Category Archives: Art

Another wishful-thinking field trip

Another field trip is in order…Denver. Wonder how long it would take (and how much it would cost) to travel from DFW to Denver, down to Santa Fe/Taos, then on to Flagstaff, Scottsdale, and Tucson? The train between Albuquerque and Flag might be fun.

Anyway, this Denver Museum Spun: Adventures in Textiles exhibit looks to be a great one. This picture is amazing! Look how the pieces seem to be lighted from behind; they seem to glow, don’t they?

Today will be another day to the same–weaving, wrapping ikat. Gosh, I hope my math is right! If not, I’m doing a lot of wrapping for nothing. Maybe I should plan on a stand-up wrapping table. I am going to weave standing today.

 

 

Same song, same verse

You know, it’s amazing how exhausting one can get weaving for several hours and/or wrapping ikat. I’ve been splitting my work day fairly equally between the two, but geez, it’s uncomfortable sitting so long. I am seriously considering a walking loom. Does anyone have any experience with one? I’m wondering how weaving for hours standing would be, or would I just be complaining about how tired I am after standing all day? The day started out with a small rain, a wonderful day for weaving. And, oh, too bad, no mowing today! Now there are all kinds of storms swirling around, some with tornadoes, and even grapefruit size hail. That’s a new one for me. Grapefruit? So, I go from room to room carrying my flashlight just in case. And they say that these warnings will be here until 1:00 AM! And then I went through all my bank transactions looking for an $800 mistake. At least it’s in my favor, but I’m one of those people that balances a checkbook to the penny–well, at least I used to. Now I like to at least be under a $50 error.

 

Not much

There’s really not much to write about around here. I’m still wrapping ikat, weaving, cutting the weeds and brush, etc. My mother got to go home–she and her dog are very happy about that. My sister took Dandy to visit her at the rehab center. As soon as he got out of the car, he knew where he was and could hardly stand it until he got inside to see his “friend.” Dandy

Have you ever thought about getting a sari cleaned? I hadn’t either. Here’s an interesting article about that. I actually don’t understand why labels always say to dry clean silk. The cloth has been around for a lot of years before dry cleaning.

Wrapping, wrapping, wrapping

As I’ve said before, the time spent on wrapping an ikat design is all on the front end. Weaving goes pretty fast, especially when compared to tapestry. And I am not experienced enough yet to know if all my math calculations are correct. That Ikat-partially-wrapped will be discovered in the weaving process, but if I don’t keep trying, I won’t gain that experience. When the design calls for gradual angles, it is necessary to measure the yarn in smaller bunches, which, in turn, means that the design has to be enlarged lengthwise to compensate. For a piece that is going to be 60 inches wide, the cartoon could be twice that length, or even more. Fingers crossed!

Tuesday and Wednesday

How I spent Tuesday and Wednesday….measuring out ikat and wrapping. Ikat-wrapped-cartoon Plus all the have-to stuff, although I have yet to unpack my suitcase. Does anyone else have a problem doing that? And why would that be? I took this section off the board last night and then measured out a new section. Interesting…after taking this picture this morning, I see a couple of mistakes. Ikat-ready-to-wrap Wonder whether I would have noticed them without the picture. If only all mistakes were as easy to correct as this one!

I mentioned trying some new things–this is not really new, but it’s different than what I’ve been doing. The problem with experimenting is not the possibility of wasted material, but of the TIME involved. There’s never enough.

Thursday through Monday

©Sherri Coffey-Sine Wave ©Sherri Coffey-Sine Wave

This is what I’ve been doing for the last few days, just a few notes that I made at the end of each day. I’ll post more later.

Thursday–May 2, 2013

  1. the wind is blowing 45 mph and it’s 50 outside. Cold. It’s May!
  2. hotel key cards can be de-magnetized by a phone in a pocket with the key card
  3. my car is so full I can tell a difference in the way it “feels”
  4. set up tomorrow should be fun–see #1
  5. have I mentioned that it’s cold?

Friday–

  1. much better day today, warmer, b Burned-trees ut not quite as cold
  2. set up my booth, learned a few things, added to my list of things needed
  3. walking, walking, walking–lost my pedometer, too bad because I really wanted to know how much walking I was doing
  4. drove past a section of wildfires two years ago, totally depressing, but seeing the houses nestled in amongst the burned trees, a miracle for those folks
  5. when they say that booths are 10 x 10, it’s probably really not, there are leftover pieces Pieces-in-basket . Had room for 9 inside the booth
  6. Tomorrow’s the day! Booth-Fayetteville-2013

 

 

 

Saturday–

  1. Wow! Turns out to be a great day!
  2. Discouraged earlier-lots of people wandering into my booth, saying very complimentary things about my work, finally someone came back to look again. Sent pictures to her husband, he said she has to choose. She did, one of the larger pieces-Sine Wave, shown at top. I hung the piece vertically because of space, but maybe it should be hung horizontally. What do you think?
  3. Booths close at 5, artists wander to the old hotel across from the square, awards ceremony, barbeque dinner
  4. Awards ceremony–ceremony is too formal of a word, I won two awards! One for Best of Show and another a “just because I like it.” Monetary awards! Total surprise!
  5. After a couple of years of dealing with grief, estate stuff, house stuff, my creativity had gone out the window. It’s been back for a while, but this helps, believe me! Kind of like validation that this is a good track to be on.
  6. Even before the awards, I had already decided to try fro this show again. The people are nice, it’s a small venue, lots of really good art, many knowledgeable visitors.
  7. This means I have a goal of 9 new pieces. Doesn’t sound like much, does it?
  8. I’ve really got to track time weaving. It IS the perennial question, you know.

