A time to share, and to refrain from sharing…

After the Open Studio Tour was over, we went for a short trip to Mt. Rushmore. I had never been there, though my husband had seen it several times. Seeing the monument was one of just a few things on my ‘bucket list.’  When I first saw the monument, I admit it brought tears to my eyes. I thought of what these great leaders would think of our political scene today, and how disappointed and perhaps disgusted they would be. But I also was in awe of the artistic feat - the finding and bringing out of these faces from the mountain. This sketch was done on site, standing and sketching with ink while holding my sketchbook. I decided to leave it as it, and not ‘fix it’ or add color.

I sketched this from a photo my husband had taken from the trail beneath the monument.

We also went to the Crazy Horse memorial, and I sketched it the same way, just standing and sketching it in ink. I did decide to add some color to it, though. I would love to see this memorial completed. We drove from Mt. Rushmore to Crazy Horse on the amazing Iron Mt. Road, and I would recommend that drive to anyone who goes there! It is an engineering wonder, and naturally beautiful, especially with the fall colors. The ‘pigtail’ bridges and tunnels with views of Mt. Rushmore are worth experiencing.

After a couple of days at Mt. Rushmore, we went to see Devil’s Tower. I did this sketch on site, including the color. As I sat in the shade and looked at it, more and more colors became evident to me. Though it is always pictured just in greys, it is actually very colorful! My husband was hiking around it as I sketched and he said all the colors come from various mosses and tiny plants growing in the cracks that go all the way up.

I always try to keep track of wildlife on our trips, though we were disappointed to not see the wild donkeys that are supposed to be somewhere near there. We did see a lot of antelope and deer ‘roaming and playing.’

On our way back home we stopped at Independence Rock in Wyoming. It is on the Oregon Trail, and was evidently a stopover for those on the trail, who would sign their names and the date on the large rock. Unfortunately, most of the names are unreadable, as they are covered now with moss and lichen. But it was a nice break as we drove through the never-ending state of Wyoming. The folks on the Oregon Trail probably thought that, as well.

Since the election results came out, I have been trying to stay away from the depressing news as much as possible. Fortunately, the people I follow on social media (IG) are mostly artists who feel as I do about kindness, generosity, and the importance of diversity and tolerance. So I am enjoying ‘coping’ along with them, and trying to be creative, anyway. Which is what artists do, and must do, in difficult times. I admit I’ve not been able to weave the ‘happy yellow’ piece on the loom this past week, but I’ve continued to sketch, and my sketches are beginning to be more colorful and less depressed. I hope you find ways to cope, as well, if you are, like many creative people, worried and anxious about our future.

Open Studios Tour: Dining Room

 

In the dining room I hung Autumn leaning pieces. This Calendar Series tapestry is ‘November.’ It was inspired by a full moon through the trees at our cabin.

Across from ‘November’ on the other side of a wall of windows is ‘March.’ 

Hanging over the coat closet is ‘Aspen Autumn,’ an early tapestry, but still one of my favorites. Next to it is ‘Prairie Polka’ from the Heritage Series.

The lighting in the dining room is difficult, with a wall of windows that have deep eaves over them. On this wall opposite from the windows is the Fall tapestry from the Seasons Series, the September tapestry from the Calendar Series and a tapestry on the right called ‘FALL/ don’t fall.’

 

The wall above the radiator has ‘The Duet.’

I have never had this many tapestries hung in my home at one time. It is a bit overwhelming, to be honest. Soon I will take most of them back down. And hopefully I will someday find the one whom each tapestry was created for. Could it be you?

Open Studio Tour: Living Room

 

 As you enter the front door, there are 3 tapestries in the entry way; the May tapestry from the Calendar Series, the ‘Tapestry Arch’ tapestry, and ‘Hope and Despair.’

Above the sofa are 3 more tapestries (I know! They just keep coming!) The large tapestry is the Summer tapestry from the Four Seasons series. It is ‘Tending Peace’ and includes a number of symbols for peace. The Calendar Series piece to the left is the April piece from that series. Below it is a small tapestry called ‘When She Could Fly.’

Over the living room fireplace and in the nearby corner are tapestries of our pets. ‘Yin/Yang’ is of our 2 cats, the August tapestry is of our dog Booker in the lake, and ‘Wooster’ is in the corner space.

In a somewhat poorly lit corner to the right of the fireplace hangs ‘Barbershop Buzz,’ a Heritage Series tapestry of my Grandfather’s barbershop, which was flattened in 1966 by a tornado.

On the other side of the front window, so also not lit well for photos, is ‘Lust for Life,’ one of several tapestries the were inspired by Van Gogh.

Open Studio Tour: Landing and Stairway

Yes, I even have tapestries in the hallways! As you leave the studio or sitting room, there are tapestries on the landing.

