue, right is overdyed with violet. Something else to consider: The original Polar Red yarns were dyed at 1.5%, as in the ProChem example. (I usually dye at 1%.) The blue and violet were added at 1%, which makes the whole shebang dyed at 2.5%. I use those percentages sometimes for a particular project, but not on a regular basis. Which means that I will need to dye yarns at the regular 1% but divide the colors equally to get a real feel for using Polar Red. Rumor has it that it is an excellent color to mix with other colors.

Tomorrow I am overdyeing some of the reds with Polar Red.

Lenore Tawney

2011-07-11T03:00:00.000-05:00

Lenore Tawney's “Night Bird,” from 1958, combines linen, wool, rayon and silk.

Frankly, this is a name that was never on the tip of my tongue. But, as I was cleaning up some computer clutter, I ran across this NYTimes link from back in April. It’s worth a click to see this weaving in a larger format. Every time I look at this tapestry it gives me such a joyful feeling. Take a look at the “feathers” on its body, how the chest is wider than the rest, how the colors in the background merge and blend into one another. I love the graceful neck, the feet in the sand. In fact, I just love this tapestry! The size is not given, something I would like to know.

After an unplanned mini-vacation caused by my faulty air conditioner, this week should be somewhat more normal. Yet, as I write that, I think hmmm….haven’t I thought that before recently? At any rate, amongst getting the oil changed and the tires rotated, I plan to continue to dye—and tie on the new warp, ball up yarns, have time with my son and daughter-in-law visiting from Flagstaff, etc. The AC is working overtime in our 105 degree days, but at least it’s working!

Summertime, and the livin’ is HOT

2011-07-07T09:18:00.001-05:00

I hate to complain, since so many parts of the country have had much more serious problems, but it's hot! Really hot! Although the Texas fires may not compare with other fires in AZ and NM, and we haven’t had any floods in ages, I am still complaining about the heat. And drought. By the way, our fires in the North Texas area have started up again, and in some parts of Texas, they have never stopped.

Last night I realized that it really wasn’t cooling down much and that the AC seemed to be running constantly, so I checked the thermometer on the thermostat. 84 inside! And that motor was running all the time. Of course, it was too late to call the repair folks, so sleep was a long time coming. And it’s hard to make yourself work with balling up wool yarns when your dripping with, ahem, sweat. I called this morning, and they can’t come until tomorrow—no surprise there. They also said I should turn off the unit and let the Freon leak thaw out. They can’t work on it while it is frozen with ice. And I thought it was hot before!

Photo credit: Bradsmitchell

The Hotter 'n Hell bicycle race is held in Wichita Falls, just a hop, skip, and a jump west of here. Since our summer heat started a month early this year, I think they should push up the date for the race.

Guess I’m having an unscheduled vacation.

Polar Red, powerful stuff

2011-07-05T03:00:00.000-05:00

Polar Red, even though it doesn’t show up to its reality here, is potent stuff. Here is a picture of the Rust yarn, Polar Red yarn and then a 50/50 mix of the two colors. In the mix, you can tell what dominated the dyepot. I have not been able to capture the intense neon-like color of the Polar Red in any pictures. I did cut off a sample of the yarn to keep for my records because I can’t imagine actually weaving with this color. It will be over-dyed with another color. Below are the colors that I have dyed recently. What looks like black is actually a really rich chocolate brown. The bluish color is what is called Emerald Green. It is more green than the color shown here. All of the colors are gorgeous! Love this dyeing!

The plan is to dye some more reds, as I left out some in the series of reds that I dyed previously, then to move on to a bunch of greens to turquoise. Really looking forward to weaving again. Not looking forward to balling all of these yarns up. Of course, the upside of this is looking a the wonderful colors!

Get out your traveling shoes

2011-07-01T08:29:00.001-05:00

Occasionally I find a newsletter from Folkwear in my inbox. Sometimes I read them, sometimes I don’t. In today’s newsletter were a bunch of what appears to be interesting exhibits of textiles. This is where I wish I could just hop on a plane and go—wherever and whenever I wanted!

