Today's work included developing darker values on the cartoon as well as changing the temperature a bit by using a deep blue colored pencil in lower areas. I then painted again with darker values with ultramarine mixing with the rust colors I'd mixed earlier. There's still quite a lot of work remaining on this design but I'm progressing on it, I think.
Here's about a 32" wide X 13" high section of the 80" wide design... that's as far as I've taken the darker areas at the bottom.
The tapestry sample has progressed today, also:
Again, imagine this turned 90˚ from the direction it's being woven, with the right side as the bottom of the design. I'm finding out quite a few things by weaving the sample. One of the things is the amount of value contrast I'll need between background and leaves & fiddleheads. The fiddleheads are much lighter and so stand out quite well, but the ferns are merging into the background. That's OK in some places but in others I'll need the greens to be either lighter or brighter--or both. I'm also trying out the way I want to do the stem of the ferns. These thin lines will be done with soumak but how many strands, do I return the soumak line, and other questions about what's going to be both weaverly and visually effective.
I'm using 8 epi for the sample, the sett at which I expect to do the finished tapestry. And I'm using three strands of weft, two of Vevgarn and one of 20/2 worsted wool. This gives me some color mixing ability and adds the thin line of the 20/2 wool that I like to see in the surface of tapestry. I'm photographing everything with my iPad so the details aren't very clear.
I want to finish the sample weaving and maybe cut it off before I leave on Sunday so I have a few more inches to weave tomorrow. I've got to also begin to load up the car to leave. And there's an artist talk tomorrow evening that I'll take part in and so I'll leave things as they are in the studio for visitors... I guess. Sort of playing that by ear until it happens!
This morning when I walked to the Rock House to check emails, I also checked my friends, the Pink Lady's Slippers in the woods along Mellinger Trail. The two I spotted first are still standing proudly and I sat on a log close to them and did this sketch with my SketchBookX app on my iPad (I'd forgotten I had the app since I haven't used it very much--could have been "drawing" with it earlier in the stay!)--
I know I've got lots to learn about drawing with my finger and an iPad screen; if I had a stylus, I might have more control. But this still is an exciting new tool for me and I'll be sure to use it more frequently now that I've rediscovered it.
And, one more thing... as I looked at the several other Pink Lady's Slippers that are popping up in the woods I spotted this one. The leaves of the Lady's Slippers are pushing their way up THROUGH a leaf! Talk about life force and that nothing will stand in the way of it! In my first week here I also spotted a trillium that had done the same thing, pierced a leaf on its way from the forest floor and into the light.
I'm so grateful to have been able to spend this time in the woods here in north Georgia. Tomorrow is another day!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Really love seeing what Hambidge has given you during this retreat, Tommye. Can't wait to see your ferns develop over time. I like how you took a small section of the overall design to sample, instead of just randomly sampling yarn colors that you were considering... wow, so much more relevant. Food for thought as I never considered sampling like that before! Thank you, as always, for sharing your creative process; it continues to enhance mine.
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