Another wonderful time at the Lillian Smith Center

I'm so very grateful to be able to spend some time here at the Lillian Smith Center again this October.  I was here about a year ago and had quite a productive time.  I've returned a couple of times since for shorter periods and gotten some things done.

This time I have a goal in mind that I'm not talking about too much yet.  And in the other part of the time here I'm walking in the woods and finding things to draw and paint.

Here are a few of my adventures so far:

I started off this morning with a walk to the Common Room building and onto the deck at the back to take this selfie with Screamer Mountain reflected in the windows:

Later today I took a walk to the woods and the trails that the Piedmont College students have so wonderfully marked.

 And here I am at one of my favorite spots on the woods trails... the giant white pine tree that's near the once-upon-a-time pool for the girls camp, Laurel Falls, that was here at the Center.

I say hello to it every time I walk past and today decided to try a selfie with the tree... ask me how long it's taken to get the leaf litter out of my lighting connector (if I have been successful at all!)

Sitting on the porch at my cottage is always a great thing... this was yesterday afternoon when the sun was shining.  It was rainy today...still a great porch time but no photos.

And, I always love to indulge in drawing while I'm  here.  These are with earth pigment and from a pine cones I found in the yard in the past couple of days.

More days here to come.  Maybe another post before I leave.

Moving along

My time with Sandy Webster last week was so enlivening!  I've been able to use the earth pigment watercolors I prepared at her studio every day since I got home.  Here a couple of the results--these are painted into the pages assembled while there.  All of the papers are either Arches or Fabriano 140 lb. watercolor paper.  All are pages are ones I'd dyed a couple of years ago with either black walnut or with acorn dye.

On Tuesday I had a visit to my studio from the weaving students at UNG and one of the young women from the class was quite excited about the earth pigments.  I invited her to come back to the studio yesterday so I could show her a little of what I'm learning about the process.  If she can work it into her schedule, she'll probably be dropping by occasionally to use some of my tools to process earth pigments until she gets her own.

I'm moving ahead on the five leaf tapestry--it has no name other than that, at this point.  It's been on the loom since March and I'm really wanting to get this completed.  It has some good things in it, I think, but those are hard for me to see right now.  This may be the last piece I do for awhile (or ever) with such an expanse of white/natural.  I really do find it tedious to weave!  Sameness-- yet difference within that.  Much more challenging than working with many colors, I'm finding. 

Here's an overview from a couple of days ago, then a detail as I left the studio yesterday.

Third leaf of the five completed and the background beneath and to the side of the fourth leaf is being built up.

Onward!