The Fabric of Society: 1,500 Years of African Textiles at Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Beyond Fashion: Fiber and Fashion Art by Vincent Quevedo at Kent State University Museum.

Second Lives: The Age-Old Art of Recycling Textiles at the Textile Museum.

Beyond Peacocks & Paisleys: Handcrafted Textiles of India and its Neighbors at the Goldstein Museum of Design.An upcoming exhibit at the Textile Museum is Weaving Abstraction: Kuba Textiles and the Woven Art of Central Africa.

If you’ve never looked at what the Textile Museum has to offer, there are several online exhibitions, such as this one called Common Threads. Others are listed here.

Instead of traveling, I’ll be tending the dyepots again today. It’s really hot, windy, and dry, dry, dry here in Texas and most of the Southwest. Dyeing must be done early, my preferred time anyway. I like to get them cooked, turn off the burners, and let them sit overnight. More pics soon.

A passel, a mess, a herd of reds

2011-06-30T09:15:00.001-05:00

After having two little visitors for two weeks, I am trying to get back to a semblance of normal, whatever that is. While the boys were here, we did something every day. And, I’m embarrassed to say, we ate out nearly every night. By the end of a day spent at the zoo, Legoland, or the Museum of Science and History, the adult is this bunch did not feel like cooking! I’m missing those sweet little voices calling “Grandma….”

I’m dyeing reds in anticipation of a project still in my head. All of the colors above are dyed with Sabraset from ProChemical and are mixtures of three colors: Magenta, Scarlet, Deep Red. Since I had heard that Polar Red was a good color to mix with other colors, I bought a small jar to experiment with. You can see its bright neon self in the lower right of the picture. It will definitely need to be toned down for me to like it.

When I placed my last order with Pro Chem, I also ordered a rust brown. Usually every color I need can be mixed from the palette that I keep on hand, but I haven’t been thrilled with the browns, so decided to experiment with a premixed color. Today I am dyeing the rust yarns and a group that is a combination of rust and polar red. I may actually like this experiment judging from looking at the yarns in the pot so far.

Frontier Days Rodeo time

2011-06-20T03:00:00.000-05:00

Photo credit

I love this picture posted on Facebook. Wish I had taken it, but I can’t take the credit. The credit link is below the picture. When it’s rodeo time in Weatherford, Texas, horses take precedence, as seen here “parked” at the Sonic Drive-in. Below is a picture of the Posse at the Fort Worth Stock Show in 2008.

My father was a member for many, many years, and it was somehow comforting when many of the members came to his funeral dressed in their “uniform” of white shirt and string tie.

The boys and I baked a chocolate cake for their Great-grandmother (my mother), Dannie Woodard. They wanted to put Lego characters on the cake, but I vetoed that idea. Since there were no birthday candles in the house, we used one big candle and sang “happy birthday” before finishing off the cake. I have a large family, thank goodness, so there was no cake to bring home. Both the boys loved having a pool party with their cousins-whatever-removed before the birthday celebration.

Busy time

2011-06-17T09:30:00.001-05:00

My grandsons flew in from Charlotte on Tuesday, flying for the first time by themselves. I envisioned them wandering around the huge airport as we tried to find each other, but, or course, that never happened. The “receiver” of the children gets a boarding pass to go through security and then is able to collect unaccompanied children at the gate, after showing ID (again) and signing papers. They really do take care of that precious cargo!

Spending time with children makes for busy-ness. After going to the Parker County Sherriff’s Posse rodeo on Wednesday night, we trekked on Thursday to Grapevine for Legoland. In case you’re out of the loop with what young boys like, Legos are IT! Above are two pictures of the city made from Legos, actually pretty amazing. The one on top was taken at “night.” We saw a 4-D movie. I learned that 4-D means that the 3-D effects are enhanced by things that the audience can feel, like wind swooshing as a skier goes by, and by actual snowflakes falling. Pretty neat! Believe me when I say that Legoland is full of lots of children.

