The opening reception for Connecting Threads: Tapestries and Masks was Saturday at the Doss Heritage and Culture Center. Here are a few not-very-good pictures taken with my iPad. I wish Pat’s masks were more visible in detail. I think I will go back with a “real” camera and take more pics.
It has been so much fun weaving the second “swirl” piece! It’s surprising to me how much fun this has been, but it’s almost finished. Probably just another inch or so until I decide it’s time, based on how much yarn is left and a stopping point. In trying to analyze why I am enjoying this so much, it boils down to a couple of reasons:
I hope to cut off tomorrow, but first plan to make myself get some housework done. Every time I dawdle about doing chores, I can hear the adult sitting on my shoulders, telling me that if I’d just get to work and stop wasting time, I’d be finished in no time. And I really need to get outside for the chores that await me there.
The new Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot arrived and the picture on the front cover immediately caught my attention. This piece is called Fig Leaf by Emily DuBois. Woven in 2008, the blurb about this piece further states “cotton, stainless steel, acrylic, twill and sateen woven.” Wow! So many possibilities, so little time. I say that after a night of no sleep, when I know that a nap will be calling out to me this afternoon, especially since we are scheduled to get some rain today. Not much better than a rainy day nap.
The exhibit is hung in its new venue and looks really good—maybe some pics tomorrow. Since the Doss Heritage and Culture Center is just that—a heritage and cultura center, they have a mandate for education. To that end, we have a borrowed a folding Macomber loom and it is in the center of the loom. Yesterday I went over to put a warp on the loom. one that I made years ago, still in its original state straight off the warping mill, hanging out in a plastic bag. Hmmm….first of all, the reed on the loom is a 10-dent, and the warp is of cotton rug warp. Probably not the best choice for a reed, right? And, since I don’t warp often, this one is going to take FOREVER to finish! At least I still like the colors of the warp.
There’s a fire building up inside me, the itch to pick up a pencil and start doing some designing. As I’m weaving the swirly piece, I’m thinking of other ways to use swirls in a geode kind of way with more muted colors. I’m also thinking of the fires that are burning across Texas and our native prairie grasses. Maybe a way to combine those two ideas. Sometimes I pick up that pencil and start drawing and everything looks awful. Months later I might start flipping through my sketchbook and realized that the awful drawing has possibilities. I also have a folder in my computer photos section of pictures or graphics that I run across, that may eventually become something else.
I am also beginning to think that it’s time to reclaim my dining room table, which is currently a mound of estate papers. Unfortunately, that would mean that sorting and file folders would be necessary. Maybe some mindless TV and a stack of folders in the evenings for a while would take care of the mountain. Thinking about it…
I was looking at the current issue of Ornament magazine and came across the article about the work of Isabelle de Borchgrave. Grab one at your local newstand and, if nothing else, look at the pictures. Can you believe that the “fabric” pictured above is really paper! I decided to do a little internet research and found this blog. It includes many pictures of the exhibit in San Francisco Legion of Honor. 
There is even a book available from Amazon.
I’ve written that I’m living in an inspiration-free zone lately, so it was with interest that I read this blog the other day. It’s all about how we may need this down time to stoke the fires of our creativity. Somewhere in my subconscious I must be aware of this because I have not been in a panic about it. This is akin to restrictions sparking creativity. Before I knew how to weave angles, I worked to get angles in other ways, like in the piece above. By the way, I was using natural dyes, and those colors were pretty much the only ones I felt comfortable with—another restriction. Colors were obtained from cochineal, indigo (over cochineal), and madder.
There is an art prize of $50,000 for Texas artists from Hunting PLC. Lately, a few notices about this prize have come to my attention, so I thought I’d mention it here also. There are some really great artists out there! Here is a link to a picture album of all the finalists. Like I said, great artists. The picture below is by artist Leigh Anne Lester, the winner of the prize. Go here to see a larger image. On her web page, an artist page within the gallery of Cactus Bra Space—gotta love that name!—the descriptions of her work says that they are graphite on Mylar, in some cases multiple layers of Mylar. So, how does that work? Mylar pretty much doesn’t let much stick in my experience. Captivating work.
Wouldn’t you love to wear this? It’s one of the Andean tunics that are in an exhibit in NY at the Met. The NY Times has a great article about the exhibit. Take the time to look at the slide show. Lots of good pictures there. I am particularly taken with the little guy above. I have a particular fondness for designs that come from the Andes. Two of the Andean-inspired pieces are shown below. It continues to amaze me that these weavings survive. How wonderful for us!
Peruvian Mask
Señor Fish
Blue Swirls
The title does not mean that there is inspiration being given out for free, but that there is no inspiration residing in my creative zone at the moment. So, was it serendipity that I ran across the recent post by Alyson Stanfield about some things to do when creativity takes a slump? My goal for this week—getting out on that art date with myself.
Blue swirls yarn
Above is what’s on the loom. The colors that don’t show up in the center part really do show up in real life. Below is pile of yarns for this project. My problem area? Remembering which combination of yarn colors I’m using for a particular section. Possible secondary concern-running out of yarn of a certain color.
Lastly—can you believe it’s almost the end of April? Where did it go?
Amidst all the stuff I have been doing related to estate details, closing of a business, payroll taxes, sales taxes, etc. I would really like to decide what I’m going to weave next. Seems that just a few weeks ago, there were lots of ideas floating around in my head, but there was no time. Now the time issue has eased but there are no ideas. I really, really don’t like what I cut off the loom. It will never see the light of day! I need something to weave that will be somewhat consuming, but that does not require too much of me mentally, and that does not require lots of dyeing right now. I want to get back to dyeing, just not now. So I decided to do another swirl piece. The cartoon is already done and is ready to go. And it’s a type of weaving that does not require exactness, kind of freeform. Since I already have yarns dyed in teals, blues, and purples, that’s the way I’m going. Here is kind of what I’m aiming for, 
but the colors are not exact. I’ll post a picture of the various yarns later this week, but they are all laid out on the floor, and it appears that there are enough colors. Yeah!
Later I want to do the same idea with blacks and browns. Just not sure how to get enough different colors from browns. But I need to do some experimenting for another idea I have, so I will be dyeing lots of colors in various dye strengths—eventually! And I’ve been fascinated with optical illusions of curves for a while, so I may need to try a couple of those, all of which requires dyeing.
I finally did it. I had been thinking about it for a while, had actually looked in a few stores, including the Apple store, but there were none to be found. Yesterday I made a quick run to Walmart (is that an oxymoron—can a visit to Walmart be done quickly?), and decided to just walk by the electronics department and check to see if they had an iPad. They had one—and it was exactly the one I had been thinking of getting! Last night I got a few free apps (can’t believe I’m even using that word!) and one not-so-free. I had read about an app called Brushes on the blog My Life is But a Tapestry. Looked like fun, so I sprang for it. There’s also a free Photoshop app, but I haven’t tried it yet, since I don’t have any photos on my iPad yet. At some point during the week, I’ll figure out how to get my calendar and contacts from Outlook to iTunes and then to my new iPad. Guess today I’ll spring for a cover. If only they had purple! It’s not like I have anything else to do.