An adventure!

Yesterday the South saw a snowstorm that brought Atlanta and several other cities to their knees.  Not a deep snowfall but an icy one.  As it happens, I was in Asheville yesterday morning as the snow started to fall.  After an hour or so of wondering whether I should try to get home or not, and several phone calls to my husband for his advice and weather condition check at home, I decided to go for it... the road, that is!

This was about the extent of the snowy driving conditions I saw along the way.  Since I left Asheville early enough, I was just a few minutes ahead of the snow that was moving east and turning the roads into ice rinks all through the area.

By the time I'd unloaded my car and walked back to the studio, this much snow had fallen.

This was measured on the railing of my back porch at the studio.  The snow wound up being around 2" by the end of the day.

My studio in the snow... first, from the back yard there:

Then looking across our backyard at the house to the studio around twilight:

Yes... just a little snow in Georgia goes a long way to making for adventures.  Some good, lots bad this time around for many, many people, however.

Off the loom

There is still so much finishing to be done but I've cut it off the loom.  It's hanging up with push pins right now.  Shortly, I'll start clipping weft tails at the back.

It's 32" h x 23" w (design area).  There's a 1 1/4" turn-back at both ends that will be folded to the back when the piece is mounted.

Only the turn-back remains to be woven

I've gotten to the top of the tapestry and put in a row of soumak where the turn-back will happen.  Now, I have about 1 3/4" of weaving remaining, followed by half-hitches to secure the weft.  And then we'll cut it off!  Tomorrow.

I hope Megan can come by the studio to help with the cutting off... after all, the tapestry is for her and is  based on her painting.  She's been watching it grow, bit by bit.  So far, she's approved of what's happening.

Heading to the finish line!

Several more inches to go on this but I've completed the head, at least.  Perhaps I'll be able to actually finish it tomorrow if my poor cracked and split fingers hold out!  Cold weather and my skin just don't mix well.  Add to that the tightness of the warp as I put my fingers in and out with the bobbins, plus the dryness in studio as the furnace does its best to keep the chill at bay.   Ouch for the fingers!*

*at least it's just annoyance from the cold weather--not a major problem like being impaled with a loom part like happened a couple of years ago!  Now THAT was a problem.

Approaching the end of this tapestry--by Saturday, I hope

Progress

All eyes and ears, nose and mouth now...

... eyebrows next.

Another ear joins the head today

I hope for a second eye tomorrow!

Fiddleheads and ferns photographed

The Greening
60" w x 14" h, 2013

Moving ahead on the head

I photograph in-process tapestries because the photos help me see it in a different way.  For instance, right now as I look at this, I'm very tempted to stop with the color and continue with white and gray lines.  I'll discuss this thought with Megan today to see what she thinks about my possibly taking that amount of liberty with her image.  With only one eye, however, there's already a degree of personality contained.  The tapestry might be more interesting if changed up a bit.

American Tapestry Biennial 10

American Tapestry Alliance website has now posted information about the upcoming ATB10 exhibit:

http://americantapestryalliance.org/exhibitions/atbiennials/american-tapestry-biennial-10-2/

I'm quite happy to have a tapestry accepted into this show.  I've entered all but one of the ATB exhibits since the beginnings in the mid-1990s.  This is the third ATB my work has been accepted for -- ATBII (1998), ATB5 (2004-05) and now, ATB10 (2014-15).  I've also had work rejected in six other ATB exhibits.

Juried exhibits are always bittersweet for me.  Of course, I'm thrilled to have work accepted and yet I'm sad for those who's work wasn't chosen this time around.  Sometimes the rejection hurts more than other times.  When one is doing the best work that one can and the rejections come, it's hard not to feel like giving up.  If not give up on making the work, at least give up on entering juried exhibits.  I did that for about a year sometime back.  Faced with back to back rejections from shows I just said to myself ... that's it!  No more juried shows for me; I don't need the grief.

But I was back in the game before long.  In fact, at that time I submitted the same work that had been rejected a couple of times to yet another show.  And it was accepted.  And it won first place.

So... this time around, the juror saw something in my tapestry that caused her to accept it into the mix of the others in the exhibition.  I'm glad.  And I'm sad for others who've not had their work included this time.  But please keep weaving.  Keep believing in your work.

In Spirit

Back to Weaving for Others

I first posted about this tapestry in September as I got the piece underway.  I left it alone for the next few months, though, as I proceeded with the fiddlehead and fern tapestry.  With the fiddlehead piece finished up (and off to be photographed soon) it's time to get back to Megan's tapestry in earnest.

Here's the piece as I left it yesterday.  I struggled with the nose a bit and the next big challenge will be getting the eyes done.

So far, Megan likes the piece.  In fact, she wants a photograph of it in-process to possibly use as a drawing subject.  Sort of like looking into a mirror, looking into a mirror, looking into a mirror.... Reference the tapestry based on the painting based on the photo... makes my head spin, just thinking about it!

Tapestry Diary for 2014 begins

I'm taking a Simplify approach this year for the ongoing tapestry that I do--the one that I work on daily, with discrete areas woven each day.   I began calling this practice my tapestry diary a few years back.  Several others are also weaving daily bits of tapestry and I enjoy seeing the results of their exploration of the concept very much.  You might want to peek at what Jan Austin and Janette Meetze are doing in this approach.  Also, Geri Forkner has been doing daily weavings since 2005.  Her works created in this way are amazing to see.

As I think about what I've done with this daily tapestry practice since 2009 I realize that the time I spend weaving the small part ranges from a few minutes up to an hour.  Last year I decided to use yarn from a set of dye samples I'd made years ago; the small skeins of the many resulting colors had been stored since then.  As 2013 rolled around I felt it was time to finally make use of those little bits of color.  And I did.  And, now, a year later I still have more of the dye samples remaining!

Yes, looks like just a tangle, I know.  But it's really easy to sort out the pieces.  And that's what I'm doing this year, at least so far--just a week into 2014.  I'm going to use up the remaining dye sample bits this year and will do so in simple stripes, rectangles and squares.

I'm picking out a yarn from the jumble and weaving it until it's used up.  I haven't counted the numbers of yarn parts in those bins... will I have 365 bits of yarn to use up during the year?  I'm saving back a bit from the longer lengths of yarn (those in the top left bin) to use later in the year.   Maybe in a month or so I'll count the yarn bits to see if I have the remaining amounts to select from... or maybe I'll just see how it plays out.  Sort of like life.