Portrait...

The Blue Pig Gallery is doing a portrait exhibit in January and February. Gallery artists were given a local personality to paint. The person I was paired with is deceased, or I would have gone and taken my own photos to paint from. However, his wife gave me an old photo to work from which is her favorite image of him. It is from WWII, and is a pretty dark photo. I figure that painting a person's widow's favorite picture is quite difficult, at best. So I have just decided to paint it loosely; make it look like a 'painting,' rather than a painted copy of a photograph, and to not allow myself to stress over it. It is not a commission, so there is not that added pressure to please someone who will be having to put out money for it. Anyway, I did an underpainting in about an hour, then put in about another hour today, and I think I'm about ready to let it dry and see if it's 'done enough.' It's not large or small, at 12"x 16". I do think it captures the fun-loving expression his wife loves about the photo, at least.

"January"

18"x18". Wool weft on cotton warp, sett at about 8-9 epi. The inspiration photo can be seen here. (As always, you can click on the image to see it larger.)

Illustration Friday: Music

The IF topic today is music. Music has a big role in my family. My father is a musician, he can play the piano and just about any other instrument he might want to play. Most of his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren have inherited his love of music. We sing. We love to sing! One of my greatest joys is to sing with my grandchildren or to have them sing to me.

The tapestry, "Prairie Polka," is one of my Heritage Series tapestries. It was inspired by these two small contact photos of my dad with his parents (my grandparents) when he was young . They lived in Kansas, thus the wheat fields and distant grain elevator in the tapestry. This is the smallest of the Heritage tapestries, at about 36"x36" square. It is still in my collection. In fact, it hangs in my studio.




Technically, this was a challenge for me to weave. It was woven sideways, so I could do a lot of eccentric weft work in the prairie. That was a lot of fun! The sky then, which was to be a gradation, had to be hatched, instead of the color blended gradation I could have done if it was woven bottom to top. There was also, then, the long vertical line of the bottom border, which I had to use a join on, as a long slit would have caused problems. And then the line work in the wheat bundle in the border was also going up the warp, so was woven in the 'weft-wrapping' technique I frequently use, but which is also a slow technique. All of those technical issues had to be decided before I began weaving, as I was making the choice whether to weave it bottom to top or from side to side. I prefer to always weave bottom to top, unless there is a very good reason not to. In this case there were very good reasons to weave it either way, but I chose to do it 'the hard way' so I could do the prairie in eccentric wefts, in shapes that would be vertical when the tapestry is hung. Weaving it sideways also made the accordion easier to weave. (I know a lot of this is complex technical gibberish to many of you, so just pretend it's not here.) I learned a LOT from weaving this tapestry. It's good for me to remember it all today.

(Also, to continue the music topic, Booker's official AKC name is now "Booker T Sings the Blues." I thought it should have been "Booker T's Mama Sings the Blues"!)

A beautiful backside...

Isn't this cool? I may just frame it, and forget what's on the other side! This is the back of my "January" tapestry, which I just flipped over to trim all these ends and sew slits, so I can block and mount it. But I like the Rya-looking back so much, I hate to destroy it by trimming all those pretty ends down! It has that all-over fur look because of the many, many little pieces of yarn I had to use to create all those many, many tiny shapes! I don't think I've ever done a piece with such a pretty backside! (So, was this NOT the beautiful backside you were hoping for? Perhaps you are on the wrong blog!)

I am keeping this up high to work on, hopefully out of Booker's reach, though it is getting harder to find such places as he is getting so much bigger. We had a bad day yesterday. He ate one of my favorite handknit socks. I have not yet forgiven him.

ps. As my reward for not killing Booker yesterday, I am treating myself to Norah Jones' new album from iTunes today! Not a big enough reward, but it's a start.

Fiber Remnants...

When we were in Maine we were along Highway 1, which is known as the 'Antique Highway.' Just about every other building housed an antique shop of some sort. Though we didn't really go to shop this time, we did go in and, if it was allowed, took photos of 'still life objects.' And a few of those objects did find their way back to Colorado. One of the things I couldn't resist was this small Turkish kelim portion. When I buy something I have a hard and fast rule for myself; I have to love it and I have to know where it will fit in my house and life. This small kelim fit both those qualifications, plus it was on sale and very affordable and it would fit in my suitcase! How could I not buy it? It is part of my small collection of handwoven pieces from other places, other looms, other hands. I have a backstrap woven piece from Guatemala that my husband brought me, a tapestry from Honduras that one son brought me, and some kente cloth from Africa from the other son in my 'collection.'

This Turkish kelim fragment fits beautifully across the back of a Morris chair my husband made for the sitting room. It has become a favorite perch for Gus since I put it there.


This final fabric remnant looks like it should be retired to a museum! It is Booker's handknit puppy blankie.... or what's left of it. Especially when he was very young, he drug it around the house with him, like a security blanket. He still loves his blanket, especially when he's tired. He drags it out of his crate and hauls it somewhere to lay his head on. Bits of the treasure have found their way into the anthropological dig that is our backyard. (Need I say that the blanket was NOT in this condition when it was first given to him?)


Anyway, just a bit from the fiber archives at the Spoering Museum to start off the week! Now I must go see what the two 'boys' are doing... it has become much too quiet, and that is rarely a good thing!

Illustration Friday: Unbalanced

I did this little digital image this morning for the IF topic, 'Unbalanced.' There are several stories that created this image. Neither are really 'up' stories, and both probably illustrate my own lack of balance!

When I was young (aha! Story #1 begins!) in the summer between second and third grades, I had told my older sister that I could fly. Such a secret, I now know I should have kept to myself! When she and a friend got me on a teeter-totter, they decided to hold me 'up' and make me fly down to prove myself. They held me up a loooong time, and I finally jumped off, landing on a rock and breaking my arm. Of course, the truth was that I couldn't fly in front of them and under such stress.... that is my story and I'm sticking to it.

The other thing that motivated this image is a current one. Having just completed a tapestry and a group of paintings for an exhibit, I have been experiencing the mood crash that comes from depleting myself, creatively. I am not 'up' but sitting heavily at the other end of the see-saw. In other words, feeling quite unbalanced! Having experienced this crash many times before, I know that I need to fill myself back up with inspiration somehow, and move on to a new creative project. The studio is clean, and the portraits are drawn up, so I will pick myself up and begin again. Back to the drawing board......!!!

In all it's messiness...

The "January" tapestry is off the loom. I'm sharing it with you in all it's messiness; weft not trimmed, warp not all tied off, slits not sewn, and unblocked. It will look better soon, but for now, it and I shall rest a bit from each other.

The cutting off party was a very selective one. Those who attended enjoyed a light repast of Pupperoni's, dried salmon bits, and a couple of Starbursts left from Halloween.

For the rest of the afternoon, I will clean up under and around the loom. It is frightful in the studio, and I look forward to tackling that mess before I tackle the mess that is the finishing of the tapestry.

This photo looks a bit too dark. I have yet to get a good picture of the thing, but when I have it mounted, I'll get it in some good light and will get a better image.