My life is but a tapestry...

January was a sleeping cat...

2012-01-29T19:31:00.002-07:00

... and a new pink capo for the newly replaced neck of my guitar. How could I resist a pink capo? (Plus, it benefits breast cancer research.)

January was winter sunsets from my studio window. But no snow to speak of, pink, or otherwise.

January was a month of surprises; like going to church and having someone say, " I saw your photo in the newspaper yesterday." I thought they were mistaken, so asked, "Really? What was I doing in the paper?" "Weaving," was the reply, so I knew it had to be me. And it was. Nothing said about me, just the photo and the caption, "Kathy Spoering at the loom" above an article about art seminars. Wouldn't you think I would have known if my photo was to be in the paper? Well.... anyway.

January was, and soon February will be. What will it bring?

Weaving Grace.....

2012-01-27T13:00:00.001-07:00

I'm still weaving the small tapestry for the non-juried ATA small format tapestry exhibit. The tapestry is due in March, and I have some travel coming up, so I hope to complete the 8x10" piece this week-end, or early next week, at the latest. Then I can take it with me on an upcoming train trip to do the finishing work.

I got the good news that one of my tapestries will be included in ATA's juried American Tapestry Biennial IX, as well.That is very encouraging, and has given me a real boost for my studio work. I am very fond of the ATB exhibits, as I kind of feel a personal attachment to the exhibit, having organized the first one, and a subsequent one, as well. So I always enter it, whether I think the work I submit will be accepted or not. I did not even think of the exhibit again, after entering this time, as my expectations were not real high. So having a piece accepted was a lovely surprise! This is the 9th ATB. I have entered them all. This will be my 4th time being in the exhibit, so you can do the math... more rejections than acceptances. That's how it goes when one person is choosing pieces for an exhibit. As organizer of a number of exhibits, including the 2 ATB's, I have seen some absolutely stunning tapestries rejected for reasons I could not understand, and I have been totally flabbergasted at some of the accepted works, which I felt should not have been included. So I have learned to not let rejection depress me (too much), nor to let acceptance swell my ego. Twice, I have had work rejected from one exhibit go on to win Best of Show in another one. Artists are supposed to develop thick skins, and I guess this is why. However, artists are notoriously (and necessarily) sensitive people, in my experience. So the jurying process is a strange way to treat us, really, isn't it?

At any rate, I do look forward to tapestry exhibits, both the non-juried small tapestry show I'm weaving the above piece for (one of my very favorite exhibits!), and the ATB9 exhibit, as well as all the exhibits I hope to see in California next summer at Convergence where I will be teaching. In my part of the country, I rarely get to see tapestries, other than my own. So I will immerse myself in the exhibits this coming summer.

The small tapestry is from a small painting I did long ago that I always felt like I wanted to weave. I am loving the small format, after working on the big loom. I DO love both my small Mirrix loom and my big Shannock loom, but it is good to move from one to the other occasionally. I keep thinking that this is so small, that it should weave a bit faster, though!

Back to weaving "Grace" (the name of the tapestry, though I'm not sure why. It just seemed right...)

A bit of a detour...

2012-01-22T17:19:00.002-07:00

While you were not looking, I have been busy in the studio, but not at the loom (where I should have been.) But occasionally, one must strike while the iron is hot. (An aside note about that phrase: I saw a blacksmith use the phrase on PBS's This Old House recently. Being a fiber person, I had always thought it referred to a hot iron, as in what you press fabric with. But it made much more sense when the blacksmith used it to refer to hitting, or striking, the metal while it was hot from the fire to reshape it. Duh. An example of how much our own experiences shape our often faulty perceptions, I guess.)

Anyway, the current 'hot iron' was my woodworking husband being without a project, and eager for something constructive to do in his shop. When we moved into this house 14 years ago, I asked him to build me shelves in the studio closet. What he came up with, much to my amazement and dismay, is what you see above: two narrow sets of shelves up the sides of the closet, leaving the bulk of space useless. So, I jumped on his project-less state and begged him to re-do my closet shelves, to my specifications this time.

Needless to say, all the piled up stuff had to come out of the closet. It filled my studio, the upstairs hallway, and our summer bedroom. Where did all that stuff come from? And what did/do I think I am going to need it for?

This is what my wonderful new shelves look like! This is also what I had in mind 14 years ago when I asked for shelves. It took me longer to deal with all the stuff than it took my husband to construct and install the shelves. I also painted the inside of the closet, which had what I believe might have been the original paint on the upper portion of the closet (from1921).

Some detours are necessary. Rarely do they save you time or effort, but some turn out pretty well, even when they are not what you had planned for that time. This one has turned out to be well worth the time and effort it took. Goodwill has also benefited by acquiring a good bit of my 'stuff.' That part felt so good, I'm sure they will get more soon!

I have not been completely without creative progress during this project. I have been weaving a small whimsical tapestry on my small loom for the ATA small tapestry exhibit. I have about a third of it woven. I will share it with you later. It is great fun to weave some whimsy again!

Tomorrow I go back to the big loom in the now clean studio. I am ready to spend time with Mr. Fox and his friends again. And maybe now I can find those small beaters and sharp scissors when I need them!

Being Foxy ...

2012-01-10T08:56:00.002-07:00

I am weaving the fox in the right tapestry panel of the Nativity tapestries. He and I are enjoying one another. As I weave Mr. Fox, a song by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer called "Go Tell the Fox" keeps running through my head. It's a nativity song, so is classified as a Christmas song. (By the way, if anyone knows where I could find sheet music or even just guitar chords to that song, I would be ever so grateful!)

Yesterday I sketched Beluga whales. I sketched them because I have been listening to their music. I heard Beluga whales singing about 14 years ago in Cook Inlet in Alaska. It was a magical sound, which I recently found recorded on a sleep sounds app. Hearing it again takes me instantly back to that cool fall morning in Alaska, and to the mysterious song coming across the water from these gentle creatures.

Back to Mr. Fox, who is patiently waiting my attention in the studio....

The good news, and the other news....

2012-01-06T09:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I mailed in my entry form for ATA's Pacific Portals exhibit. It is the nonjuried small format exhibit that is shown at Convergence. Last night, I warped my small Mirrix loom, so I can weave my already entered tapestry. The tapestry is due in California in mid-March, so I do have my work ahead of me, as I'm still hoping to get the Nativity tapestries done by Easter, as well.

I don't normally recommend that you be the procrastinating work-to-deadline type person that I am. However, you still have time to get an entry in for this fun exhibit, and time to weave the small piece. If you are interested, go to the ATA website and get an entry form and get busy, along with me and several other procrastinators that I know of, but will not mention by name ( you know who you are!)

The 'other news?' I awoke in the night and realized that I do not want to weave the design I have chosen at the sett I have warped the loom. I was so into The Mentalist episode I was watching as I warped, that I did not think it through clearly. So tonight, I will try to somehow change the sett without having to totally rewarp the loom. (All while watching "The Help," which came from Netflix in yesterday's mail. I know I shall love the movie, as I loved the book, so I'll try to do my thinking before it begins!)Well, as I have also committed to enter 2 painting exhibits, and am not sure I want to send existing work, I think it is time to get back into the studio! I am weaving a fox today....

Unfinished Business....

2012-01-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

I have been working to get my 2011 "YearBook" completed, so I can move on into the new year.

I have used a fairly large format book this year, as you can see by comparing it with my size 7 foot next to it.

Most 2-page spreads combine sketches and photos from a one- to two-week period of time.

It will be completed by the end of today, and I can move on into 2012 projects! Most notably, I can get back to the commission tapestries that are on the loom. My goal is to complete the weaving of them in the next two months. I have had a back problem that has kept me from the loom for the past week, but I'm going to invest in Ibuprofen and move on in spite of it. I'll keep you posted on that....

In the meantime, Gus and I recommend that you find a warm and sunny spot and celebrate endings and beginnings!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

This lovely poem was translated and sent to me by a reader, Christa Weitbrecht. She gave me permission to share it with you all, as we enter a bright new year.

Recipe for a Happy New Year
by Katharina Elisabeth Goethe
(Mother of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

Take twelve months;
Clean them thoroughly from bitterness, avarice, pedantery, and fear,
Cut each month into thirty or thirty-one equal parts,
So that this stock will last for a whole year.

Each part will be prepared separately
And arranged with one part of working and two parts of cheerfulness and good humour,
Then three big spoons heaped with optimism are added ,
As well as one small spoon of tolerance,
One grain of irony and a pinch of tactfulness.
Finally everything will be flavoured abundantly with lots of love.

It is recommended to adorn this dinner
with small bouquets of attentiveness
and serve it daily with serenity
and a cup of good revitalizing tea.

Thank you so much, Christa, and I raise my cup of good revitalizing tea to you all to wish you a wonderful and productive 2012!

(The clock photo was taken in the Waltham, MA clockworks museum.)

Merry Christmas....

2011-12-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

...from our Home to yours!

Our Christmas may necessarily come sooner than yours, though, as Gus began tearing the paper off the packages under the tree last night. He may have decided that, as none are marked as his, he will just claim them all! His isn't there yet, because he can always sniff it out and refuses to wait until a certain day or hour to claim it. Perhaps he was looking for it.

May your Christmas be merry and bright. And may you have time to sit and sip whatever it is you like to sip, and to enjoy the quiet wonder of the season.

'Slower than molasses in winter....'

2011-12-16T12:42:00.002-07:00

(Now that I am a grandmother myself, I guess I feel quite comfortable using those old sayings I remember my grandmother using!)
Anyway, that is how this tapestry is going... slowly, slowly; like molasses in winter.

It feels quite right for me to be weaving 'mother and child' during this celebration season.The actual tapestry is a bit different than this photo of the maquette, but close enough that you can tell where I am. Still not too far along, I am about 3-4 inches up the tapestry body. I'm weaving fabric, in several meanings of the term. I always like weaving a tapestry of 'fabric.' It seems somehow fitting. Fabric about fabric.

This is the geranium that refused to bloom all summer long on my porch. Now that it is inside, it is blooming a bouquet all the time! It is in a south window, with bright light filtered through the lace curtain, near the warm radiator, and in the room with a humidifier running all the time (for my guitar), so no wonder it's happy! A bit of bright winter cheer each morning. I wish the same for you... bright winter cheer each day!

A slice of my life....

2011-12-13T10:39:00.005-07:00

Wake up, feet!

It snowed last night. Not much snow... maybe just sno... or even sn....
(Hey, this is Colorado. We only have one word for the white stuff; and it's either worth getting out the skis and snowshoes for, or it's not. Today's is not.)

Books, camera, music stand. Must be where I live!

Where I meet friends, drink coffee, and occasionally shop.

Eye spy...

Gus, Santa's little helper....

2011-12-09T09:10:00.002-07:00

Actually, he usually ends up climbing the tree, and knocking the ornaments off. He is probably picking his victims as he sits demurely looking at it. "Ah, just wait until they leave the room. That antique glass ball is history!"

Fast away the old year passes....

2011-12-06T10:00:00.004-07:00

Here it is December already. All the things I wanted to do in the 365 days, 52 weeks, and 12 long months of 2011 now must be compressed into the few days left, if they are to be accomplishments of this year.

Sigh. Oh the novels that have gone unwritten, the tapestries unwoven, the canvas unpainted, the days unsaved. But wait, I have yet three and a half weeks in which to still save the day!

This is the thing about December: it is not enough to celebrate the major holiday of the year, to shop and ship and bake and decorate. We also must deal with the waning year and all the promises to ourselves that are yet unkept. And we must still meet the daily requirements of work and home and of keeping ourselves and our loved ones warmed, inside and out. Oh, December, do you not demand too much of me? I mull over the month as I mull a cup of hot cider. I will drink both down with as much enjoyment as I can muster.

Even the darkest of Decembers have beauty to notice and savor. Even the most overloaded days have a moment or two to 'save the day,' for yourself or for someone who needs it even more. And soon I will sit and revel over the accomplishments I have made in this past year. But not yet. I'm thinking I still have a bit of time to add to that list first....

Holidays a-bloom....

2011-11-24T09:34:00.003-07:00

My Christmas cactus is blooming on this Thanksgiving morning! (That is a chocolate pecan pie in front of the bread box, by the way.)

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends and family. May you be blessed with the awareness of all the good in your life on this day of giving thanks.

And may we all be blessed with peace and joy throughout the oncoming holiday season.

Decisions and choices...

2011-11-18T09:56:00.002-07:00

I know. It doesn't look like I have done much on these tapestries. And I haven't progressed very far, just a bit more than an inch on each of them. But each of those little bits of weaving represent a lot of thought, and many choices and decisions.

As I am 'beginning again,' weaving the start of the tapestry bodies, I have had to decide a lot of things: how much texture does the fox area need to look fox-like? And should the sheep be physically textured or just visually textured? How can I keep the rhythm of dark/light (chiaroscuro) going between the fabric and the animals? How dark should the darkest shadows on the fabric be, and how light should the lightest highlights be? Can I weave 'straw?'

So there was a lot of work, and even a bit of unweaving, in these few inches. They represent two weeks of work. Sad.... but true.

In my non-weaving time, I am knitting and sewing grand-children holiday gifts. Fun!

'The thinginess of things....'

2011-11-06T15:46:00.003-07:00

Sylvia Plath has been quoted as saying, "If I could paint, I would want to paint things. I love the thinginess of things."

I also love the 'thinginess of things,' and I love that phrase! I think of it when I paint,or even photograph, a still life.

Today I thawed out my paints and did this painting. It is a bit of an irony, as it is an oil painting of a watercolor palette and a cup of dirty paint water. It is 9"x12".

I have heard jurors and art critics call amateur painters "Sunday painters" with a distinct snub in their tone when they say it. I seem to have become a "Sunday painter." I won't apologize for it, nor do I think anyone should, if they can only paint on the weekend or in spare bits of time. Better on a Sunday afternoon than never, I say! While I am weaving through the weekday work times, I can't get out the paints. My painting studio and my weaving studio are one and the same, just on opposite sides of the room. Going back and forth between the two mediums involves a lot of clean-up, not to mention a completely different mindset. So, for now at least, I am quite delighted to have a hour or two on Sunday afternoon to put paint to canvas.

Reluctantly, I will now stick my palette back in the freezer, hoping that I'll have a bit of time, and the inspiration of 'the thinginess' of something or other, to bring me back to the easel next Sunday afternoon.