Sunday Purple-coat-shopper —

  1. easier day today–shorter day, fewer visitors
  2. One of the other artists said I should put my Blue-Ribbon blue ribbon in my booth. Lots of people noticed it and congratulated me
  3. the eccentrics showed up today Really-tall-lady
  4. bought a painted bunting from Melanie Fain
  5. sent six pieces with Karen Vernon for gallery
  6. Allison and Tony helped with take down
  7. donated From Above
  8. dinner with Allison and Tony at Roadhouse
  9. Arts for Rural Texas puts on ArtWalk. They provide arts for the communities in the area, three counties. This is not just the visual arts, but also symphony, plays, etc.

Monday–

  1. Why does driving make one so tired? Exhausted after four hours or so on the road
  2. Went to Hill Country Handweavers, bought some silk straw, what, is that called yarn?
  3. Drove to the churro farm, picked up two fleeces, saw the lambs, ewes, rams (see below)
  4. Drove, drove, drove

Ram Black-ewe-lamb Ewes-lambs

Musings

Orange yarns

Orange yarns

There’s actually been some weaving going on around here! Plus more dyeing. For some reason, I’ve had trouble getting the one right color in the gradation I’m working on. But, finally success. Now if I can just keep up with the weeds that are about to overtake me, like some kind of science fiction movie.

We had our guild meeting Saturday with a very interesting program–bog jackets. I was not prepared to like these pieces, but these are not the bog jackets from the 70s that were everywhere in weaving magazines. I didn’t get a picture of my favorite because the program was so interesting. Do you have any old, maybe not very successful weavings stuck in a closet somewhere? I do. Two words: bog jacket! You can see a few pictures here.

I’ve been thinking about the weaving while weaving. I think I really need to jump out there and do a couple of things that have been floating around in my head. Maybe I’m not doing it because it might not be successful or even possibler and all that time invested has been a waste. Plus, I’m really a rug weaver at heart–do I really want to spend time on something that’s all “art?” But we learn from our mistakes and failures, and sometimes the only thing we learn is that we don’t want to do that again.

Fresh garbanzo beans

Fresh garbanzo beans

cut Jack Fruit
cut Jack Fruit

Jack Fruit

Jack Fruit

And apropos of absolutely nothing, a few pictures from the grocery store. The garbanzo beans are surrounded by a shell around each bean. The jack fruit display even had some cut up fruit to taste.

Miscellany

mis·cel·la·ny

/ˈmisəˌlānē/
Noun
  1. A group or collection of different items; a mixture.
  2. A book containing writings by different authors.

It’s probably time for me to really give up on this idea that I can have a somewhat balanced life. In an ideal world, I would weave, work on other projects, take care of the housework, etc, all in one day. So far, that just doesn’t happen. Instead I spend the day weaving, then guess what’s waiting for me to do. Yep, housework! But it does feel good to weave! And something else I should do–reallythink, while I’m designing, about how many butterflies will be needed at one time. Geez! They get all tangled up, there are so many!

Several weeks/days ago I read about an art exhibit that sounded interesting. It’s called Drawn to Nature at Wave Hill. Several artists’ works are exhibited, each with a different take on their inspiration from nature. Because I’m a dyer, this quote from the NY Times article caught my attention.

And for a last bit of miscellany, this just shows you how crazy we Texans are about our bluebonnets. This year has not been a banner year so far, but it’s also been cold still. We had 37 this morning, but the drought is the biggest culprit. People stop anywhere to get a picture of their kids sitting in the bluebonnets. Nuts! They hop fences, take no notice of private property (but that’s a topic for another day), even sit on cows. And those fields of bluebonnets get smushed. But I have to admit, when I see the first bluebonnets in the spring, I feel like everything is going to be better, that life is good.

 

 

 

What’s your obsession?

Visual obsession, that is. And it’s really only a mild obsession, as obsessions go.

On Friday I took an art workshop at the Kimbell Art Museum. The title was Ode to a Cloudy Day. Clouds1
After a brief orientation about what we were going to do, docents took small groups to view several paintings of the permanent collection, with a focus on the CloudsCropped-web clouds. Then we went to tables and used acrylics to paint clouds. For me the painting was free and loose—I am not a painter—and fun. Not that there was any resemblance to a sky full of clouds! But this subject is one that has kind of obsessed me for a few years now. I say that it’s a mild obsession, but I have taken the next exit in order to stop and get a picture of what I perceive as a fascinating cloud. What a surprise, though, that there are others out there with the same obsession.

Cloud Collectors Handbook

Cloud collecting

There is a book for collecting clouds in much the same way that a  bird watcher would collect birds. There is even a website for cloud lovers called The Cloud Appreciation Society. Wow! Who knew! Then when I got home, a friend happened to comment about a Facebook page about clouds.

Several months/years ago, I found a painting about clouds that just really spoke to me. I don’t know where I found it, but it’s by John Fincher. I love the drama and varying shades of gray in these paintings.
So, with a little research, I found another one by him. Then there’s Georgia and her clouds.

Do you have an obsession?

 

 

The right tools

One of the things I’m doing this week is cutting more boards to hang pieces on. The boards are 1 x 2s and have to be cut to fit their respective pieces. I have asked in the store for a small, easy to use saw. The men always just say doing it by hand. I explain that cutting by hand doesn’t work for me. They really don’t understand that. I do have a big electric saw, but I hate to bring that out for these itty bitty projects. I’ve been using a jigsaw, but even that’s not the most successful for straight, clean cuts. The other day I was in the big-box home store buying more boards and looked again in the saws. Dremel-Saw This Dremel was displayed. It says that its maximum cut is 3/4 inch, the actual size of my boards. I looked it up online, and there are attachments to help with sawing evenly to size. This saw is also expensive. What to do? Think about it more. Any ideas?