Friday, August 30, 2013

Last days at the Lillian Smith Center


My days are winding down.  I'm tired, as I always am when I've had several intense days to spend in my self-centered pursuit of what... creative expression?  That seems too lofty a description of what I do when in search of design ideas for my tapestries.  The varied processes I go through to finally, I hope, have an image worth spending months turning into a tapestry are for me best accomplished in intense bursts.  An artist residency gives me space and time for the bursts--I just hope the bursts will happen!

This time I do feel that I've had some insights for design ideas while I've been here.  Today I worked more on the two part piece I'd started on Wednesday:


This image is based on the stones of the cottage where I've stayed at each stay here.  I've looked at the wall many times.  I love the varied sizes and colors of the stones of the all the buildings at the center.  

I had a bit of left-over earth pigment and grays when I'd finished this.  So I pinned up three sheets of watercolor paper and quickly began to work with other views of the stones.  These need a bit more work, I think, but so that they'll be dry enough to put in the car tomorrow I'm leaving them as they are now.


Yesterday morning I took a different path for my walk.  I went along on a trail though the woods where I crossed a small creek on--yes, stones:


I also saw this wonderful stone covered in very flat ferns.  They look like they were just fossils-in-waiting:


Back to reality tomorrow!  It's been a lovely, lovely time here.



 

No comments:

Post a Comment