The next step: Nativity tapestries....

2011-11-03T13:39:00.003-06:00

In spite of horrid migraines the past 2 days (weather related?) I have enlarged and drawn up the cartoons for the upper portions of the two Nativity tapestry panels. The poor quality of the photo (and the cheesy vintage paneling) are because I did it in the basement, as the rest of the house was just 'too bright.' (Which is actually funny, if you've ever been in an Arts and Crafts house with wide eaves!)

Anyway,weather and head willing, I will be ready to proceed with the weaving of these on Monday. In the meantime, we will be heading back up to the mountains to cut more wood before the snow keeps us from being able to get back into the forest.

I love it when I am at this stage of a tapestry, (or in this case, two tapestries.) When the only thing between now and the cutting off is a lot of time at the loom. Winter is setting in... perfect weaving time! I will try to keep you posted on the progress of the weaving, but posting about weaving an inch or two, while it may be significant to me and may have involved a lot of time and work, just seems like posting 'breathing reports' sometimes.

In the meantime, leave me a comment to let me know you are visiting me and to let me know what YOU are up to! I know there is surely a world out there beyond these studio walls...

Peace border...

2011-11-01T10:16:00.003-06:00

If you are interested in the spiritual symbolism in the lower right border of the Nativity tapestries, you can find more about it here.

Carrots....

2011-10-31T12:12:00.004-06:00

I came home from New England with a nasty fall cold. It has been a chore to motivate myself to do anything, so I have been 'dangling carrots' in front of myself, with the promise that, if I keep moving, I will reward myself.

The thing I needed to keep moving towards was the completion of the lower borders of the Nativity tapestries. I finished these up yesterday! So next I will need to enlarge the cartoons for the upper tapestries. But I promised myself that, when the weaving on the borders was completed, I would take a bit of weaving time off and I would paint something. I haven't painted anything except small travel watercolor sketches since mid-May! I wasn't certain I'd even know how to hold the brush!

So yesterday, I determined I'd paint a small 'unimportant' painting. I decided not to do anything large, so I prepped an 8"x10" canvas. And I didn't want to paint an image that was meaningful or special to me, as I didn't want to 'ruin' it, having not painted for so long. So I chose a pretty trite and simple subject; a barn on a grey New England fall day. I painted simply for the joy of smushing the paint out of the tubes onto the canvas with my brushes. I delighted in the smell and feel of the process, without having any expectation for the product. So much fun! Even though I did not create a great work of art, I remembered why I love to paint. So now I want to do more of it! I have prepped two more canvases.

Why do we wait so long to do the things we love doing? Yes, I have been pretty busy lately, but I have done other things; I have practiced my guitar, I have kept up with my Words with Friends games, I have exercised, I have read a few books. So I will do an occasional painting, as well. I'm going to try to do at least one small painting each week, even while I am working on the commission tapestry.

Another 'carrot' that has been dangling in front of me is not as 'tasty.' I need to get out into my garden and do some fall clean-up. Looking at the weather forecast, today and tomorrow are the days to do it. So I'll clean my brushes for now, and will stick my wet paint palette in the freezer for another day.

Point of View....

2011-10-26T08:33:00.004-06:00

My view of the world, my 'weather-station' and my look-out on the neighborhood and my small world, is from my sitting room window. This is the view today. The view changes with the seasons, but it almost always can undo me with it's simple loveliness.

I played a bit with the photo, and may find the need to paint it someday.

This is the same view that I photographed and posted here long ago. You may recognize it as the source for my "January" tapestry. Perhaps it would be fun to weave the same view in other seasons.... A thought to perk around in my head a bit today.

I hope your day gives you many lovely points of view as this awe-inspiring month of October comes to an end. I will paint with my Alzheimer's artists this morning, then I plan to spend the afternoon at the loom.

in Search of Autumn...

2011-10-23T14:39:00.004-06:00

We went to the east coast, to Massachusetts and to Maine, looking for Autumn. We walked among tall beautiful old trees on foggy roads, treading carpets of colorful leaves.

We saw the cool moist ocean with it's crashing waves.

We carved pumpkins, visited fall festivals, and hiked the woods with our jacket-clad grandchildren.

We saw forest floor ferns that had taken on their autumn cast.

It was all beautiful.

But I knew that I had truly found autumn when we drove down our own street and found that autumn had arrived at our very doorstep while we were away. Welcome HOME to autumn!

My Acadia

2011-10-18T06:10:00.001-06:00

I love that the US has set aside some of the most beautiful spots in our country to belong to each and all of us, as our National Parks.

So when we visit these places, though we may be surrounded by other people, we can be confident that our experience of the place belongs to us alone. Acadia is my experience of it.

This is my second visit to my Acadia. In my experience, Acadia is cool and moist air, crashing waves, trees growing out of rocky places, and lovely autumn light.

Reflections; beauty worth repeating.

One of the small sketches I did yesterday. (4x5" watercolor)

- Posted from my iPad

Maine....

2011-10-16T18:58:00.001-06:00

We are in Maine.... the land of moisture, where 'desert' refers to an island, not an arid place of cactus and dry skin.

It is autumn here, which means color and a different slant of light.

The ocean is a huge expanse to a small boy. And to his grandmother.

Fall festivals abound...

...and even the past is beautiful.

It is good to look at the world in a different place, with new eyes, for a short while.

Posted from my iPad

Flyte.........

2011-10-13T13:06:00.001-06:00

Yes, I know I mis-spelled it, but when you spend most of a day above the clouds, it seems that the word for such an experience should be more lofty than the same word that is used in such phrases as, 'fight or flight,' or 'she is flighty,' or even 'flight of fancy.'

As we left the wild west and flew out to the culture-vated east, we flew over most every kind of cloud! We flew over roiling stormy clouds, over clouds that looked like waves of water,

over clouds that looked so much like fields of snow you felt certain that you could ski across them,

over a seemingly endless cloud horizon,

and over clouds that Georgia O'Keefe could have painted onto a beautiful mural sized canvas.

Then, when the clouds separated for moments, we saw the white seam where the Great Lakes meet the land...

and tiny houses that I could play Monopoly with,

and finally, the skyline of Boston.

To paraphrase Dr. Seuss, "from there to here, from here to there, marvelous things are everywhere!"

- Posted from my iPad

I couldn't have done it without you......

2011-10-09T14:32:00.004-06:00

You may not know this about me, but I am very fond of my Apple products. I use my Mac computer in all of my design processes. It has made the process so much easier for me, and I know that several of my tapestries would not have been created at all without the computer's help. That is not to say that I do all of my designing on the computer, just that it is involved a great deal in the design process for me.

I have created 2 ATA exhibit catalogs on my Mac computers. I hope to soon put together a catalog/book of my own work as well. My business cards, prints, and promotional brochures are from my own computer; saving me a ton of money.

In addition, one of my studio's best 'tools' to help me to get 'in the creative zone' is my iPod. I load audio books from the library into it, to listen to as I paint and weave.

I have come to rely on my iPhone to have a good and somewhat stealthy camera with me at all times. Some of my best resource material has come from my iPhone camera.

And some of you do know that my iPad has recently become as useful to me as the other Apple tools. In fact, I am constantly amazed by what can be done on this little thing, with so little effort. It has quickly become a tool my travel art bag will not do without.

I do not know what kind of artist I would be without the tools Steve Jobs has given me, but I am very sure, if I were still an artist, I would be working even harder at it then I am now, and producing much less.

Thank you, Mr. Jobs.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life." Steve Jobs

Posted from my iPad

Open Studio Tour, and other distractions....

2011-10-04T11:18:00.004-06:00

Am I weaving? No, I am not. I agreed to do the fall Open Studios Tour, which will be this coming Saturday and Sunday. So I have been getting ready for that.

That means I have been hauling out all 'extraneous stuff' from the studio. Aww, come on! Don't tell me you weren't aware that artist's studios seem to FILL with extraneous stuff? Have you ever looked at those Studio magazines? I think they are hilarious! The studios are filled with so much stuff, no artist could actually live long enough to use it all!

Unfortunately, my studio is no exception. Except it is smaller than the studios in those magazines, so while I may not have accumulated quite as much stuff as those artists have, it can tend to look like more.

So, I've been clearing out the stuff, and have also been sticking paintings and tapestries in every cleared space.

I guess the studio is ready. My studio is upstairs, so for the rest of the week, I'll be cleaning the entry way, the living room, and the stairwell, and will be putting as much art in those areas as can fit. I may even borrow a few more easels and set some artwork out on the porch.

Then I will weave on the tour days, in between chatting up visitors.

All this is necessary because artists have to be our own promoters, as well as being our own business managers. The 'business-manager-me' told the 'promoter-me' to agree to this tour, and the 'artist-me' didn't get very far in her whining protests against it.

At the same time, I'm getting ready for a trip to New England next week, so the house is also being readied for house/pet sitters, and I'm trying to figure out what we'll need to pack to take there. I am hoping to paint while there. Or at least sketch a bit with my grandchildren, and take thousands of photos.

Then, I swear on my basket of bobbins that I will have uninterrupted weaving time through the rest of the fall and into the long dark weaving-time of winter.

If you are in this area, and are interested in going on the tour, you can download a map here. Come on over and say 'Hey!'

Of a Mad Cow and a Yellow-bellied Dog....

2011-10-01T12:35:00.005-06:00

We went up to the mountain to cut wood to heat our cabin for the winter the other day. We go up into the woods on the back side of the mountain across from the lake, where we can get a permit from the Forest Service to cut dead trees. The trees are mostly aspen, with some tall spruce. We cut a truck load of Aspen, then one of spruce. We have to cross a creek that feeds the lake, but it is easily fordable at this time of the year.

Booker is very sensitive to sounds (actually, you can read that as "Booker is scared to death of anything loud, that he isn't familiar with.") He hates the chainsaw. So, to keep him from hunkering down in the truck like a big chicken the whole time we were in the beautiful fall forest, I decided to take him for a walk down the road while my husband was cutting down the first trees. Booker and I walked a short ways, then heard a huge crashing and bellowing sound coming from the thick undergrowth at the side of the road. I thought for sure it was a rutting elk, but looked and saw a huge black cow crashing towards us, bellowing her lungs out. Mercifully, the thick undergrowth and close trees slowed her down a bit. My great protector and guard dog took off so fast toward the truck, I didn't even see him go - just saw a yellow blur flash past me. When I got back to the truck, he was trying to jump up and climb in the window. I got to the truck just before the cow raged into the clearing. I was with Booker on this one; sure she was going to ram the truck, Booker and I jumped into the cab, and I yelled at my husband to warn him, but the mad cow swerved away from the truck and around my husband back into the woods, just at the last minute. I've never seen a cow act that way! I don't know if she didn't like Booker, who totally ignored her until she started running and bellowing at us, or if the sound of the chainsaw upset her.

At any rate, Booker the Brave-hearted hunkered down in the truck the rest of the day.

Here is a small sketch I did of the fall colors from the day in my 4"x5" sketchbook.

- Posted from my iPad

Sketches from a train...

2011-09-25T20:54:00.004-06:00

I am just back from a trip to visit my parents in northern California. When I go to see them, I generally take the train. I do not enjoy flying, and, because we are somewhat off the beaten track, it takes much more effort, often as much or more expense, and often even more time to fly from here to there. I spend a bit less than 24 hours on the train, both going and coming.

There is not much to do on a train, except relax and watch the country go past my window.

I spend the night, and wake up to a new day in a different part of the country.

Between western Colorado and northern California, I pass through some beautiful scenery.

On this trip, I took a very small set of watercolors, and a small sketchbook (4"x5") of watercolor paper.

The sketches I did on the train all look pretty much alike.

I did not spend a great deal of time or effort on any of them. They were done for my pleasure. I did no pre-drawing; no drawing at all, actually (except on the snail, where I added some line work after the sketch was dry.)

I just let the wet colors run together, capturing the early fall colors as they passed by my window.

I read a bit, ate good Amtrak meals, and visited a bit with fellow passengers, many of whom were traveling from California to New York on the train, simply to see the country and relax a bit.

But my favorite part of the train ride this time was painting these tiny little sketches.

I also took some photos, though not many. This cloud-scape is my favorite.

Today I went and picked up artwork for myself and an artist friend at the largest annual Colorado Art exhibit, in Glenwood Springs. My friend was awarded the first place for portraits, and I got the first place award for still-life for my oil painting, "The House Call." The painting also sold, which was another pleasant surprise.

Back to work in the studio tomorrow.... sadly, the weaving elves did not get anything done on my tapestry while I was away!

Grapes....

2011-09-15T11:47:00.003-06:00

I had hoped to get the entire right tapestry border done this week, but it has been a busy week. I am pretty much done with the grapes, though. They have a bit of line work, in the leaves and the curly, vine-y things (what do you call those?). I like line work sometimes, and I have done the line work on this in just about every way I know how to do, which was fun! Variety is good in weaving.... as it is in life and in grapes, too.

This is a photo I took with some experimental app on my iPhone at a local coffeeshop where I meet a friend regularly. It has been so nice, we have been sitting outside, and the patio fence is covered with grapevines. They tell us to help ourselves to the ripe fruit, and we munch them as we sit and sip and chat.

I have also gotten a few knit items finished lately. This is a scarf in my favorite Mistake Rib I did for a friend. I will be getting a lot of knitting done tomorrow, as I'm going on a long train ride to see my parents. Train time is perfect knit-time! No weaving will get done this next week, though, so I'll have to come home ready to dive back in!

It's always lovely to see something new...

2011-09-11T21:09:00.007-06:00

We are back from a few days at our mountain get-away cabin. We have been going to the cabin for close to 30 years now. We watch birds, deer, elk, chipmunks, snakes, and occasional porcupines, foxes, bears and the mythical moose. But until yesterday, we had never seen tree frogs there! My husband called me out as he was grilling burgers in a light rain to see what he had rescued before Booker stepped on it. Our trusty North American wildlife guidebook identifies it as a striped chorus frog, though a bit out of it's natural territory. I wonder if our wetter than usual spring and summer invited it a bit further west than usual? Or if they live here, but are so few and far between they didn't bother to include us on the map?

At any rate, we were delighted to make his acquaintance! (And to move him back off the dog path.)

As the burgers cooked and the frog hopped away, a lovely rainbow appeared above the mountain. It was nice to see. Always a hopeful sign... and always appearing just when we need some more hope, it seems.

