Almost there!

The "July" tapestry has all slits sewn, and is laid out on the dining table, being blocked. These small tapestries (18x18 inches) end up pretty square and straight, so little blocking is actually needed, but it makes the surface nice, so I do it anyway. (You can see that the cutting board is damp from the press cloth.)

My blocking method can be seen here.

Sketching and weaving... an update!

As 'INKtober' came 'round just as I was determining to sketch more again, I decided to participate by sketching, using my fountain pens (which I generally use anyway) and Inktense colored pencils, at least five times each week throughout the month. So far, I've kept up with my determination! Here are a few of the sketches I did last week.

This, from watching an adult and two young hawks fly overhead.

And this from a stock photo online. I just decided I wanted to do a person, but not anyone I personally knew. It was fun, with no pressure to please anyone but myself. I used ink only, making a few shadows while the ink was still wet, with water.

This one I did this morning. I decided to do it as I usually sketch, with color first, then adding the ink.  I'm not thrilled with it, but then, I rarely am thrilled with the landscapes I do. It did capture the bleak emptiness of the area, I guess. My husband, who was there to hike with the dog, wondered if I would find anything at all to sketch there!

And finally, this tapestry was cut from the loom on Friday! It is still 'resting' on the dining room table. This week I will sew slits and block it, then will take photos and re-tie the warp onto the loom for the final Calendar Series tapestry, "December!"

INKtober, day 3

(Just had to add color, so used Inktense watercolor pencils. Still ink, right?)

Happiness Flows.....

I have finally begun to feel 'at home' at the loom again, and the 'July' tapestry is actually progressing, in spite of all the unweaving I felt compelled to do as I began work again. If I keep at it, I'll be done with this one soon, and ready to work on the next, and final Calendar Series piece. That makes me happy.

I have also determined to sketch more, as my annual sketchbook just didn't have much in it, and certainly nothing that looks like I sketched it 'for fun.' So, with the beginning of the month, I decided to participate in #INKtober.  I'm not sure that I'll be able to do a daily sketch, but I'll do as many as I can. So far, two days into the month, I have sketched twice! That makes me happy.

There... and back again...

I have been away from home for a bit. I have been missing my children and my grandchildren, and felt the need for a change of scenery, so I went to see my son's family in Massachusetts for a week. On the way, I got to stay with my other son's family in Denver and see my grandchildren and grand-chickens there. I love this photo of my oldest granddaughter with the hens!

I knew I was going too soon to see fall color in New England, but, though the leaves hadn't changed, the air was crisp and there was plenty of beautiful color to be seen. We walked the grand-dog on beautiful estates, which are dog and people and bee friendly. One also had this tree (below) which I have never seen before. It looked like a Dr. Seuss tree to me! Nothing seemed to be eating the berries, so I assume they are not edible.

On the weekend we got to meet some church friends at a huge pick-your-own apple orchard. We loaded our bag, and our tummies, with all kinds of apples, and fresh apple cider donuts.

In addition to the orchards, there were animal pens and mazes and a hayride. (I hadn't been on a hayride since I was a teenager, when hayrides were very 'romantic,' as you might get to hold someone's hand. Since I had traveled alone, and my hand-holder was back home, it wasn't quite as romantic this time.)  The goats had ramps leading up to platforms, with pulleys that had empty cans attached to them. People could buy goat food and put it in the cans, so the goats watched the cans as they came up the belts, to see if there was food in them.

At the pumpkin patch (more fall color!) I took another favorite shot of my youngest granddaughter and one of their friend's babies. So sweet... don't you agree?

A good bit of the week was spent watching soccer. My grandson is obsessed with it, loving both playing and watching the sport. So I got to watch practices, and a couple of his games, and go along on the highlight of his week: when his team got to go to a professional game (the Revolution, who play in Gillette Stadium) and then  got to walk onto the field at halftime to "We Are the Champions" because they won their division championship tournament. That was some big excitement for a 9-year old soccer player! (And for his grandma.)

The week went by too quickly, and I flew back to Denver, then drove home over the mountains, to discover that fall color had come to Colorado in my absence. The aspen, which just had small patches of yellow when I had driven through a week before, had turned brilliant gold while I was away. The color seemed to be at it's peak on the passes.

Home now, I am ready to get busy. There are deadlines approaching, and my loom has a tapestry on it that has been on it for almost a year. Much too long. Today I went in and worked on it; weaving, then unweaving, as I've lost track of where I was going. But, by the end of the day, I began feeling at home at the loom again. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and a series of tomorrows, and it will be done.

