I said I would

... and I did.

Sixth year of Tapestry Diary is completed.  Here it is, just off the loom:

Next task--get the warp ready for 2015.  Whee!

Happy New Year to one and all!

The Value of Daily

Seth Godin's blog post here says it all.

But of course I've got to say some more.  More about the value of daily practice.  We all know the value of brushing our teeth every day.  And we practice that from a very early age until it becomes habit, not just something our parents nag us to do.  I have found value in a couple of other daily practices, mundane enough on their own, but added up, day by day, year by year, these have become intrinsic to my well being, as important to me as brushing my teeth.

One of those daily practices started as Morning Pages, as described by Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way.   She recommends that one write three pages each and every day, first thing in the morning, writing by hand and without editing one's thoughts.  I've done three pages of rambling words for around five or six years now.  Let's see, three pages each day for 365 days X 5 = 5,475 pages that I've written, at least. 

All about this and that and other things.  And once written, not read again.  Sometimes these pages are more diary-like, recording happenings of the previous day.  Other times, they're dream journals, pages I fill with the strange and mysterious happenings of the night-time brain.  I also find solutions to weaving problems in these morning rambles.  Or find problems rather than solutions, artistic and other, to mull over for days on end.  I've written haiku, short stories, cussed, cried... anything that happens to fall out of the end of my pen goes down on those three pages each morning.  And I keep on doing them.  Daily.

Another daily practice is woven and is what I call Tapestry Diary.  I've written lots and lots about my journey in this daily weaving habit in this blog and other places so I won't do more of that here, other than to say that this year's TD is approaching its end.  I have assorted thoughts about what next year's warp might bring but I'll make the decision about my plans for 2015 once 2014 comes to a close.  Here's where the year's TD is today:

Now, back to my first sentence--Seth Godin's thoughts about the value of daily are short and sweet, click on the link above to read them all.  I'll just quote these:

There's a fundamental difference between the things you do every day, every single day, and the things you do only when the spirit moves you.

One difference is that once you've committed to doing something daily, you find that the spirit moves you, daily.

Amen, Mr. Godin!

Rebecca Mezoff's online tapestry course--new one begins soon!

I am a great fan of Rebecca Mezoff's tapestries.  I first saw her work in person in New Mexico when Lyn Hart and Jane Hoffman let me tag along with them to see the Bauhaus Tapestry Project exhibit that Rebecca was in, along with James Koehler and Cornelia Theimer Gardella.  I was just amazed at the beauty of the Rebecca's tapestries and also quite taken with her writing in the statements for each piece.

I've followed her progress through her blog and her website through several years and had a fun time with her whenever we've been able to meet up in person (like about every two years somewhere in the country at an American Tapestry Alliance event).  I've been always impressed with how seriously she takes the field of tapestry and how passionate she is about promoting and encouraging others through her blog and other writings.  So I was excited to find out that she was developing an online course for tapestry teaching.

She's offered her course several times now and she's about to begin a new one as the New Year rolls around.  She just emailed about that yesterday.  When I scrolled through her info link at her website, I found it was so thorough and entertaining in itself that I wanted to post a link to it here at my blog.  So here it is:  http://www.rebeccamezoff.com/warp-and-weft-learning-the-structure-of-tapestry

Rebecca weaves her tapestries a bit differently than I do but nevertheless what she does and how she teaches about tapestry is marvelous.  As one of my best teachers ever (Edwina Bringle) once told me, "Have every experience you can, take what you need and throw the rest away!"  And I've taken that bit of wisdom to heart over the past three decades.  Although knowing, all the while, that the rest isn't really thrown away... maybe just on the back burner until needed.  So I know she meant, "Learn everything you can and when the time is right to use it, it's there for you!"

So... here's to you, Rebecca Mezoff!  And to the many students of tapestry I hope will find you!!

And... disclaimer here!  No financial rewards for me with this promotion!  Just, I hope, more people finding the wonderful world of tapestry weaving!!

Growing a landscape

That's what I'm doing this week. 

Here's the drawing I'm working from.  I've made a modification to the drawing at the upper right to add a mountain and cloud and I like this better now.

Here's the tapestry progress:

I replaced the line cartoon on Mylar with the color printed copy of the drawing.  The color areas were beginning to be too confusing for me to make sense of and so having the color behind the warp, along with the Sharpie lines for the major edges helps.  I need to replace the upper right corner of the cartoon to show the revision. 

A detail of the tapestry shows the blend of wefts; I'm using five or six strands of wool, a combination of either five 20/2 worsted wool or six with a couple of strands of Australian tapestry wool combined with three of the 20/2.  What I choose to combine depends on what colors I want to make.

And finally, a Happy Holiday wish to everyone from our house to yours (sent by way of our cat, Raymond Purr).