Sherri Woodard Coffey

For the last several days, I have been sitting, not at my loom, but at my design table, otherwise known as my dining room table. Sometimes I use my sketchbook to get the basic design, but it always goes to my graph paper next. Even though I don’t weave at 10 epi, I use that size graph paper, well it’s habit. And everything is drawn to scale and it works for me. Before getting a scanner, I used to color in that scale drawing with my Faber-Castell pencils, and then have to start all over again if I didn’t like the result. Now I scan my design and put several copies on one sheet. I love and hate my pencils. I love the colors and how smooth they go on. But I hate how the leads break so easily. A freshly sharpened pencil lead will break before it even sees the paper! But I still haven’t found another pencil I like better. Which brings up the point of this post. What a surprise! An article about Faber-Castell was in the Wall Street Journal last week. Below is a picture of Count Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell from that article. Another surprise! A count no less.

I have long thought that some sort of tessellation might be a good weaving image. Well, guess what? There is a tessellation tracer template. Jennifer Moore used on in her workshop, Mathemagical, so I went on the hunt yesterday. And of course, Amazon has everything, so, Voila! Unfortunately, they’re out of stock.

I also went to Dover to see what kinds of geometric coloring books they have. There’s some pretty nifty stuff out there.

Can you believe it’s October already? When I was in Colorado, the aspens were already really pretty. The problem is that there is no place to pull off and take pictures!

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This just amused me. It’s the head and hand of Big Tex, the huge statue always visible at the State Fair. According to Wikipedia, he’s 52 feet tall. Now I’m wondering, since I have been taking Jennifer Moore’s Mathemagical workshop, is he proportioned correctly You know, golden ratio and all? My head is full of all kinds of design possibilities. Recommended! While doing all the driving to and from the workshop, I listened to audio books. Because Janet Austin recommended the Maisie Dobbs series, that’s what I listened to first. I found it really very interesting and looked forward to finishing it on the return trip. I love audio books! Radio stations are so undependable when on a road trip. Plus, I need something besides music to keep my mind engaged—and awake!

I am straining my brain right now with an online class by Lisa Call called Working in a Series. Yesterday, while waiting for the oil change in my car to be done, I made a list of possible series themes. Some of these have been in my head for years, but I haven’t thought of a way to really do them yet. All would be done in an abstract way, not pictorial. I think I accidentally did a very small series seen in the pictures above.

• clouds
• earth from above-this one really talks to me
• light (sunsets, etc)
• city skylines
• waves
• spirals
• wind maps
• weather radar

I’ve been obsessed with clouds for a couple of years, but can’t yet see how to tackle that subject. Maybe this should be the time????

I could challenge myself even further and only make designs that can be completed in weft-faced ikat.

I saw a reference to this exhibit of aboriginal Australian art. It’s at the Hood Museum of Art. What gets your attention when you see several thumbnails? For me, it’s color first and then the graphic qualities of the image.

I spent a couple of days getting my studio back in order, moving furniture, clearing out the dregs of things I didn’t know where to put or whether to even keep. The piece above has been moved so many times lately that I hope it is in its permanent location. Thank goodness it comes apart into stacking units. Some of that old office/whatever furniture was constructed in such a clever way! With this piece, each size of drawers, the top, and the bottom stand are made to fit together in whatever configuration you want. I forgot about this piece when I wrote about my obsession with drawers. Even though most of these drawers are not labeled, I know what’s in each one—well, generally. On the left of the picture you can see large notebooks of artist paper, from drawing to watercolor. I have no idea where to store those. Help! Send me your ideas.

Weaving will not start again this week, but I am thinking about tying the warp on again, even though there are things I have to do each day. We’ll see.

I drove to Dallas yesterday to go to Crate & Barrel. There are none anywhere near Fort Worth. Ask me how I like driving to Dallas. Hate it! This trip wasn’t so bad, but still—I don’t know where anything is, the traffic is horrible, drivers are more aggressive. Although, I have to admit, early morning traffic was not so bad this time. The C&B trip was to get things on a bridal registry. I was shopping for several. Oh, the sacrifices we make!

Drawers. Why am I always so attracted to them? Probably some deep psychological something that I don’t want to explore. In antique stores and flea markets, they always beg me to look. I only look nowadays because I already have drawers in several places in my house. Below is an old spool cabinet that is used as an end table. Also, a set of drawers that holds strands of beads—malachite, coral, lapis, etc. Then there are the drawers that are mostly hidden my the bunnies and other stuff.

The picture at the top is from here. There is a complete slideshow of the actor B.D. Wong’s home in NY. This picture shows a few of the sewing machine drawers he collects with the yardsticks as a background. I’ve got sewing machine drawers!

Beginning of slide show: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2012/09/06/greathomesanddestinations/20120906-LOCATION.html?ref=garden#1

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Finally! Finally, some cooler weather. It was actually in the 60s Sunday morning. I always know there’s been a real change in the weather when the tire light comes on in the car. I lived in ignorant bliss before acquiring a car with the tire sensor.

September to me is always a time of renewal, a time to start fresh. That feeling probably comes from all those freshly sharpened pencils, the brand new Crayons, empty sheets of notebook paper, the new teacher and new grade. Whatever, it’s like a new year. To celebrate the new year, I send my grandchildren Happy New Year cards with a gift card tucked inside. For myself, I now have a new shed that is completely empty and fresh, just waiting for the mower, garden tools, and the other things that can’t be thrown away or donated yet.

I am also celebrating with a new activity. In the continuing saga of rebuilding a life, I have signed up with about 50 other women at The Woman’s Club to learn how to play bridge. The organizer of this group actually used the words “party bridge” together in a sentence! Thinking I’d be the oldest person there because, after all, one who reaches my age should already know how to play bridge, don’t you think? Pleasantly surprised, there was a great mix of age groups, and I don’t have to be scared that the very serious player will get mad at me.

What, you may ask, are those bottles at the top for? I just liked the picture. The designs are taken from the ubiquitous plastic bottles of cleaning supplies that we all have in our houses. Except these are made of porcelain.

My blog hasn’t been transferred yet. You can find it here.

Notice the difference between these two “paintings?” The one above is a virtual re-creation using some amazing science techniques. You can read the article here. It’s really interesting. Evidently Van Gogh was using a paint color that was not long lived. In the painting below, that particular color has faded. In doing the scientific examination, they were able to add that fleeting color back in, as seen in the virtual painting above. The source for the painting below is here.

Okay, so it’s not happening until next summer, but I’m pretty excited about this upcoming exhibit at the Kimbell. Of all the pre-Columbian civilizations, the Andean groups are my favorites. The Wari were long before the Inca, and I look forward to seeing the many artifacts in this exhibit. I’m not sure how much I really paid attention to Wari art, but I remember the 2008 Ed Rossbach exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. It was delightful to find this totally unknown (to me) exhibit! What I liked was that the inspiration for the pieces, either in picture form or real artifacts, were included. Wonderful! He seems to have experimented with just about every textile technique know to man. Here’s a Google image page to see the wide variation in his work.

In the Kimbell calendar magazine, that arrived Saturday, were many pictures of brightly colored woven objects—woven with cotton, camelid fibers, and feathers. Woo hoo!