We did a bit of fall cleaning at the cabin. It looks so cozy and inviting after we have cleaned and packed all our clutter back in the pick-up to go back down the mountain to our daily life. I hated to lock it up and leave. But it will be there with more surprises and another dose of hope and wonder the next time we can get-away, the next time we go up to the mountain...

Communication....

2011-09-08T15:19:00.004-06:00

As I weave this week, I have been thinking a lot about communication. I believe Art is about communicating; about the artist sharing something with the viewer. Edward Hopper said," If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint." I feel the same way. If I am not communicating something that I need to share in my work, why would I bother to create it?

I've been thinking about this, because there is so much 'art' that has been coming to my attention lately that communicates nothing to me. It's not that it communicates something I don't agree with, or don't really understand, it's that I see it as purposeless, except for maybe the purpose of generating income for someone. And in this economy, I doubt even that purpose.

I have always viewed art and music in the same way I view languages and literature. We use the visual language of art to say something. I know it's not always possible to speak clearly to every viewer, but I walk away almost as quickly from a painting that says nothing to me as I do from a work that communicates something, but something I do not like or agree with. In fact, I remember the ones that communicate disagreeably, but I easily forget the meaningless ones. Still, as I work I ponder this communication thing. Why does a person create something that is meaningless? (... and I know a few specific pieces that even the artist will admit to mean nothing.) And why, then, would a creator of such meaningless 'stuff' expect a viewer to fall in love with it and pay to have it to look at every day?

Perhaps Edward Hopper and I do not understand all Art. Perhaps meaninglessness has become what people connect to in ever widening circles of their lives in today's strange world. What a horrible thought! If you do understand why a person creates work that means nothing to them, and expects it to mean nothing to viewers and even buyers, please leave me a comment and explain it to me.

In the meantime, I am at the loom, weaving grapes.

I occasionally take a break and run down to the freezer and pop a few frozen grapes in my mouth. One of the tastiest snacks ever! A purely natural grape mini-popsicle!

Lower border #1 woven....

2011-09-03T10:04:00.006-06:00

I have the lower border of the right side Nativity tapestry woven. Well, mostly woven. I will even it all up along the top edge when I have the left border woven, so they will be the same height. (Which is why there are still some butterflies hanging about.) Then I'll put a narrow golden band between the border and the upper part. It is not quite as dark as this photo shows it to be. I am having trouble getting a good shot of it, as the summer lighting becomes more like fall. So far, this woven border is 20 inches wide, and 9" high.

I have the left tapestry border begun, but barely. You can see a bit of it to the left on the loom. I want to have it completed, and the two evened up, and the cartoons for the upper tapestry portions drawn up before I leave to visit my parents in a couple of weeks. So I have my work cut out for me!

I will do a post here later today about the religious symbolism of the Rose of Sharon, which the flowers on this border represent, and the Grace banner. But first, I must paint my kitchen cupboards! ... and then get all the paint out of my hair and off my body, as I seem to be that kind of painter, when it comes to walls and cupboards and such.

Just for fun.....

2011-08-30T08:57:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I decided to treat myself, and I got a stylus for my iPad. I wasn't really sure if I need one, but thought it might be easier to sketch with than my fingers are. I also got the app, SketchBook Pro. I had the free SketchBook Express version, but was sure the paid version would work better (and, of course, it does.) I don't know why I waited to get the full version! It was only $2.99, and oh,my! what it does for that!

I spent about 20 minutes last night playing with it, though I have much more to learn about it's capabilities. I did this little sketch, thinking of my four grandchildren and how much good books mean to them all. And how much they mean to me! Without good books and music, how impoverished I would be! And with them, I am rich as a queen.

The symbolism of the anchor...

2011-08-25T15:02:00.008-06:00

I have the lower border for the right tapestry about 75% woven now, and I want to explain why I have chosen to include some of the images/symbols that are in the tapestry as I complete them.

The first completed symbol is that of the anchor. This website has this to say about the anchor as a christian symbol:

The anchor became a key Christian symbol during the period of Roman persecution. As Michael Card observes in his recent album, Soul Anchor: "The first century symbol wasn't the cross; it was the anchor. If I'm a first century Christian and I'm hiding in the catacombs and three of my best friends have just been thrown to the lions or burned at the stake, or crucified and set ablaze as torches at one of [Emperor] Nero's garden parties, the symbol that most encourages me in my faith is the anchor. When I see it, I'm reminded that Jesus is my anchor."
...Epitaphs on believers' tombs dating as far back as the end of the first century frequently displayed anchors alongside messages of hope... Archaeologists found about 70 examples of these kinds of messages in one cemetery alone.

The scriptural reference for using an anchor is Hebrews 6:19: "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." (NIV)

Much of my own christian experience revolves around music, as I express praise with music, as well as in my artwork. So, as I was weaving this anchor, the old hymn "We Have an Anchor" kept going round and round in my head, keeping time with the beat of my weaving. If you do not know that old hymn, here is a good place to listen to an excellent sample of it (though it was not always sung with such verve and spirit all of the times I sang it growing up! I did not grow up in Reggae country, much is the pity.)

Here are some of the lyrics:

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,
When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?
When the strong tides lift and the cables strain,
Will your anchor drift, or firm remain?
We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love


I am hoping the church I am weaving these tapestries for will feel anchored when seeing

this symbol.

PS. And, by the way, yes, clouds have been my current photo obsession! We don't really have many impressive clouds here, or many clouds at all, for that matter. But this summer's monsoon season has been impressive, with huge clouds rolling in almost every afternoon and evening. Booker has decided he hates thunder (and wind) but I am loving the variety of having clouds! I MUST paint, and perhaps even weave, some of them.

This week's progress, and more....

2011-08-21T14:57:00.003-06:00

You will look at what I have done this week on the Nativity tapestries and think, "Well, she's not done much!" Part of that is because I am proceeding at tapestry speed, but part of it is that I didn't get as much done as I normally would have in a work week. I had to spend two of my work days going to-and-from the eastern slope to pick up work from an exhibit. The work I had there was several paintings, and the good news is that this one sold! I also took two days at the end of the week to go to our cabin with my husband. That left me just three good work days.

On the first of those work days, I wove pretty much what you see done here. The next morning I got up and looked at it. I had used a bright primary red for the lettering, because hanging between (and above) the two tapestries will be a stained glass window in bright primary colors. But when woven with the primary red, with the almost-white banner and the blue background, the symbolism of the colors was a bit too 'patriotic.' Don't get me wrong; I consider myself to be a very patriotic person, but that is not the symbolism I want in this particular set of tapestries.

So, on the second work day, I un-wove all I had done the day before. On the third day, I re-wove it all, using a less saturated red for the lettering. That is just how weaving goes, sometimes. It takes three days to do one day's work.

For those of you who are wondering, a tapestry is like a grid in that the warp and the weft are at right angles to each other. So the lettering, when seen up close like this, will look like lettering would look if you were to plot it out on grid paper. There are no real round edges in tapestries; just edges that we can 'fake' your eyes into believing are rounded. When seen from the proper distance, the letters will 'look right' to the viewer. I promise.

And to answer the next question (probably to be asked by new weavers): the needle you might see on the edge of the letter 'R' is what I am using to sew up the slits (or little holes) that are caused by having two colors side by side up two warps for a number of weft passes. I sew up all those slits that are longer than 1/4" long, and I prefer to sew them up as I weave, rather than to have to sew a billion of them up after I take the tapestry from the loom.

These photos represent my new obsession. You might remember that my obsession last summer, and into the fall and beyond, was cows. I took MANY photos of cows, and my obsessive interest in cows didn't clear up until I finally wove some. This summer, I am taking MANY photos of something else. Can you guess what my obsession is, based on these two photos?

Not all butterflies can fly....

2011-08-11T09:14:00.003-06:00

This shot tells you a lot about what I'm doing now, and will be doing until these tapestries are done. I will do it over and over and over and over and over....

I do not weave all the way across the tapestry. I 'shape weave,' which means I weave areas and shapes and build them up. For instance, to begin weaving the shapes that will define the anchor in the photo above, I first had to weave and build up everything underneath the anchor shapes, then I'll weave the anchor and the areas surrounding it, then will weave the area 'on top' of the anchor.

The borders of these tapestries are intentionally fairly simple. They have symbolic images on a blue background. But if you look at the blue area closely, you'll see that I never weave a solid color. I use two yarns together, and I have 6-7 blues that I will be using to create the blue, with occasional shots of blue/green or purple thrown in here and there. I vary the blue every time I run out of yarn, and more often even than that. It varies about every 2 inches across the 20 inches of tapestry.

The varied little bundles of yarn hanging in front of the weaving in the top photo are called 'butterflies.' (Ah, here's where the butterflies don't fly!) I only use bobbins of yarn in the hem area, and if I have a large expanse of a single color, which, as I said, I rarely have. So, instead of bobbins I use butterflies, which are two strands of yarn, which I wind together in a figure-8 around my fingers and tie off to feed the yarn from one end for weaving. It takes a lot of butterfly winding to get good at it, and some weavers prefer to not use butterflies. But I prefer having the little hanks of yarn hanging in front of the weaving to keeping track of 30-40 bobbins, which seem to tangle for me. And I usually do have that many butterflies weaving at one time. Even in the 'solid blue' background area I wove before getting to the anchor, I had about 10 butterflies going across the 20 inches, so the blues would vary.

This is a shot of the two tapestries on my loom. It is an upright Shannock loom, 6-feet wide, and made in the USA! I love my loom. It is an excellent tool, and has become a reliable friend in the studio.

As you can see, I have woven more on the tapestry on the right, so far than I have on the one to the left. I will try to keep them about even, weaving on one for a bit, then on the other to catch up. Perhaps you are thinking it looks like I've not done much yet! And I was just patting myself on the back for getting so much done already! On a large complex tapestry, I weave about at the speed of 1-2 linear inches (all the way across, in other words) in an eight-hour weaving day. These two tapestries together make a large, complex tapestry. The borders are less complex, so are going a bit 'faster.' (Fast is not usually a tapestry term.)

In addition to the studio work, yesterday was my day to paint with Alzheimers patients. I was pleased to see that a few of the painters smaller pieces have been used this month to decorate the calendar in the hallway. I love the fish at the top! Today I had about 8 painters in all, with two of the men each doing 2 small paintings. These two men are a couple of my 'regulars' whom I've been painting with for several years. They both do remarkable little watercolors. The fish was done by one of them.

Meanwhile, back in the studio....

2011-08-09T15:08:00.003-06:00

After I got the hems woven on both tapestries, I wove a row of soumak. This gives a lovely raised edge for the hem to turn under along, and the extra thickness of weft yarn there covers any warp that might peek through in the turning. I used yarns that will be used in the tapestry along those edges.

Now the tapestry weaving begins! I have gathered baskets of the colorful weft yarns I'll be using in the borders. Next I attached the cartoons I prepared yesterday behind the warp threads (which, you remember, are now tightly strung on the loom.)

The white stitching thread along the bottom edge of the dark woven space in the photo above is warp thread, which I have used to baste the cartoon to the weaving that has been done. It will be removed as I progress with the weaving.

You can see that stitching holding the cartoon to the side-by-side tapestries here, as well. As I weave up the warp, I will continue to stitch the cartoon to the woven tapestry about every inch or so, removing the basting below. My loom has a 'cartoon bar' which is adjustable, and is behind the weaving, holding the cartoon upright behind the loom so I can look through the warp and see the design that I will be weaving.

It is good to be working hard in the studio again. The only one not happy about it is Booker. He is not allowed in the studio, as his shedding is not really a wanted addition to the fiber I am using. He sits at the door to the studio, looking as mournful as he possibly can. So sad....

But I have a story to relate about pet hair:

When I had a tapestry go to Africa for a time on loan to an embassy through the Artists in Embassies program with the US State Department, the 'men in black' came to get the tapestry. After the allotted loan time (four years), they returned the tapestry to me. With it they gave me an official looking document , which was to state that it was being returned in the same state it had been taken in. The 'men in black' explained to me that inspection of the tapestry had disclosed 'animal hair of an unknown nature' within the fibers of the tapestry. As my dog and my cat and I stared back at them and grinned, they said all textiles coming back from Africa had to be checked for such things, and I had to agree to take the tapestry back with that understanding. Needless to say, I accepted it back. I am sure the 'animal hair of an unknown nature' was in it when they took it! It was either the spelsau from the wool I use, which is actually somewhat 'hairy'; dog hair which, in spite of my attempts to restrict it, goes everywhere; or cat hair, from my cat who thinks that tapestries are his personal rugs when I lay them out on the table for the finishing process.

However, I do not want to encourage the 'mixed fiber' look, so Booker will get plenty of practice on his sad look as these tapestries progress.

Today's work day...

2011-08-08T21:20:00.004-06:00

Today my first task in the studio was to finish warping the loom. Although I had the warp threads all tied onto the top of the loom, through the heddles, and loosely tied onto the lower beam, I had to retie all the threads at the bottom to make sure they are evenly tensioned. I used to tie the warp on very tightly; so tightly that I would get blisters on my hands from pulling them so tightly. But I have learned to just make sure I have tied them at an even tension; and then to let the loom do the tightening of the tension. But this process still takes time, and seems to require me going across the warp each way several times, tying and re-tying to make sure each thread is just as tight as the ones next to it are.

After the loom was warped, I began to think about the weft threads. They all come to me in skeins, but to be usable, each skein has to be wound from a skein into a ball. So they go onto the skein winder (on the right above) and are wound onto a ball winder across the studio (on the left.) This is one of those time-consuming chores I wish I had an apprentice to assign to do - or perhaps a grandchild who was fascinated at least for a while with the winders. Of course, that fascination would probably just result in a few wound balls of weft yarn, but every little bit would help!

I wound a few balls today, but I try to spread the winding process out over time. It is one of those mindless time-consuming chores that I often do while watching a movie or listening to a good book on tape.

I then used some heavy scrap cotton yarn and wove an inch-and-a-half 'header,; which is just something that will not actually be part of the tapestry, but will spread out the warp threads more evenly and will give me something to weave the hem up against. The header will be removed after the tapestry is taken off the loom.

After the header, I used some of the weft yarn and wove an inch of hem. The hem will be part of the tapestry, but it will be turned under, and will not be visible. I use a color that will be in the tapestry next to the hem, so if any of it should show, it will look like part of the tapestry.

