Sunday, November 25, 2007

Creepin' up to the top...

I have reached the point where I have to enlarge the upper border design for this Fall tapestry. The upper border of each of these pieces has three parts; the two corners, and the center arched part. Each of the seasons tapestries has a bird (or an egg-filled nest, in the spring tapestry) in the upper left corner. Birds have long been a big part of my tapestries - but that's another (long) story. The upper right corner always has some plant that is symbolic of either the season or the tapestry's theme. So, in this fall tapestry, the bird will be a woodpecker. Specifically, it will be the William Morris woodpecker from his Woodpecker tapestry (image from Wikipedia). I chose that because of the gifts I have received in inspiration from Morris's work, and from the Arts and Crafts movement. I wanted to include something from Morris in this, the last of these tapestries. The upper right corner will have an apple on a branch. I have a lovely crab apple tree in my yard, that both blesses me and curses me in several seasons. The apple is a symbol of the theme if this piece. As in the mixed gift of the apple (or 'fruit') in the Garden of Eden (not the Kansas one, but the original one).

In the center arched area, I have decided to put my house with all the fall trees that surround it. I love my house. It is a true gift to me, a gift of comfort and history. But it too can be a mixed gift; as an old house it also gives us much work, expense and occasional worry. So, these three elements on the top border will contribute to the theme of the tapestry, which will be called "The Gift," and will also add to the theme of autumn. Here is the photo I'll be working from for the house part:


I'm shooting for a December 15th cutting off - which means I need to have the weaving done by the 10th or so, so I can clean house and put up holiday decor before then! YIKES... to the loom, lady!

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This is Ringo T he American Tapestry Alliance hosts an unjuried exhibition every two years, in conjunction with the Handweavers Convergence ...