Above the radiator is one of the few walls in the house where I usually do hang a tapestry. For the tour, there are 3 there; ‘Northern Lights,’ and two of the Calendar Series pieces, ‘January’ and ‘February.’ One of our cats, Poe, became obsessed with the bird in the February tapestry, so much so, in fact, that I had to take it down until just before tour time. He was determined to climb up to check it out more closely.

In the corner space is another Calendar Series tapestry, ‘June.’ (Which is the best fishing month at the lakes here.)

As I don’t have much wall space, I hung another large tapestry from the Four Seasons Series over a door. This is the Spring tapestry, ‘A Time to Wait.’ It is my daughter-in-law, when she was expecting our first grandchild.

 I have hung a number of small tapestries going down the stairs. These are all approximately 8x10 inches, framed. Sorry that these photos don’t really showcase the tapestries well. They are mainly to show where things are hung. Most have much better photos on my website.

 

Open Studios Tour: the Sitting Room

My sitting room is next to the studio. It is the brightest room in the house, so is where I usually have my morning coffee, write in my journal, catch up with social media, and do a quick sketch.

The French doors lead to a summer sleeping porch. For the studio tour, I’ve hung one of the large Heritage Series tapestries (‘Croquet Coquette’) over the doors. I generally do this in the winter as well, as the sleeping porch is not heated and has a lot of windows.

Above the fireplace is the ‘Graffiti’ tapestry, and the ‘Graffiti Garden’ tapestry is to the left of it.

On the wall behind the sofa is the ‘Winter’ tapestry of the Seasons Series (‘A Peace of Quiet’,) ‘Emergence,’ and ‘December’ from the Calendar Series.

 

Open Studios Tour: the Studio

I was planning to add some videos of my participation in the local Open Studios Tour this coming weekend. However, I can’t seem to get my videos to fit the format here, so I’ll just add photos. I’m starting in the studio, which is probably the last place visitors will be, as my studio is upstairs in my home, and I have work through a good bit of the house, as well as in the studio.

As you go in, there are a few small tapestries hanging together. These are each about 8x10” or less.

The pastel sketch on the easel is a ‘maquette’ or a design for a tapestry. The tapestry itself will be seen in a later post.

Another small tapestry on the end of my yarn shelves.

The bins in these shelves are filled with the Swedish yarn I use in my tapestries, sorted by color families. The upper left shelves also hold my sketchbooks from over the years. Many of my tapestries come directly from my sketches.

I have a number of oil paintings in the studio, and the one here of boats was a maquette for a tapestry. The tapestry itself was stolen from a gallery in North Carolina. If you should ever see the tapestry, please let me know!

This is my work table. It contains the materials I’m using in the tapestry I’m currently working on. There is also a small loom on it now, as I have a small tapestry in progress as well as one on the large loom.

My large loom is a 6-ft wide Shannock loom. It also has a tapestry in progress on it. A tapestry this size will take me several months to weave. I can weave about an inch across the width of the tapestry in approximately 8 hours.

There are a few tapestries behind the loom, including a few from my ‘Selfies’ series, “The Caregiver,” and “Not the Enemy,” and “The Photographer.”

This small work table is where I paint. I got the Unicorn tapestry poster at the Cloisters Museum in New York, and the triangular tapestry hanging from the loom (upper left) is my duplicate of the ornament I was privileged to make for the White House Christmas tree during the Clinton administration.

 

Challenge accepted!

This is Ringo

The American Tapestry Alliance hosts an unjuried exhibition every two years, in conjunction with the Handweavers Convergence conference. It will be held in Wichita, Kansas this summer in a gallery that is mostly aimed at sight impaired visitors. So the challenge for the small tapestries is that they need to be highly textured, as visitors will be allowed to see them by touch.

A sketchbook version of Ringo

So, I looked through my sketchbooks for something that would inspire me to weave textural, as well as visual interest. I decided this sketch of Ringo would be my maquette.

I bought a really fuzzy yarn, a skein of something I would normally NEVER consider weaving with, but that said ‘Ringo’ to me. It turned out to be SO fuzzy and textured, that nothing showed up, either visually or texturally, but fuzzy yarn. I knew I’d never get any details to show up, using this yarn.

So, I unwove it. Looking through my stash of knitting yarns, I found some less fuzzy, but still textured yarns. One was blue, one was tan, and one white. I decided I could try them.

When the tapestry was woven, I added whiskers, and the word CAT, in braille. This tapestry is about 7x9”. It turns out that I actually enjoyed being challenged to do some out of my comfort zone, with materials I wouldn’t normally use. I hope it will be enjoyed by all viewers in Kansas this summer!