My final task for the day was to get the cartoon ready so I can begin the tapestry tomorrow. The cartoon is a line drawing of the design I will be weaving, enlarged to the actual size of the tapestry. I had done a painting of the design, and had photographed it digitally, so it is in my computer. I will start with the lower borders of the two tapestries, so, rather than enlarging the cartoon for the whole tapestries, I just enlarged the lower border portion today. Since that is not too large (each will be 20"wide x 9"high) I just turned the design into a line drawing in Photoshop, and printed it out to size in portions on heavy paper. Then I taped the pieces together to have a drawing the exact size of the tapestry borders I will be weaving.

The computer often gives me too little or too much information on these Photoshop generated line drawings, so I went over each cartoon with a marker to make sure I will know exactly what I will want to weave. The cartoons will be attached to the back of the tapestry, so I can see them as I weave. But that part will come tomorrow! Today's work was sufficient for this day.

From (almost) the very beginning...

2011-08-06T18:32:00.005-06:00

I first will apologize to those of you who are familiar (and even over-familiar) with the process of tapestry weaving for this post and some upcoming posts. As I am beginning a commission for a church, I want to document the process of the creation of their tapestries, and also to share the process with the people whom the tapestries will eventually belong to. So much of this will be aimed at non-weavers.

Of course, the design process has already taken place. It required almost as much time, possibly more, than the weaving process will require. I am hoping these two tapestries will be done by the end of the year. Reaching that goal will require full-time work on my part.

As I began the warping process in my studio several evenings ago, my husband called to me to look out the studio window. The late afternoon/early evening had turned cloudy and dark, and a very bright rainbow appeared between the treetops from my upper story studio window. I decided to take this as an auspicious beginning; a blessing for the project ahead.

The thread on the cone above is my warp thread. I use a fine cotton warp. It is the same kind of cotton that is used for fishing nets, as it has to be strong to withstand the tension my loom will put on it. The two tapestries will each be 20 inches wide, and the warp will be strung tightly across my upright tapestry loom with 8 warps per inch. That means I need 320 warp threads measured and put on the loom, plus 8 more for the selvedge edges, a total of 328 warp threads.

The tapestries will be 40 inches long. Adding some length to tie around the lower beam and to knot each thread to my dummy warp (which I keep on the loom, replacing it only as necessary,) plus some waste length for hems, etc, I needed each warp thread to be about 2 yards long.

So I wound the warp thread around two yard lengths on my warping board, 328 times. A back-breaking procedure!

Then the warp threads had to be tied to the dummy warp, one-by-one. The above warping steps took me the greater part of a full work day.

After winding the warp evenly around the upper beam of the loom (the top part), each thread had to be put, again one-by-one, through a heddle string. The warps alternate going through the upper loops and the lower ones, which will pull the threads backwards and forwards for me in an alternating action, giving me a space between them (a 'shed') to weave the tapestry.

In the above photo, I have half the warp threads through the appropriate heddles. I will be weaving the two tapestries side by side, so have two 20-inch wide warps on the loom, with a bit more than an inch between them.

By the end of today's work time (which ended just in time to make dinner) I had both tapestry's warp threads through the heddles. Tomorrow, I will tie the warp ends onto the beam at the bottom of the loom.

Today's mail brought me the weft - the colorful wool which will be woven into the Nativity tapestries. The wool originates in Sweden, and comes to me through North Carolina. When I open the box and the bags which hold the beautiful yarns, a soft whiff of moist air comes into the room. I can hardly wait to pull these yarns out and begin to work with them, but the warping must be finished first. Soon, after several more day's work, I will begin with the colors and shapes that will create the Nativity Tapestries.

More Montana, and why I take so many photos....

2011-08-04T09:39:00.007-06:00

Beautiful Big Sky country farms...

I came home from the trip to Montana with close to 900 new photos to load into my computer. And that was after I had deleted the blurry or bad ones!

My brother's neighbor and his German horses

So why do I take so many photos? Well, this trip was a bit different from many trips I take; it was a family reunion, so many of the pictures are of family. But that actually didn't make any difference in the number of photos I shot. In fact, I came home from a shorter trip to Maine with well over a thousand photos to upload!

Glacier National Park: we played peek-a-boo through the clouds on our day there

I take photos of any- and everything that catches my interest: still-life setups in shops (if they allow it), interesting people on the street (with subtlety), landscapes with texture or beautiful shapes, plants, animals. You name it, and I probably have photos of it in my digital file!

I may never know which photo will stick in my mind and work it's way into a painting or a tapestry. I often have hints, in that certain images might speak to me louder than others. But when I travel I usually am with other people, and I do not have the luxury of stopping to paint, and of course not to weave(!), so capturing the photos is my best way to save the image I have become fascinated with.

Then, one or two of those photos will get busy deep within that right side of my brain, the part that is always busy. And a week, or a month, or a year later, it will pop into my consciousness again, and I will find myself sitting at the computer, looking for just that photo, knowing it will be the beginning for my next painting or tapestry.

Lightening from my brother's deck.

While it has been simmering in my brain, the image has usually changed. It frequently takes more than one photo to create the image I want to create, which is why I shoot several shots from varying viewpoints of something I am interested in.

My niece holding her niece in front of my brother's window. What a view! (Both inside and out)

When I take a trip like this one was, a long drive in a truck with a driver that will not stop, I take a LOT of photos through the window of a moving vehicle. I put my camera setting on 'action' and most of the pictures turn out pretty good.

The long road in Utah, where beautiful scenery tends to repeat itself.

I rarely use a flash. I am trying to learn to get night photos, but have not been very successful, so far. If you have any tips on that, I would be grateful to hear them!

Lest you worry that I will be sharing the almost 900 photos from my trip with you, I will reassure you that this is the end of my trip photos that I'll post here, though I feel several already working away in my right brain, so you may see them as finished works of art someday.

I am still 'tying one on' - warp-wise - today. I am tying new warp to my dummy warp, then will thread the heddles and tie it to the lower beam. I am hoping to weave a header and a hem tomorrow or Saturday.

More Colorado to Montana....

2011-08-02T12:22:00.005-06:00

On the second day of our travels, we went in and out of Montana and Idaho, crossing state borders, the continental divide, and the latitude line (45th?) that is halfway between the North Pole and the equator.

What I took the most photos of on this day were textures. The hills had hard and soft edges, and were filled with color. Some were red and bare, reminding me of the hills we live with. They always make me think of Georgia O'Keefe landscapes. Here is a small one from my sketchbook - as I tried to remember how to use colored pencils (which I had fortunately thrown in at the last minute.)

Several of the textured landscape photos I am saving to paint, or even weave from, so I will share them later. Here is one that has a lot of texture and color, though.

I loved this sign: an understatement, if ever there was one!

When we got to our second campsite, we found it to be beautiful, shady, and each site very secluded and quiet. It was lovely! It is one of the Lolo Pass sites, along the Lochsa River.

The textures kept alluring me, even at the campground. The river with it's reflections and shadows was mysterious. The above photo is completely unaltered.

And this photo of a young robin looks as if it was taken through a wall of water, or as a reflection. It must have been the humidity that causes this effect.

I have selected the yarns for the Nativity commission tapestries, and will try to get the loom warped and a hem woven before they arrive.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig!

2011-08-01T09:25:00.004-06:00

We are back home from a trip which took us up to the tip-top of the US, for a family reunion at my brother's home in Montana. Since this was our vacation, we decided to camp for the two days it took us to travel there. We began the first day by climbing from our Colorado valley up over Douglas Pass, from which it seems like you can see forever!

We were passed by a nonchalant herd of big horns, and I sketched one in my new travel sketchbook, to find that the paper does not like watercolor or wet media at all, so I would have to use colored pencils for the remainder of the trip. Quite a disappointment, and something to learn from: TEST sketch materials before leaving home next time!!

Another learning situation: you notice my sketch page lists a mountain lion as part of the wildlife we saw? My husband always says to me, 'if you really want a picture of something, just let me know, and I will stop or go back so you can get it.' Well, I saw a large golden brown animal hunched over something near the road we were traveling. My mind quickly went over the list of what it could be: A cow? No, too low to the ground. Deer? No, too big..... The only thing I could not eliminate was a mountain lion. This mental process was pretty quick, but not quick enough to shoot a photo as we traveled past. The animal was busy and not going anywhere, so I asked my husband to turn around and go back. He did not do it. Yes the road was a bit narrow, and there was some traffic, but he had promised me, hadn't he? Well, now he, and everyone else will just have to take my word that I'm pretty sure I saw a lion eating it's kill.

We arrived at our first campground to find it was a large lake, with lots of boats and RV's (we tent and truck camp) and almost no shade! But I saw this at the site next to ours. I went over and visited with this oil painter, and enjoyed the talk, seeing how she paints, and sharing the tiny bit of shade she had found. What I did not enjoy was the group of kids that yelled and screamed on the other side of us until well past midnight.

The end of our first day of vacation.

I will share a bit more of it with you, but I do promise not to bore you with my family reunion play-by-play.

Now that I am home, I will begin getting the loom ready to weave the Nativity tapestries. Today, I'll select and order the yarns I'll be needing for it.

The merry month (tapestry) of May...

2011-07-18T09:16:00.005-06:00

In a few minutes I will be cutting this tapestry from the loom. It is the "May" tapestry in the calendar series. I had really planned to have a formal cutting off for this tapestry, but things are a bit unsettled around here, family-wise, so I'll just have a solitary event.

The tapestry was inspired by this little oil painting I did. I have always liked it, so decided to base one of the calendar tapestries on it. I cropped it to square, as the format for all of these pieces is 18"x18". Then, based on an obsession I was having at the time with cows, I added the cows from this photo I had taken from the train last spring.

This tapestry isn't as 'fussy' as the other calendar pieces are. If - or hopefully, when - they all hang together, this piece will provide a tranquil place for the viewers to rest their eyes. And I do think of May as a tranquil month, between Nature's busy changes in March and April and the heat of the summer.

As a side note, the "March" tapestry can be seen in the Fiber Celebration exhibit in Fort Collins, CO through the summer, and the "August" tapestry will be on exhibit in the Fiber Celebrated exhibit in Durango, CO opening this coming weekend. If you get to see either of them, please leave a comment to let me know!

An artist's eyes.....

2011-07-14T06:51:00.005-06:00

Yesterday I was talking to a woman about the profusion of wildflowers this year, and she admitted to me that, when it comes to flowers, she only can recognize roses and sunflowers. She said she 'wished' she knew more flowers, but just didn't know what the different ones are.

I have to confess that I was amazed. I recently read How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day by Michael Gelb. I was not overwhelmingly impressed by the book, though I enjoyed it, but I have read many other books that say the same things, and I seem to operate on the basic principle it eschews by nature. That is the principle of observation. Of looking to actually see, and then learning as much about what you see as you can. Da Vinci believed everything is related, so learning about one thing makes us interested in other things. Scientists, naturalists, and inventors all 'claim' da Vinci to be one of their own. But we know what da Vinci was: he was an artist. And artists must look at the world to see it.

When I was at the cabin last weekend, I heard a bird song that did not belong to the song of the 'regular crowd.' So I kept my eyes open, and soon spotted a Bullock's Oriole and his mate (she is the yellow one). (If you go to the link, listen to the lovely whistling call.) We have seen Orioles at the cabin and even in town before, but they are not our 'regulars.' I would bank on the fact that the woman I was talking to yesterday also does not know the names, calls, or look of many birds.

Also up at the lake, as we drove by on the way to our cabin, I spotted this tall flowering mass above the shrubs and wondered if maybe it was a wild hollyhock. We had to hike through the tall grasses and flowers to find out. Sadly, it was just the last flowering branch of a wild rose bush, and not the more rare hollyhock, but still, I had to find that out.

Sometimes I think I post too much about flowers and animals and birds and such on this blog (remember the many posts I forced upon you this spring about owls?). But I have noticed that other artists I admire also post about the natural world around them. How can we not? To be an artist is to be an observer, and, whether or not we include all we see in our art, it is all a part of our work. In fact our observations create our need to create.

So, no apologies for posting my birds and flowers and lions and tigers and bears (oh, my!) They are a big part of the tapestry which is my life. And I hope that is true for you, as well....

The bear went over the mountain...

2011-07-09T21:22:00.003-06:00

We went back up to our cabin yesterday for a quick overnight. We had gone up to mow around it to keep fire hazard etc. down, last weekend, but the cabin mower gave out, so we had to take another up this weekend so my husband could finish the annual chore.
As we pulled in, we saw a bear in our drive, finishing off the sunflower seeds from the birdfeeder. He had taken it down, and had also taken down the hummingbird feeder and had emptied it, as well. So I guess we'll have to quit leaving them out when we aren't there. Oddly, he had managed to get the hummingbird feeder off the cabin deck area where it hangs, and somehow unscrew the bottom off it, without breaking it. He had made it a filthy mess, though, so we had to do some serious cleaning before we filled it for the hummers.

He (the bear) had obviously been around awhile, because these bear scratches were in the aspen trees last weekend. He (or she?) may also be the same bear that emptied our seed feeder last summer, and left a few messes around the cabin.

He came back several more times over the time we were there. At one point, he and Booker seemed to sight each other at either end of the drive, because both turned around and headed the opposite direction, with my husband finding himself facing the bear, and with me wondering why Booker was hurrying so fast in my direction!

The lake is still full, which is really rare for this late in the season. The runoff from the snow feeds this lake, and the lake feeds irrigation systems and other water needs in our valley. Usually by this time, it is down quite a bit.

This little fawn had a staring contest with Booker, too. Fortunately, Booker was inside the cabin looking out through the window. We never saw the mother, but I'm hoping she was somewhere nearby.

And, of course, we hosted our summer hummer visitors, though I felt bad when I emptied their feeder before we left. It should be a good year for the bear in spite of my lack of generosity. The choke cherry bushes are loaded, and other berries are beginning to fill the trees and shrubs. I don't want him to hurt himself trying to get sugar water from our feeder, or to decide to hang out on our deck!

Tapestry progress...

2011-07-06T08:49:00.002-06:00

I have reached the half-way point in the "May" tapestry. As I reached this point, I looked ahead and saw that I will soon be needing a great deal of this color (below), plus some tonal variations of it for the sky area.