Summer's end....

We did get up to the cabin for a day, to find that we had won the war with the packrat. It made me feel a little sad, really, and not a little guilty. Poor thing had just chosen to move into the wrong space. The photo above is a new sunset one from the lake there. I've taken so many sunset shots from this very spot over the 30+ years we've been going there! I love this one, even though I know the brilliant red clouds were caused by the fires to the west of us. I also like the colors reflected in the lake, and the Dr. Seuss look of the thistles in the foreground.

This field of flowers is between my house and my Dad's place. There is always something beautiful to be seen on the drive there! This view just feels like the end of summer to me; the season is not yet gone, but it soon will be.

As I determined to do, I have sketched a bit more. I did do my five sketches last week. The one above is of a huge moth that took up residence on my porch for several days. It's wingspan was about 8 inches across. It was a hummingbird hawk moth, I think. I did the sketch on a piece of paper I found while cleaning my studio (a job that took me two days!) It was an old dictionary page that I had used to clean brushes on. I glued it in my sketchbook and just did the sketch in ink and white paint pen on top of it.

This sketch I did while resting with Gus. He rested much longer than I did. He is a resting pro. As you can see, Gus has gotten so big, he took up more than one page in the sketchbook!

... and this little sketch I did today from a photo of my granddaughter that my daughter-in-law had posted on Facebook. I kept it very simple, because I knew I could not do her cuteness justice, no matter how hard I tried! 

See what I mean about the end of summer? This was taken this morning, going out to my Dad's. The sky and the very light says 'fall is nearly here!' I'm OK with that. Fall is my favorite time of year.

Trying to get my Groove back...

I have not been working in the studio. I have not been working at all. I have not had a creative thought or action for quite some time. I did not have the 'Grandma Art Camp' with my two grandchildren. I have been busy with Life, and with death. My precious Mother left this life for the next one just a month ago. She had a long and wonderful life; she was 93. I miss her very much.

I know I now need to 'get on with' my life and my work. But I find that I have very little desire. One of the things I realized as I sat with Mom over the past months, not working, is that there is nobody demanding my work. There is not a great hole in the art world, because I've not been at work. That realization, along with the depression of grief, has made my work seem quite unnecessary. But... I know that even if the world as a whole doesn't need my offering of work, I need to do it. Working will help to make my world as it should be once again.

I'm just not sure how to restart. I left the tapestry at a complex place: the face. I don't right now have the confidence to tackle it. Also, I have just been setting all the things I haven't had time to deal with right inside my studio door, as it is the one place all my frequent guests of the last months didn't have access to. So even going into the studio right now represents a challenge to me.

So.... I have decided to begin sketching again. My sketchbook has also been much ignored and neglected. Picking it up, I feel like I've never sketched before! Like I need to relearn everything! But I'm hoping that if I just 'do it anyway,' the skill will return, and the desire will come with it. And maybe, hopefully, my confidence will come back and lead me into the studio (which I hope to get organized, in the meantime.)

We went up to our cabin on Monday. It has also been a neglected part of our lives. When we walked in, it was evident that we'd had an uninvited visitor. Things were scattered in the kitchen: the toaster cover was off and a can of cinnamon was dumped onto the stovetop, and a few things were gathered near the door. Instead of relaxing, as we'd planned to do, I spent my time cleaning all surfaces with Lysol and bleach, and my husband discovered a huge nest in progress under the cabin in the boathouse. As we sat in the evening, watching a movie, a H.U.G.E. woodrat jumped upon the picture window sill and looked in at us! My first thought was of Scabbers (of the Harry Potter books) and I felt sure that the creature was really a 'death eater!' He was at least 9" long, not including his tail! I gathered my things and announced that I was sleeping in the truck, which I did. In the 30+ years that we have had the cabin, this is our first rat visit. But we usually go there more frequently, and I think the people and dog presence has discouraged such visits in the past. (Needless to say, the rest of our short stay there was spent in 'rat attack mode!')

Using a nature guidebook to find and identify him, I sketched him. Even though the sketch is very simple and basic, it got me back into the sketchbook. I cannot, sadly, say that sketching this gave me my 'creative groove' back. But maybe if I keep making myself sketch, that will happen over time.

With that hope, I have decided to sketch, if not everyday this month, at least 5 times a week through the month of September. Hopefully, this practice will improve my sketching, and my desire to work. Here is today's sketch; also a very simple one. Both of these were done with colored pencil and ink.

I decided to post this intent here on my blog, so that I will intensify my commitment to get back to work. I'll try to keep you posted.......