Not much weaving or dyeing happening right now. Today we will be baking a cake for the upcoming birthday of the children’s soon-to-be 85 great-grandmother. Am hoping for more dyeing next week. They want to watch, but it will only be for the first part. I do not want little boys around big, hot pots of simmering water.

Reading

2011-06-13T08:17:00.001-05:00

My choice of reading material is not exactly literary. I prefer mysteries (or, as they sometimes call them, thrillers). It used to embarrass me that this was my favorite genre, but I heard an interview once with a man who is considered by most of the world to be very intellectual (can’t remember who). He stated that his favorite reading is mysteries. With that I decided that I know longer have to hide my book choices!

I often choose books based on the setting, usually a place I’ve visited or want to visit. I am astounded sometimes by the extraneous and eclectic information one can get from books, probably gathered by a professional researcher. I never even knew there was such a profession until listening to an NPR radio program. I immediately knew that’s the career I should of chosen (had I known it existed). I was one of those people who loved the research papers in college. I know—sick! Recently I picked up a copy of The Silenced by Brett Battles. I was hooked immediately, even though the career choice of the main character is not exactly one we would wish for our children. Quinn is a “cleaner.” That means that he disposes of bodies that would be, if found, inconvenient for governments and various agencies. I have now started reading the first in the series, something else I do—read all the books by a certain author in order.

There is another series with a likeable character and lots of extra information to boot. Those are the John Dunning books about old, valuable books, featuring the main character of Cliff Janeway. Sometimes the only problem is that new books are slow in coming. Can’t these folks write any faster!

Mentioned before here is a blog about books: On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever. There might be some suggestions for future reading material there.

1. Make list

2011-06-10T03:00:00.000-05:00

2. Do stuff

I love the title of this article in the NYTimes. As a fan of to-do lists, the lists written about here put mine to shame. Mine are so mundane with no artistic merit. The ones written about in this article are included in an exhibit put together by Liza Kerwin from materials in the Archive of American Art at the Smithsonian. There is also a book about the exhibit, seen above. One of the artists whose work lists are in the exhibit is Janice Lowry. You can find a blog here and her website here.

Now for a little weaving. If you haven’t seen this, go to Avalanche Looms to see the linen/paper yarn that was woven into a beautiful piece embellished with flowers. Absolutely gorgeous!

Sonia Delaunay

2011-06-08T03:00:00.000-05:00

The Sonia Delaunay exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt looks wonderful—at least from my computer. The link will take you to a slide show about the exhibit. Some of the designs are on paper and some are printed on silk. And what about those swimsuits! The Hand-Eye magazine Facebook page has been featuring some of them. This one is my favorite. It’s gouache on paper, which makes me think (again) about doing a little designing that way. Even her driving caps (above) look cool! The blurb says that they are silk and wool embroidery on wool. Not sure how that works…they look knitted to me.

Cartoons

2011-06-07T13:24:00.001-05:00

Usually I have a scale model of what I am going to weave and just count inches, sections, or whatever during the weaving. When doing these swirly pieces, however, I feel the need to have a cartoon, a life-size drawing of the piece. Below is the to-scale drawing of the weaving plan on graph paper, including notes on colors. At the right is the actual cartoon drawn on Vellum graph paper.

I have a new adaptation that I plan to weave, based on a geode slice. As I started to enlarge the drawing onto graph paper, my frustration level was increasing. So, off the drawing and I went to FedEx Office. The nice young lady there quickly scanned the drawing, went to her computer, enlarged it by ten times, and sent it on to the giant printer. In no time, I had my 3 x 5 cartoon of what I am going to weave. This process costs $0.75 per square foot. Quite exciting and no frustration! Previously, when I have had a cartoon done, we have inserted the actual drawing into the printer, and many mistakes were spit out. This scanning and working on the computer first is much better! Let’s hear it for technology!