So far, this tapestry has been created from the yarn palette (weaver's may read 'stash') on my shelves. So I went to the yarn bins to find this color. I searched the 'blues' bin, to no avail. I searched the 'purples' bin; also, no luck. Panicking, I grabbed the 'greys/neutrals' bin; again, no luck.

ARRRRGH! I need it now! Well, at least, I need it tomorrow. I looked in my yarn suppliers cards and found a few things I could get and blend, but not by NOW. So I went to my local yarn store (which is, of course, a knitting shop) and came home with a lace weight pale variegated blue. Then I started mixing with some other light-weight lavenders and blues, and came up with the perfect mix, using yarns I would never have guessed would work well for that blended color I need. These lavenders, greens, and blues together make the perfect blue/purple/grey for the sky I will be weaving today or tomorrow!.... At least, I am counting on it being the perfect blend. I will ply them together, rather than just winding them together into individual butterflies. The plying will make the blend more impressionistic and pure than the linear blend winding individual butterflies gives.

So, I am keeping my yarns crossed, and taking that great leap of faith into the sky - well, you know what I mean. Don't you?

Taking a Walk on the Wild Side...

2011-07-03T21:48:00.004-06:00

We went up to our cabin on the lake for a couple of days, before the Fourth of July crowds hit the campgrounds there. June is the most beautiful month there and, tho' it was technically July, the summer is so late in coming this year, we hit it in it's 'mid-June' mode. The wildflowers were all around, the lake is full, and the fish were biting so eagerly I think we could have caught what we wanted without bait! Booker got to go swimming several times, and he is less cautious about it this year, and seems to enjoy it more. He also loved running through the tall grass and wildflowers, scaring up grasshoppers or whatever he could scare up.

Just around the bend from our drive was this Deer Tongue. I had tried to transplant one to my home garden last year, with no success. I had never seen one in bloom. They are amazing! This one was 6 1/2 feet tall (taller than my 6'4" husband). The flowers are a subtle white and green. They remind me somewhat of small orchids.

I remember taking a walk almost 30 years ago at the cabin with my mother-in-law. She was so amazed at the number and variety of wildflowers. She carefully picked one of each variety that we saw (except the columbines, as it is illegal to pick them in the wild in Colorado), and she pressed them to take home to Kansas with her. I thought of that walk with her and other walks with my young sons a number of times as I 'collected' the wildflowers with my camera the other day. I frequently felt her presence and the presence of the young boys my sons once were as I walked in the woods, with flowers spreading like a carpet at my feet wherever I looked.

Heavenly scented days!

2011-07-01T07:48:00.004-06:00

I have been doing my first harvest of lavender this week. I have 4 plants (lost one to the winter this past year), and they have been loaded with blooms for this first harvest! I have gathered so much to dry, I already have more than any past year. And there will be 1-2 more harvests yet to go!

I did have a brilliant idea this year (sometimes it takes me awhile). I had been drying the lavender hung upside down in bunches in my husband's office, as there are drying hooks above the windows there. But this year, it dawned on me that, as lavender is a natural moth repellent, I would be smarter to dry the herb in my studio, near my yarn shelves. DUH! We don't have a big problem with moths, but, hey, it doesn't cost me anything to be smart, does it?

So what is ahead? Lavender eye pillows for me and fellow migraine sufferers (it really does help!); lavender shortbread; lavender pound cake; lavender tea; and lavender blueberry cheesecake (I recently had some of this, and my mouth waters to even think of it!) Lavender is one of my favorite flavors, along with clove. Both are special treats: lavender for the summer and clove for the winter. And both must be savored as special treats in small amounts. It will be hard for me this summer, with such a huge harvest, to remember that 'small amount' bit! Lavender grows so well here, the area will be having it's first Lavender Festival this month. A new cookbook is promised. I can hardly wait!

Process or Product?

2011-06-21T18:04:00.000-06:00

As I was pulling in a fighting-back trout from the lake this past weekend, I found myself thinking that I wished he had waited a bit to bite on my line. He bit on my first cast! 'What a silly thought,' I told myself. 'Why go fishing, if not to catch fish?' So I started thinking about all I do, and whether it is the process I do it for, or the product.

Fishing: definitely process. Sometimes I don't even bother to put bait on the line. I just love being at the mountain lake; smelling and feeling the moist air, relaxing on or near the water, and occasionally doing battle with a fish, which I may or may not keep. (I released this weekend's catch.)

What do I do for the product? Cook, definitely, though I occasionally bake cookies or bread for the process, as well. Clean: product. Exercise: again definitely product (health), as I hate the process!

And what do I do, besides fishing, for the pure joy of the process? Practice my guitar, and any other form of music.

Most other things I do both for the enjoyment (process) and for the result (product.) When I garden, I begin it for the product, but I always enjoy the process, once I am out there (unless it is HOT.) My knitting, sketching, and both painting and weaving fall into this mixed-blessing category. I believe I began doing each of those things for enjoyment only, but began having expectations of the product as well, as I became more proficient in each of those activities. Sometimes I think that is a shame; that we come to have expectations of 'product' while doing things we love to do. But I do also enjoy feeling the task has been 'worth it' in terms of creating something I like, as well as in the enjoyment of the time I have spent doing it.

I do hope I don't ever have huge expectations of my fishing time or my music, though. I know people who do feel a day fishing is a waste if supper is not hauled in, but I have no expectation of being one of those people. And I am quite happy playing guitar and singing to myself, whether I sound 'good' or not.

This week I am getting pieces off to exhibits, weaving cows, and doing some sketches from our recent family reunion. I sketched each of my four grandchildren, and, while I enjoyed the process of doing each sketch, I was most happy with the product on this one, of my 7-year old grand-daughter.

Unveiling...

2011-06-10T09:01:00.004-06:00

For the past few weeks I have traveled, I have had many guests, and I have been sick. Lots of LIFE has happened. Lots of weaving has not happened. In fact, I covered my tapestry in progress with a cloth, to protect it from the dust/wind storms we have been having. It has seemed that Utah is trying to blow it's plentiful overstock of dust over the state line to us, and I would just like to point out to them that we do have plenty of the stuff of our own! After two weeks of house guests and a week of illness, compounded by several days of 50-60 mph winds containing gritty Utah dust, my house looks like Miss Havisham lives here (complete with dead flowers in the vases that I have not had the energy to replace.) But my tapestry has remained blissfully unaware and dust-free, resting in it's dark retreat from all the wild activity, dust, and illness.

Today I will de-veil her. I will wake her up. I will actually weave! I have a few weeks ahead of me before I pack bags and head off for a family reunion of my side of the family. (The one here last weekend was my husband's family, and it included all of our grandchildren! Great joy! And chaos. And lots of food...) In that few weeks, I hope to accomplish a great deal. Weaving this tapestry is Number One on my Get-It-Done-List, as I'd like to begin the Nativity tapestries as soon as I can. So, Number Two on The List is to order yarns for those pieces. And right up at the top, I also have some much needed marketing planning that I will disclose as it takes place.

But for today, as I rehydrate myself and shuffle through the dust in the rest of the house, I will be content to sit at the loom and reacquaint myself with this weaving I have begun.

In my garden...

2011-05-29T07:13:00.002-06:00

I love my sweet smelling lilies-of-the valley!

This is when my garden looks best, when the peonies are blooming. Roses are starting to bloom, too, but they are never as exuberant as the peonies. The hot pink peonies are just beginning to open. I don't know why they open later; perhaps just to give the white ones their days to be my favorites.

And, as a native Coloradan, I have to have columbines, tho' I do prefer to see them in the wild at the cabin. The wild ones are not as colorful (they lose their color after a year or two, then are just white for a few years before that plant dies off.) But the wild ones are bigger, and I don't have to keep the weeds out of them! It seems like my garden columbines invite grass to come grow among them. They want to feel wild, I guess. Toward the end of the summer, I usually just let them have their way, as they are in the back of the garden and the grass seems to make them happy.

My strawberries are also ripening a bit now. They are a few weeks later than usual, due to a cold, wet spring. My father-in-law comes for Memorial Day each year, and he is usually bringing in a big bowl of berries for me each day. So far, we've just had one small bowlful of ripe ones. But there are more to come! Home-made strawberry ice-cream is always on the menu when he is here.

Summer is on the way...

2011-05-23T22:22:00.004-06:00

I have been away from my work a bit. I have been off watching small sweet children play soccer.

I have been away cheering a young roller derby jammer on to her first victory.

I have been keeping an eye on the mountains and the sky, as the season seems determined to change with much activity this year, less here than elsewhere, but more than is usual for our part of the world.

I have been getting ready for family guests and celebrations; for picnics and birthday parties; for JUCO, barbeques, camping trips, and fishing; for rhubarb, strawberries, cilantro and tomatoes to grow and be harvested; for flowers to bloom. I have not been at the loom or the easel this past week. But I have kept my camera close, and the summer will not pass me by without my taking notice, though it has come upon me awfully quickly this year. I will capture as much of it as I can, at the easel, through the lens, or at my loom.

In the beginning...

2011-05-18T08:17:00.006-06:00

Photo by Lisa Trujillo, of Centinela Traditional Arts

The tapestry in the photo is from the University City, Missouri (St.Louis area) Public Library. For a time, when my husband was going through Washington University Med. School and doing his internship and residency, we lived in U City. In fact, we were within walking distance from the library for three years, and still quite close for another three. I went to that library once a week for all that time. Two things stand out in my mind when I think of the library: the first is this large, beautiful tapestry by Muriel Nezhnie, which dominates the stairwell. All of the art books and the children's books were upstairs. So we always went under the tapestry on our way up. When our sons were born, they went with me to the library. Our oldest son was just 3 years old when we left St. Louis, but he was already an avid library enthusiast. In fact, the second thing I think of when I think of the library is a book by Margaret Wise Brown, the author of Good Night, Moon. The book is a fantasy called The Steamroller, and it is no longer in print. It is a very bizarre story about a little girl who gets a steamroller for Christmas, and proceeds to roll over and 'smash flat' everyone and everything she comes into contact with. My toddler son LOVED the book! We checked it out every week, then would renew it until we could renew it no longer, then would get it again as soon as we could. (This son is at this moment probably trying to build his own steamroller in his basement metal shop.)

Ah, yes. Back to the tapestry. At the time I was going to the U City library, I was not a weaver. But I saw that tapestry and I wanted to know how it was done. I did have a small Sears rigid heddle loom which I had played around on a bit. But I couldn't see how the tapestry had any possibility of coming from such a loom. So I went across to the Craft Alliance Center, across the street from the library at that time, and asked about weaving classes. All they had was a backstrap weaving class. I signed up for it. I still have the backstrap loom we made, with the original warp still on it. It was not until we moved to Colorado that I found Rachel Brown's book and Peter Collingwood's book, and set about to teach myself how to weave a tapestry, still inspired by the memory of the U City Library Nezhnie tapestry.

I was thrilled to see Lisa post a photo of the tapestry on Facebook this week! All those years that I was passing under it, looking up as I walked down the stairs, I never got a photo of it. Except for the image that has always lived large in my mind.

(If you are as fascinated by this wonderful tapestry as I have always been, Linda Rees has written a terrific book about the artist, called NEZHNIE: Weaver and Innovative Artist. A black and white image of this tapestry is in the book, along with so many other tapestries by this amazing artist.)

Empty Nest Syndrome....

2011-05-14T10:56:00.006-06:00

I said I wouldn't force my favorite owl family on you again, but I guess I lied. Yesterday the news in the Denver Post was that two baby owls had been blown out of their tree, and had been rescued by the Audubon Society here along the Riverfront Trail. I was afraid it had been 'our' owls, though they were described as much younger. So we went out to check on the owls this morning. (As it turns out, the rescued owlets are along another part of the trail.)

At first, we just saw the empty nest. But as we returned along the trail, we saw owl #1 in the nest tree, but out on a higher limb.

Then Owl #2 was spotted in the same tree, higher up on the opposite side.

Owl #3 was the one that was booted out of the nest early, but it was spotted in a nearby tree, and looks like it is a bit lonely, but otherwise growing and able to fly, as it was in a different tree from last week.

Some other walkers with incredible vision spotted Mama Owl watching over the owlets (and us) across the river in a tree, well camouflaged, but visible.

I also took a photo of this baby Flicker (we think, as I saw an adult flicker go into the same hole earlier.) There had been two babies looking out the hole, but when I switched from the binoculars to the camera, one disappeared.

And I couldn't resist this quail, calling her heart out on the top of this old tree.

My husband thought I was crazy to photograph this ant hauling an elm seed, but I like the photo.
Such a hard worker! I need to post this somewhere to motivate myself.

And, lest I be accused of doing nothing but owl-watching anymore, I will post this proof that I have also made a bit of progress in the studio. Not as much as I would have liked to make, but some progress is still some progress!

What a hoot!

2011-05-08T11:33:00.003-06:00

The owlets are out of the nest! Mom was nowhere in sight today - undoubtedly, off celebrating some much earned solitude and rest for Mother's Day. The trail, which we usually have mostly to ourselves, was packed with people this morning! I figured when I saw the busy nearby parking lot that the word was out that the babies were up and out of the nest.

We came across the first one in a tree near the nest. It was alone, hunkered down in a crotch of the tree. We had heard speculation that there were three owlets, but had only seen two previously. A fellow owl-watcher said that this one appears to be the runt, and must be cast from the nest. I don't think they are flying yet, so Mom must have put it here. Another owl fan said it seems to be growing still, so must still be being fed. I hope it survives!

Meanwhile, back at the nest the other two owlets were posing for all those with cameras and binoculars. I say there were 'a lot' of people there, but there were really probably only several small groups of walkers there at a time. So they were not really being 'bothered' by crowds of spectators. And they don't seem to mind the attention at all. In fact, the owl on the right seemed to be snoozing the whole time we were there, and the single owl across in the other tree was sleeping as we passed back under the tree to leave.

OK, you're probably tired of my owl obsession. This will probably be the last time I force them on you. But I do love owls! I have woven at least two owls, and I feel that there must be at least one more in my future. Or maybe a whole parliament of owls, well, we'll see.

In other birding news: the hummingbirds have come back! I put the feeder out yesterday and there were two there today.

Tell me why?

2011-05-06T09:26:00.006-06:00

After my last post, Mary asked in a comment what I will do with the Calendar tapestries once I have them all done. Will I have an actual print calendar made? My response answered her actual question, but I'm not sure it addressed what might have been what she really was wondering about (and I could be speculating wrongly on this, Mary. If so, I apologize!) I got to thinking, while working in the garden, that perhaps Mary is wondering what has motivated me to do 12 tapestries, working over a number of years, to commemorate the months of a year. That is a good, if unasked, question!

Here is the true answer: I love to weave in a series. It seems that I cannot get enough content in one tapestry to fulfill all I might want to say about a subject. For instance, my Heritage Series (which I do not necessarily considered finished or completed) started with one tapestry, and ended up with five, so far. I couldn't do one homage to Van Gogh tapestry; I had to do two to say it all. I have woven at least seven tapestries that are about trees or leaves.

So, what about the Calendar tapestries? Why weave 'months of the year?' Before I started these pieces I did the Four Seasons series. There were only four of them, but they are large pieces, absolutely crammed with content. Content is what a piece of art is all about, it is what motivates the artist to create it and what draws a viewer to it. The Seasons tapestries are about the seasons, and much, much more. Even so, I didn't get to say in them all that I wanted to say about the passage of time. Or about the uniqueness of the seasons: how each makes me feel, what I love about them. So it occurred to me that the seasons change even within themselves. Each month has it's own character. Like the unpredictability of March; the almost painful beauty of October; or the seemingly endless length of the shortest month, February. I doubt that I will get that all said in these tapestries. But I will be saying something more about time's passage and changes. And I will be saying it in tapestry, the medium I love.

I set these series up for myself as challenges. Can I say something unique and interesting about each month of the year? I don't know.... but I can sure try!

As for Mary's original question; what will I do with them when I get them completed? I probably will have a printed calendar or some such thing made of them, though that is certainly not my reason for creating them. I also would like to exhibit them all together somewhere, perhaps along with the Seasons tapestries. They are individually already going out into the world a bit.

Perhaps I do not say enough here about the content of what I weave. It is a highly personal thing, but I think it is the most interesting thing about art: in fact, the reason for Art altogether. I will try to be a bit more open about the why of the work I do. Each series, each tapestry has its own story...

May tapestry....

2011-05-04T11:46:00.002-06:00

The 'May' tapestry originates from this small oil painting I did some time ago. Of course, the calendar series tapestries are all square (18x18"), so the image is cropped to fit that size. In addition, I have added some of the cows from the multitude of cow images I have photographed over the years. They will be in the foreground. I am very excited to be weaving cows! Don't know why... I just am.

This is the 6th calendar tapestry. When it is complete, I will be halfway through the 'year' - although it will have taken me much longer than a year to create them! I began this series in 2008, with the "February" tapestry. Sometimes, a year is not a year.....

So begins the month (or more) of "May"....

2011-05-03T18:10:00.004-06:00

I began weaving the "May" calendar tapestry yesterday. It would be lovely to weave it 'in real time,' as in get-it-all-woven-in-May. However, since I have a lot going on otherwise in May, I am sure that won't happen. I will try to weave it efficiently. It is very good to be back at the loom! Lots of green to weave. Lots of green to garden, too. It is the merry, green month (and tapestry) of May!

Taking Time...

2011-05-02T09:09:00.002-06:00

Gus, taking time to smell the flowers.... or tip-toeing through the tulips? Oil on canvas, 11x14".

Title: "Curiosity"

Colorado National Monument...

2011-04-30T16:56:00.004-06:00

The Colorado National Monument celebrates it's 100 year anniversary this summer. The Monument (possibly soon to be a National Park) is in our valley's 'backyard,' on the western end of the valley. It is a beautiful place! The Blue Pig Gallery is doing its part for the birthday celebration by hosting a special Monument exhibit in May, the birthday month. This is the painting I have done for the exhibit. I didn't want to do a landscape, as Monument landscapes are quite common here. So this is to be called "View From the Monument." It is of a yellow-headed collared lizard, looking over the valley toward the Grand Mesa, at the east end of the valley.

When my sons were young, the best part of a Monument hike was seeing the lizards (and occasionally catching one, then letting it loose.) They are fast, and reminiscent of the dinosaurs that lived here in our valley long ago. They skitter across your path in abundance on a hot summer day.

The painting is 11x14" and is oil on canvas.

A number of years ago I did a tapestry of the Monument. It is 31"x26", and it sold long before I was really ready to let it go. It is called "Grand Valley Starry Night," and is, obviously, a tribute to Van Gogh, in addition to being a tribute to our valley. I wove it when my youngest son was taking a humanities class in high school, in which Lust for Life was required reading. At that time, we would go to the Monument to get away from city lights to watch the comets: Halley's, Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake. So this tapestry was also about our family time, sharing the wonders of the night sky. In the tapestry you can see three of the big landscape elements of the valley: Independence Monument towers in the foreground, with Mt. Garfield to its left and the Grand Mesa in the background right. These three large mountain formations define and oversee our valley. The orange/yellow spots between the monument and the mesa represent the city lights on the valley floor, and the green 'mound' shapes beyond that represent the orchards and vineyards at the east end of the valley.

Owls at four weeks...

2011-04-29T11:13:00.003-06:00

We went to see the owlets again this morning. One is as big as Mom, the other seems a bit smaller, yet. Maybe the 'bigger' one was just expanding to look bigger, and the 'smaller' one had tucked in a bit. I can't see ears on the smaller one (the one to the front), so they must be tucked in, too? I really don't know that much about owl development, but these are fun to watch! They were all dozing, but a pair of very loud geese flew right over their tree and splashed loudly into the river behind them, which woke them up. So we got to see those gorgeous golden eyes again!
(Click on photo to enlarge it.) We especially love watching them through my binoculars. Their nest is on the trail, so they are easy to see with the naked eye, but up close through the binoculars they are truly beautiful and spectacular creatures. The little one kept scratching herself with her talons. Must be 'nest-bugs' keeping them company!

They have more color on them this week, and are a bit less 'fluffy.' You can almost not distinguish them from the mother owl, who stayed to the back of the nest this morning.

Gateway

2011-04-28T17:48:00.005-06:00

Last week my husband and I went for an overnight 'retreat' to the Gateway Canyons Resort. Gateway is about an hour from where we live. It used to be a tiny farming community, with a Post Office, and a gas station/grocery store. It has become a resort, nestled along a river and surrounded by beautiful canyon walls.
We weren't there long, but we took a picnic along the river, then my husband went biking from there, while I sat and did a small oil sketch of the Palisade that looms over the canyon, from the back of the pick-up, which I had set up as a comfortable mobile 'studio.'

The next day, we took a terrifying drive up into the steep muddy mountains, then came back (thankfully) to the valley, where I set up my truck-studio and did another small painting while my husband hiked a bit. These two sketches are just 5x7". The first one I did on a gessoed masonite board, and the second is on canvas. I wanted to see which I preferred for this kind of quick oil sketch. The canvas won! It was much easier to paint on, and I like the effect better.

This is a view of the Palisade from our hotel room. We were just across the way from it.

And this is taken in the other direction. The resort has beautiful landscaping, and, while the flowers are not yet in bloom, a lot of the trees were blooming.

On a totally separate topic, yesterday was my day to paint with Alzheimer's patients again. I found that one of my two regular gentlemen has passed on to a better place, but the other one was there, and he was still painting his crocus when I left, after an hour. He is very methodical, and I believe he enjoys painting a great deal. I am so glad that I go to paint when I see him walk into the activity room! There was a new man there, along with all of the women. He did not paint this time, but watched with interest, so I think I can get a brush in his hands when I go again in two weeks. This volunteer work is not an easy thing to do. It pulls at my heartstrings every time. But I know the time passes so slowly for many of the people with this horrible disease, and when we smile and discuss their paintings together, and sometimes we sing, and often they tell me of events in their childhood (which is the point of the activity; to bring out memories), I am so glad that I am there. If anyone is interested in doing this, too, contact your local Alzheimers Association. The program is called "Memories in the Making," and they are glad to train new volunteers. Painting often takes place at the association facility with out-patients, giving their caretakers a short break. I paint at an in-patient facility, and activity directors at such places are also grateful for new volunteers and programs.

What is it with the cows?

2011-04-23T21:09:00.003-06:00

I have never had a cow. I have never really wanted one. But I occasionally seem to become obsessed with them. They are probably the most often seen creature here in the west. I love their big soulful eyes.

They have been cropping up in my sketchbook this past week. And also on the iPad.

I guess my obsession with them is because the next calendar tapestry I will weave has cows in it, and I am itching to get to it! I have painted cows in the past, and I am sure to paint them again. In fact, I have a canvas that is saying to me, 'put some cows right here!' I will probably paint more cows before I get to the tapestry. In the meantime, I have been shooting lots of photos of cows; red ones, black ones, golden-retriever colored ones, and beautiful white ones. And my sketchbook has a few more blank pages that a cow or two will surely show up on. But, oh my, I believe to weave a cow is really what my heart is desiring...

Oh, babies!

2011-04-22T11:12:00.004-06:00

Two owlets can now be seen in the nest with Mom. (Click on photo to see them better.)

Mom, plus one. The babies are still fluffy and light, though they are starting to show color on their wings.

Watching me 'out the back door.'

An Owl update....

2011-04-09T09:22:00.002-06:00

We took a short walk along the Riverfront Trail, Audubon section, this morning to see if the Owlet(s) had hatched. Evidently it, or they, have! Mama Owl is perched mostly beside the nest now, rather than hunkered down within it, as before. And we caught glimpses of white furry movement in the nest! So there is at least one baby owl there, and the nest is large enough to accommodate several.

The sounds along the trail are beautiful; quacking ducks, trilling blackbirds and cooing doves. A heron flew over. And I took this photo of a dove, just because she was so lovely, camoflaged against the blue-grey rocks and sticks.

It is a grey day, and the high spring winds of this past week seem to be picking up now again. A day to run some errands, and maybe clean and bake a bit, then work in the studio, where I have a painting in progress.

Have a lovely spring weekend! Ms. Owl and I will be hunkering down in our nests to ride out the wind and rain.

Update...

2011-04-07T15:12:00.004-06:00

I am back from my trip to Taos, my quince is in FULL bloom (oh, if only each of those blooms will produce a fruit for me this year!), and I am itching to weave! However, there are a few details that need to be agreed upon for the commission tapestries to begin, and it may take awhile, due to scheduling, to get together on that. So, in the meantime, I am cleaning my studio, have designed the "April" tapestry in the Calendar series, and have some painting I need to get done.

... Not to mention yard work..... and certainly I'll not mention spring cleaning, which is actually haunting my dreams lately. And nobody wants me to mention the canine good citizen test we are trying to prepare Booker to take.

Speaking of Booker, here is a recent photo my husband took on a hike. Booker hates the heat, and managed to find this mudhole to cool off in before my husband could stop him. Now does this mud-puppy look like a good citizen, or like a dog who will totally mud-wallow my husband's new pick-up? He did get another cool-off in his bath a bit later.

Ah, spring is in the air, and a young dog's fancy turns to tracking in mud!

How 'bout some Taos?

2011-04-03T18:26:00.003-06:00

Nativity maquette...

2011-03-26T20:44:00.007-06:00

I changed the design quite a bit for the right side panel today, as you can see. These will be the two tapestries, which will hang on either side of the church's sanctuary podium. At the center of an arched ceiling in the sanctuary, there is a round abstract stained glass window. It is of quite bright primary colors, so the tapestries are to have the same colors in them. Each of the animals in the right side panel were chosen (by me) because of Biblical symbolism. The flowers on the left panel are Easter lilies, and on the right panel, the tree is a dogwood tree. Each of the two panels will be about 18" wide by 44" long.

The images I worked from today included a photo of a fox and one of a mule-ear deer, both taken up at the mountain lake our cabin is near. The black-faced sheep was from a photo I took in Maine. The dove is from a photo I took from my studio window when our resident pair were nesting right outside on a limb that touches the studio window. The lamb is Gus, magically transformed from a cat to a sheep. And the male figure is modeled after my husband, whom I forced to kneel and pose for me. The dogwood tree is based on the dogwoods we have seen and photographed when in Boston.

Tomorrow, I will work on the upper and lower borders. The upper border is to have local landscape, and the lower border will have a banner with text. Almost there!

Maquette work

2011-03-26T12:14:00.003-06:00

I'm not sure if anyone is really interested in this much detail about how I design a narrative tapestry or not. But this weekend, I am determined to finish off the right side of the maquette. The shepherd (above) is the main figure. I am not happy at all with the small lamb he is holding. It looks as if it leapt up there, and is not going to stay long.

So, since I don't have a lamb to pose for me, I have forced Gus into the job. I figure Gus on my arm is about the same proportion as a small lamb in a man's arms. So, though he is more interested in the doves on the roof, he and I became 'shepherd and lamb,' thanks to my iPhone and a mirror. I mainly need the position of the hand supporting the body, the shadowing, and how his feet will hang.

This will actually help me fix an area that has been bugging me a lot! Then, on with adding the background. I want to surround the shepherd with animals, but not necessarily with the typical nativity scene ones. I have been scrounging through my photo files all the past week, and have come up with a number of options. We'll soon see what comes of it! (I hope.....)

Moving into spring...

2011-03-23T11:29:00.004-06:00

I am still working on the Nativity maquette, and am getting very anxious to get to the point where I can start weaving again! I miss my loom time very much. In the meantime, I am still doing sketches almost daily, setting different challenges for myself. The little sketch above is about 6x6", and the challenge was to use just contour lines to try to capture an expression. The subject is my 7-year old grand-daughter. I think I captured her expression pretty well, sketching from a photo, as she doesn't live near enough to me! I know she looks older than 7 in this photo, but she was presenting a school project, and was looking serious and thoughtful. In many ways (intellect, reasoning, etc.) she is much older than her short seven years. I am so glad she is 'just seven' in other ways! (I won't evoke the typical grandma phrase, "they grow up much too fast.")

This is a new friend. He visits me, and all other gallery artists, it seems, when we work at the gallery. He really wants to come inside and be the gallery cat, but contented himself in the flower pot on the patio for a few hours while I was there last week. He has no collar, but the locals say he does have a home and a family, or I'd have brought him home with me. He is so sweet and friendly.

I paint with my Alzheimer's patient friends again this afternoon, and must run some errands first, but thought I would post a short 'Happy Spring' post. My daffodils are in full bloom, and the lilacs are leafing out, with buds getting bigger every day. The iris leaves are at least 7 inches tall already. If the wind would quit blowing here, I would get out and spring clean the garden! It blew so hard here the other day, and the dust was so stirred up from the surrounding desert, that my guitar teacher decided he will get me the music this week to learn to play "Dust in the Wind." While he thought of the band, Kansas, I thought of the windy western part of the state where we once lived. I also just couldn't help but feel that I was in the remake of a Beau Geste movie.

(From Beau Geste, by P.C. Wren)

But the wind will die down, and the garden work will begin. Before that happens, I hope to be working away at my loom!

Bee...

2011-03-19T14:07:00.004-06:00

The gallery, and the community, is having a Bee Fest in April. (Ahh, the summer festivals begin! One every weekend, it seems, all summer long!) We are supposed to have something 'bee-related' in our spaces. So I started this little 8x8" painting while at the gallery the other day, and finished it up today. It is of our blooming apricot blossoms, with a bee. It is oil on a deep gallery wrapped canvas, so it won't have to be framed. It's sitting on my small travel easel box, so you can somewhat tell the scale of it. I am tempted to dip it in paraffin (wax), but don't quite know what that would do to it. I suspect that one thing it would do would be to mute the colors more than I would like it to. So I'll see. I will check with one of the encaustic artists from the gallery before I do something irreversible like that.

I am posting this as another IF 'cultivate' image, as I feel it fits, too!

Cultivate

2011-03-19T09:19:00.003-06:00

The Illustration Friday topic this week is cultivate. So I did this Brushes sketch on my iPad of Booker. He has been quite actively and efficiently cultivating the bed where I grow my tomatoes. In fact, he has cultivated most of the dirt right out of the bed! I will have to add to it, which will help the tomatoes, I am sure, as what I will add will be better than our local clay soil. Such a helper, that Booker!

Maquette progress...

2011-03-18T18:21:00.005-06:00

I have been working on the background for the left half of the nativity tapestry. I had thought about putting a variety of flowers in the background, mille fleurs style. But then I decided to simplify it to just Easter Lilies, for both symbolic and aesthetic reasons. This half still has the bottom border and the upper border to finish, but I think I need to complete the main central portions of both panels first. The upper and lower borders will tie the two panels together, so need to be done at the same time.

Right now, I am happy enough with the design of this portion to leave it alone until the client sees it (hopefully next week.) I have also, though, done a version in the computer with added halos on the figures, which will give the client another option. As I look at the images on the computer, I see I already want to do something about the lily that seems to sit on Mary's head. That is the advantage of looking at something in another way - I see things I don't notice when I am focusing so close on it at the easel!

Figures...

2011-03-13T12:00:00.003-06:00

I believe I mentioned at the beginning of the year, that I am doing some daily sketching. This past week, I have been doing 30 second-1 minute sketches of figures, from an app in my iPad called 'Random Poses.' The same figures are available on the internet at Posemaniacs.com.

I started by doing a gesture sketch (girl looking to see ,'do these jeans make me look fat?'), then a sketch from shapes (girl in stripe top), then a combined gesture/contour sketch (the male on that same page.) The next two sketches, below those three, were done from drawing the negative spaces (seated girl), and shading (outstretched arms male.)

The two overlapped figures at the upper right were pure contour (the larger running figure) and blind contour (where you don't look at the paper at all.) The final sketch was done with my non-dominant (left) hand. All of the above were done in ball point pen.

I then did a pencil sketch, which pretty much combined all of the previous techniques (the woman), then a watercolor sketch, which did not include any drawing at all.

All of this culminated in spending some time this weekend working on the figures on the maquette for the Nativity tapestry commission. The above figure will be on the left panel, and the one below will be on the right panel. Both are just beginnings, but doing the sketch work gave me the impetus to BEGIN, which is the hardest part for me sometimes.

So, YEA, ME! I have begun! Now I can start putting surrounding elements around the figures, and work on the borders and the background. Then I'll 'tweak' it all, and have it ready (hopefully by the end of the month, if not before) to present to the buyers for their input.

Loss of a colleague...

2011-03-09T14:27:00.003-07:00

Saturday, I found out, with the rest of the tapestry weaving world, that James Koehler of Santa Fe passed away. I have known James a long time, since he was known as 'Jeremy,' in fact. I have worked with him in many capacities. He taught at conferences I helped organize; he was in several ATA exhibits that I worked on; and he was a large part of several invitational exhibits that I curated. At all times, James was ever the professional and could be described as a gentle-man, in every good sense of that term. James brought the discipline of the monastery to his chosen profession; as a designer, a maker, a teacher, a businessman, and a colleague.

My husband has been exposed to the work of many tapestry weavers over the years. There are but a few he would recognize by their work, and even fewer by name. But when I told him that James had died, he said, "I'm sorry. I really liked his work. His colors were incredible!" Well done, James.

I know that I will still look for his work in every exhibit of tapestries I attend. I will miss them. There is nothing that has the glow of a James Koehler tapestry.

Today's news...

2011-03-03T07:53:00.003-07:00

This was in today's paper. Oh, yeah, baby. Truth, sister.

And this has been causing the turmoil on my easel. The wine industry is BIG here. We have the perfect climate for grapes and the vineyards (and wineries) are taking over what used to be fruit orchards. The special exhibit in the gallery this month is a Winefest exhibit. I had begun this painting to put in the special show. BUT, I haven't been happy with it from the get-go. (OK. I'm from the mid-west. I can say 'get-go.') I had a wild suspicion I would have trouble with it, because the photo that inspired it was flat out garish in color. So the painting was garish. I hated the garish-ness of it. So I toned it way down. Then the leaves just looked dead... which was worse than garish. So yesterday I tried to reach a mid-point between 'dead' and 'garish.' I think I achieved it, but tell me, is a mid-point between dead and garish really a good place to be? Not so much, I'm thinkin'.

Anny-waaay. I looked at more pictures on the internet of grape leaves in autumn, and they really are pretty garish, just like the ones I took photos of. I am calling this done. I will put it in my own space in the gallery, not in the Wine exhibit. Maybe it will match someone's bathroom.

(8"x10" oil on linen... by the way, this is the second painting I have done on linen. The first one didn't make me happy either. I am going to blame the linen.)

Processing....

2011-03-01T08:55:00.007-07:00

Process or processing typically describes the act of taking something through an established and usually routine set of procedures to convert it from one form to another, as a manufacturing or administrative procedure, such as processing milk into cheese, or processing paperwork to grant a mortgage loan, or converting computer data from one form to another. A process involves steps and decisions in the way work is accomplished. (from Wikipedia)

I am in the process of designing my next tapestry. It is to be a commission for a local church. There are a number of things I do in my design process, before all will come together to give me an image that will be weavable. This tapestry began in my head over a year ago. During that time, I have been gathering things: thoughts, symbols, images in the form of photos I have taken, and found images. All of these things have been simmering in the soup of my mind, eager to be 'plated' and tasted. It is not there yet, but I have gathered the main ingredients, and am just 'spicing it to taste.'

Fot those of you who like a more specific explanation of the design process, I will tell you that the 'mind soup' is really the most important part. But I also have gathered many ideas (religious symbols, etc.) from the internet, as well as from my own religious background and beliefs, as this is to be a religious tapestry. But I bring my own beliefs and experiences into all of the tapestries I create. Here are elements I know either I or the clients want in this tapestry: Mary and baby Jesus, in an intimate pose; I have chucked Joseph for a shepherd (haven't told the client this yet); upper border of local landscape; lots of flowers on Mary's half, and lots of animals on shepherd's half. There are some things I have chosen because they are meaningful to me, some have been expressly requested by the client. Some have been chosen or discarded because I just do not want to weave them. (There ARE some things that just shouldn't be woven - at least that is true for MY loom! Some shapes are too complex, and necessary details may be lost.)

I have collected many books of copyright free images that may help with a person's expression or body position, or may give me a background flower that 'just fits.' I also have a lot of books of art, which may give me some inspiration, or help me solve a design problem.

I am a prolific photographer, with over 23,000 (yes, that is thousand) photos in my iPhoto file. While a goodly number of them are of my grandchildren, the great majority of them are images I have 'collected' while on walks or trips, and there will be animals, flowers, trees, etc. among them that will find their way into this tapestry. I have also taken some photos that are specific to this tapestry, and I may take more: someone's hands, a specific flower, a local scene...

As I said, all of the major elements have been put together in the beginning drawing of the maquette. I need to add some background 'spice' elements, which I think will really be the making of this piece. Then I will paint the maquette, beginning with watercolor, and probably dragging out colored pencils and acrylics when I see changes that I want to make. I will also take the image back and forth between the easel and the computer; taking photos of the maquette and making changes in my design programs, possibly even printing out parts and gluing them onto the maquette. The maquette will not be a 'work of art' - it will be an image for me to weave from, to help me select colors to order for the yarns, and to show the client for approval before the weaving begins.

I project that it will be late in the month before I am ready to enlarge a cartoon to weave this tapestry from. It is to be two woven panels, each about 18" wide, by about 40 inches long. The process is well underway! This is the beginning of a narrative tapestry....

Sound like a lot of drudge-work? Well, I wish I could tell you that I just sit at the loom and it 'comes to me all-magic-like,' but you KNOW I'd be a-lyin'!

Black Bart

2011-02-26T13:08:00.002-07:00

A photo of this local raven was on the front page of our newspaper, with a link to this video, done by the paper's staff. This is like the two pairs of ravens that have taken up residence in our neighborhood, who, after the territorial battle on my rooftop, seem to have their own spaces, and live in harmony with each other and the rest of us (with the exception of an occasional cat, that I see them chasing down the block.) Amazing birds!!

Signs of Spring...

2011-02-26T11:38:00.005-07:00

We went for a walk along the Colorado River front this morning. It is a maintained trail, and a wildlife preserve. Birdsong surrounded us, including the raucous song of this robin, sitting among the budding branches and declaring Spring to be on the way. This photo reminds me a lot of my February calendar tapestry, so I guess I got that image right! (Except I was smart enough to not try to weave so many branches, or I'd still be at it!)

We also saw this Great Horned Owl, sitting on her nest. She has used this nest for several years now, and local birders come back to see her and check on her family every year. She was quite unconcerned about us. I will go back in a few weeks and see if I can get photos of the owlets when they hatch! I have also been hearing 'our' owl in the yard recently. It is a western screech owl, and has been a part of our lives since we moved here.

Booker also enjoyed the walk. We had the trail to ourselves most of the time, though we met birders a couple of times, out checking on the owl (including our down-the-street neighbors!) I loved this old cottonwood, which has one of it's great trunks crossing the trail. If I had been a few years younger, I would have HAD to climb across it!

It was good to walk among trees again. That is one of the things I enjoy so in New England when we visit there, but we don't have many wooded areas here in our desert valley. I am so glad the state has chosen to protect this lovely area along the river for those of us, animal and human alike, who love and need Nature to exist!

Finished, blocked, and ready to mount...

2011-02-24T15:47:00.002-07:00

Here is a detail shot of the "August" tapestry. I have trimmed the ends, sewn slits, and blocked it. It just has to now be mounted on the stretcher frame to be ready to hang. I am loving the finishing process on these smaller tapestries! The calendar tapestries are each about 18"x18". They finish up much quicker than my 'regular' sized 3'x4-5' pieces!

You can see the whole tapestry, plus the other completed calendar tapestries on my website, here.

The Dog Days of Summer...

2011-02-21T08:37:00.004-07:00

I finished weaving the upper hem of the August tapestry last night at about 10:00. It clearly wasn't a good time to take pictures, though I took the one above anyway. I unrolled the tapestry a bit from the lower beam this morning, and took a few photos that show almost all of the tapestry. I will cut it off the loom this morning, then will let it relax a few days before I start the finishing process. I need to get it finished fairly rapidly, as there are a couple of exhibits that I may enter, and I'll need this one to enter. With exhibits taking only work from the past two years, I am having trouble doing as many exhibits as I used to do, simply because I can't produce as much as I used to produce.

Anyway, here it is... "August" of the Calendar Series, or "The Dog Days of Summer." When I get the finishing process done, and some good photos taken, it will be posted either here or on my website.

Creepin' up on the end....

2011-02-18T17:15:00.002-07:00

I have about 3 more inches of tapestry work, then a hem, to finish this tapestry. I am hoping to get it done this weekend, if I can get in some significant weaving time in the next couple of days. Then I need to get busy on the design for the next one!!!

Brushes finger painting...

2011-02-16T12:41:00.003-07:00

This is a little 'digital finger painting' done on my iPad in the Brushes app this morning at Starbucks. The Starbucks I was at has a lovely view of our Grand Mesa, if you look over the tops of all the fast food places that have cropped up there lately. This is not a great piece of art, not even for a finger painting. But I wanted to share with you a fun feature of the Brushes app. When you are finished, you can have it play back your creation process, showing the steps you went through to make the image. So I have done a video of that on my iPhone. (Oh, what did I do before Apple came into my life?) The video isn't great, as I'm holding the iPad on my knees and the iPhone in my hand, so all is a bit wobbly, but you can at least get the idea. How fun is this stuff? The video goes through the process twice. The flashy stuff at the end of the process is me switching layers around to see the effects. (I have used three separate layers in this little painting, with the lower layer a solid blue, and the upper one a very transparent layer.)

Help Save the Arts!

2011-02-15T08:17:00.005-07:00

If you have ever participated in an art or music program in school, or have children or grandchildren who are in school, please take a short couple of minutes to go to this site and ask your congressmen to vote AGAINST the extreme cuts that will destroy these programs.

The arts provide a new way of thinking and coping with the world. It has been proven to be as valuable a tool in education as mathematics and reading are, as it provides access to different brain functions that are necessary to make a person complete. Those who are educated in the Arts are found to be more successful in all arenas of life.

To destroy that hope for the education of America's children is not the responsible thing for US leaders to do. I sincerely hope you will urge them to not go in that direction.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T07:41:00.005-07:00

She knew in her heart that the new sweater would do the trick!

Posted a bit late for the Illustration Friday topic, 'Sweater.' This is a fun little drawing done in Brushes on my iPad, which I use just to 'play, play, play all day!'

Hope you have whatever it takes to make your Valentine's Day a special one!

(I have actually been thinking about how fun this would be to weave! The sweater texture would be a directional soumak.)

"Midnight's all a glimmer..."

2011-02-08T18:19:00.003-07:00

... and "peace comes dropping slow." Last night's snow made me think of those two lines from W B Yeats' poem, 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree.'

I took these first two photos from the sitting room window at about midnight last night. Can someone tell me what it is that makes a mid-night snow give off such a bright light, when there is no moon to speak of, and the closest street light is about a block away? It is like the snow itself is giving off the light. It makes for a lovely sepia-toned landscape (NOT altered by PhotoShop, by the way.)

This morning, the world was black and white again. Booker and I went for a snowy walk, ending up at a friend's house for hot tea in front of her fire. It was hard to come back and get to work.
The tree above is one of the trees I feel like I have a 'relationship' with. It is at the city park that is a block from our house. It is majestic and stately in all seasons, and was particularly beautiful with it's heavy winter blanket of snow today.

I am creeping up on the end of this tapestry. It is at a stage now where I am thinking it can not possibly be 'successful.' But every tapestry I do goes through this stage, so I am just continuing to work my way through it. I hope to complete it soon! A few more snow days should do it, I think...

Bits and pieces...

2011-02-02T16:43:00.004-07:00

One of the things I am doing creatively this year is putting together a visual journal of the days. It is in a large format sketchbook; each page being 12" x 16". The paper is not suitable for painting on, so I am sketching on other paper, and putting it together somewhat like a scrapbook. Each week has about a double-page spread.

It includes quick little watercolor sketches, digital sketches, photos, and today's entry even includes a somewhat lengthy written story. It will document the things that I was thinking of each day throughout the year, in a visual way. I am having a lot of fun with it, but am trying not to let it take up large bits of time.

I am also trying to get back to weaving in a significant way. The part I am working on right now is very challenging, as it is all blues, and I do not see blues well (according to my opthomologist, who seems to be being proven correct with this experience, unfortunately.) So I really can only weave during bright bits of day, which don't seem to last long enough these days! I'll get it done, though! I am determined... and it is progressing. Slowly, but surely.

Bittersweet...

2011-01-27T13:56:00.003-07:00

I have finished (I think) this still-life of teapots and a vase of bittersweet. It is oil on canvas, 20" x 16". It will go to the gallery when it is totally dry.

Happiness runs in a circular motion...

2011-01-26T14:03:00.004-07:00

In a coffee shop.

Taking photos.

This girl who clearly loves life saw my camera, and posed for me.

In a coffee shop.

With my iPad.

Sketched the happy girl.

Made me happy, too!

Posted from my iPad

ATB8 opening

2011-01-21T18:01:00.005-07:00

The artist's reception for the American Tapestry Biennial 8 at the Textile Museum in Lowell, MA was last night. I did not take photos at the reception, except for this one my husband took of Jan Austen and me with our pieces, which hung together.

The Museum is very interesting. We had gone earlier in the afternoon, so we could see the textile history portion of the museum.

There were a number of the artists present at the reception. The museum staff had done a beautiful job of hanging the exhibit. Another wonderful accomplishment, ATA! It is always a plus, when I leave an exhibit, to go home anxious to get back to the loom.

Addendum: There is always something that, though it shouldn't at this point, brings me up short at an exhibit opening. This time was no exception. A man approached me and, seeing my artist's name tag, said, " Oh, you're the one that did the tapestry that looks like a photograph!" I wasn't sure how to respond to that. The tapestry, "January," is of the view from my upstairs window. It is the view that I looked at virtually every day last January, February, and the December before. When I looked at the view, I thought, 'that looks like a tapestry to me.' I did take photos of the view, but I also sketched it. When I developed the image into the tapestry cartoon, I worked from both the photos and the sketch, to capture the image of the tapestry I had envisioned. I deleted a lot of information from the photo, as superfluous, or unweavable. I simplified the photos to what I almost saw to be abstract; to look like a tapestry. To me, the photos looked like a tapestry. The tapestry has never looked like a photo. I don't know why that difference struck me, when the man made that observation, but it did. It always strikes me as odd that the artist's view can be so different, almost a flip-flop view, from what a viewer will see.

Another day in New England with the iPad...

2011-01-20T10:45:00.001-07:00

Another digital sketch from Brushes in the iPad. So much fun!!

And this is a photo altered in the iPad PhotoShop express app. My conclusion? Everybody needs a toy like this!

- Posted from my iPad

More trip pics...

2011-01-18T18:27:00.001-07:00

More snow today, then rain. Very messy!

These anemone at the Aquarium looked hand-knit to me.

Love jellyfish!

At Waltham Watch Works museum.

Snow in Harvard Yard.

- Posted from my iPad

Really, Boston...

2011-01-18T07:48:00.003-07:00

...did you need MORE snow? It's pretty, but entirely excessive, at this point.

We have been to the MFA, where I saw the perfect tapestry foot for my Mary in the nativity piece, and one of my favorite paintings of the Boston Common, which was in the fantastic new American wing, plus much more.

We went to our grandkids' swimming lesson and to the Aquarium with them. We have done puzzles, played games, sang great songs and heard a few originals by my grandson, who is already a great singer/songwriter at the age of 4. We watched the Frog Princess movie. We went to the museum at the old Waltham watch works, where I took some great still life photos.

Now if we can just get to the ATB8 opening on Thursday night! (And thank you, thank you, Janet Austen, for correcting the wrong date that I had in my brain! I would have been quite upset to go to an opening on Friday that had already happened on Thursday!)

- Posted from my iPad

Waiting for to go ( as opposed to Godot)

2011-01-12T10:48:00.001-07:00

We are stuck in Denver for a day (at least) waiting for the Boston airport to open so we can go there. I am wasting time in a Panera, as they have WiFi. Here is a sketch of my husband, as he also kills time on his iPhone. I did the sketch on my iPad, on an app called Brushes. You are basically drawing with your finger. Very fun!

- Posted from my iPad

Ode to January...when things curl up to rest

2011-01-10T10:33:00.005-07:00

We will be going to the Boston area in a few days. Our oldest son and wife and two of our precious grandchildren live there. While there, we will attend the opening of the American Tapestry Biennial 8 in Lowell, MA. I am really looking forward to it! It will be wonderful to go to one of the receptions when I am just one of the artists, and not someone who has to worry about exhibit management details. My calendar tapestry, "January," shown above, is the piece that is in the exhibit. It was woven from the view from my sitting room window, last winter. The view is pretty much the same now, in fact.

The amaryllis that I have been enjoying for the past few months has spent it's bloom. The wilted blossoms are still so appealing to me, that they were the subject of my daily sketch this morning, one more time. I have cut it from the plant now, but will try to keep the plant going. I used to be able to do that; keep an amaryllis and have it bloom several years in a row. But it's been a long time since I've done that successfully, so I have in recent years pitched the plant once the bloom is spent, and have started a fresh bulb the next fall. This year, though, I am going to try again to keep this bulb going. I discovered a link at the Better Homes and Gardens site that tells how to do it differently, and hopefully more reliably successful, than I have done it in the past. I don't like to throw the spent bulbs away. It's not just that it feels wasteful, to such a frugal person as I am, but I always feel like I have killed a living thing, that just needed to rest for awhile before it created beauty once again, like we all sometimes need to do, especially in January.

I guess this post is not really much of an 'ode to January,' so I will leave you with a haiku:

The freezing winter
Leads us inside where we can
Curl up and keep warm.

Trust? I'm just not sure...

2011-01-06T13:36:00.005-07:00

I do not always trust my own vision. For instance, I took this photo from my sitting room window yesterday morning, and have been a bit obsessed with it. In fact, before I took the photo, I looked out and thought, 'wow, that is a Charles Burchfield sky!' so I ran and got the camera.

I am thinking about what to do with the image, which, though actually quite grey and dismal, is still speaking buckets to me! Is it telling me to paint it? To weave it? (Oh, please, I hope not! Look at the fiddley work those curtains would require!) Or just to let it be what it is? Or am I seeing something that is not even really there, and it is not worth the second thoughts I have been giving it?

See what I mean? Sometimes it is not easy to look at everything with an artist's eye. Especially when I am not necessarily trusting that the eye sees things that will appeal to others, or even to myself if it is transferred to a new medium. And is there even anything 'worth saying' in this image.

But I do love the greyness of it, and the subtle layers in the sky do so appeal to me! As I have been weaving 'water and dog' today, this sky has been calling to me. Shall I trust it's siren call, or is it just trying to lure me away from the work I am doing?

Well, for now, I will just share it with you and get back to the dog and the water that are growing on the loom.

New Technology...

2011-01-03T20:57:00.002-07:00

Yesterday I boasted to my husband that this year I was not starting the New Year with a cold, for a change. Last night, my throat started tickling, and the cough began. Hello, winter cold! So today I have been taking it easy, drinking lots of hot water and tea, and learning to use the new toy Santa brought me. I got an iPad, with the hope that it would be a new tool for my design work, both at home, and more especially, when I travel. I have been getting the apps I think I will want to use - Adobe has a nice small version of Photoshop I'm pretty happy with, for instance. And I also have been figuring out how to post both to Facebook and to this blog. So this post is really an experiment. If you are reading it, it must have worked! The photo was also a part of getting the iPad ready. I took the photo of my wilting amaryllis with my camera, and was able to import it directly from the camera into the iPad, with a connector that Santa considerately included. I am pretty impressed with the capabilities of this little thing, and especially love it when something actually does what you want it to do!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Winter has finally come...

2010-12-30T17:32:00.004-07:00

In total contrast to a year ago, we have had a mild season, until today. This is the view a few minutes ago from the sitting room window, which is my perch overlooking the world. Snow has been coming down most of the day, and it has gotten bitterly cold. A good evening to be inside where it is safe and warm.

The fifth bloom on the amaryllis opened completely today. A profusion of bright color against the curtains keeping out the grey day.

Gus also keeps his eye on the world from his perch at the sitting room window, as well as keeping a close eye on me!

My resolve, as this time for resolutions creeps upon those of us silly enough to do such things, is to be more attentive to the things that matter to me in the coming year. And to not only attend to them, but to capture them in some way. I will sometimes post those things here, sometimes they may be posted on the Grace and Wonder blog, sometimes they will be posted elsewhere, sometimes they will only show up in my personal journal or sketchbook, but I do intend to put them altogether in a tangible way as I go, so by the end of the year they will make up one volume. It will be a daily practice, and I suspect that it will employ many mediums, though mostly sketches, as I want this to be a small addition to my day, and not to detract from my studio work, but to enhance it. That is, at least my resolve. And my determination. I am quite excited about it. Time, do not diminish my resolve, determination and excitement! Do you hear me, Time?

Amaryllises? Amarylli?

2010-12-28T17:03:00.002-07:00

I love amaryllises, or is the plural of amaryllis 'amaryli?' Anyway, my this-year's bulb is the kind with red on the outer edges and a yellow-white inside. "Apple Blossom," I think. The first bloom opened Christmas eve, and the next on Christmas day, then two more opened the next day. This one will also have a 'bonus' bloom, smack in the center! A five-blossom one! It is very pretty.

I have been enjoying sketching it's growth. This is today's sketch. I did a more complex one, and decided I liked the simpler, quick sketch better. That is a good thing to know about my preferences, as I plan to undertake a fairly large sketching project with the onset of the New Year - but more about that later.

Over the years, I have captured a lot of Amaryllis images. The one above is a photograph, that I have used for card images.

This one is a fairly large watercolor sketch, from back in the days when I was painting in watercolor. I wasn't impressed with it at the time, so it is somewhere in a cupboard, but I am finding that I like it's graphic simplicity now.

And this is a 9x12" oil painting I did.

On a completely different topic, I painted with the Alzheimer's patients yesterday, for the last time this year. I didn't take them any source material to work from, and just suggested they paint a winter scene. Several of them actually were able to do something that was recognizable as snow, etc. This man's work always is a wonder to me. He paints with a great deal of intent and attention. He worked on this little painting for quite some time, and is almost finished with it in the photo. He cannot verbalize anything to me, though he sometimes tries. But when he was done, I told the activity director that it looked to me very much like a snow shovel, leaning against a workbench. She told me he had worked in construction most of his life, and then in a construction maintenance supervisory position. So he would be very familiar with both snow shovels and workbenches. The mind is a wonderful and mysterious thing. When my little art time manages to reach into a damaged memory bank and pull out a few familiar images that cannot otherwise be expressed, I feel very blessed indeed.

Christmas Eve, 2010

2010-12-24T18:27:00.003-07:00

My amaryllis bloomed today! At least the first of the four blooms opened. I grow an amaryllis every winter, so I am posting this sketch of it for the IF topic of 'winter' this week. It gives me some living color to look at, when everything outside is brown and grey.

Happy Christmas to you all, and may you also find bright spots in your winter!

At the center....

2010-12-24T12:08:00.003-07:00

When you learn about design, you find that the 'center of interest' is to be the place that the eye is led to by the use of value contrast (putting the lightest light areas near or next to the area of the darkest darks); by the use of saturation (using the most intense, or least greyed colors); by the use of repetition of pattern or shapes that lead to the area you want the viewer to see first and look at longest; or perhaps by the use of lines that literally point the eye to the area. And, of course, the 'center of interest' should not be smack in the center of the composition.

I use all of those contrasts to lead a viewer's eye where I want it to be led; to the center of interest, or the place where I am telling my story in the composition. But I don't think I have ever really used them all at once, or quite so obviously, as I am doing in this tapestry. And, yes, the center of interest, where all of these things are happening at once, is smack in the middle of the tapestry. It is making me a bit apprehensive... have I done too much? The tapestry is a subtle one, with lots of greyed blues and browns everywhere except in the middle 4 inches, or so. There, there are bright, intense (non-greyed) blues, the only whites and blacks, and the only red in the whole piece. It is also the area where there is the most linear and shape movement. All of those things will lead the eye straight to Booker's face, so I really need to get the face done well.

So I am back to the place where I need to trust my design process. Yesterday, I put in the bright blues: Oh, my! they were blue! Too blue? Should I unweave and select a less intense blue? No. Keep going... it will work.

I often reach this point. In almost every tapestry there is a place where everything looks 'wrong' - too little or too much. But if I trust in my maquette and in the color choices and decisions I made before I even began weaving, it usually works out to be 'right.'

At least that is what I keep telling myself....