Day 4 of my Tapestry Diary 2017

I must say I am enjoying this immensely. My 15 minutes turned into close to 2 hours.
I am battling perfectionism and my need to have a road map. There areas I like and some not so much. But because one of my criteria being I cannot change something the next day, I need to incorporate those iffy areas into the rest of the piece. We shall see.
Still working on refreshing my technical skills. New goal: to know these skills well enough and to gain muscle memory so I can create and get lost in the idea and image.

January 2nd. Day 2

I am back to work after the Christmas break. It was a clean up day in preparation for the children tomorrow. My body is sore and I am tired. I sat down to weave working on just basics and weft direction. It was very relaxing.
I moved the loom out of the studio and am weaving in the spare bedroom which is a funny little room with 1970's wood paneling. I love this room, it feels like a nest. It faces south and can get some amazing sunshine. It just seemed like the right place to weave.

The Palette

Happy New Year!

I have gathered a small portion of my Handspun plus a bit of other yarns from my stash to create my palette for my Tapestry Diary. I see that I am lacking in greens. Okay I have a great swack of green wool but it is tagged for a sweater, so I am not touching that. I see I will need to dye some yarns or scrounge.
One of my goals for this year is to not spend too much on craft/art and to use and or finish up some ufos.
I have been thinking about my personal criteria for my tapestry diary. Width will be based on the amount of seine twine I have but no wider than 20". It turned out to be 16" wide. No cartoon(under drawing), priority of yarns will be Handspun but other yarns are 100% okay. I can change alter at will during my weaving  session but cannot alter a previous day's work. Each day's work will be marked by a woven line of colour (as yet to be determined). My emphasis will be on learning technique all the while thinking colour and design.

And most importantly no judgement. This is a journey.

Tapestry Diary 2017

Well it has been some year. My father was ill and passed away in April. My father in law followed in August. With grieving and care of my mother, my creative life has been nonexistent.
To gain some of that back I am going to start a daily practice. But painting right now has no pull for me.
To get me through this past year, I have been knitting. Fiber calls me and I need to slow down my ping pong brain. I had been starting to think about tapestry weaving. I have done a little in the past but need to refresh my skills and gain confidence. But I was wavering. Then a dear friend challenged me if I challenged her back. So I am going to start a Tapestry Diary. I plan to blog my efforts here. I have some criteria to follow but other than that, I will weave for a minimum of 15 minutes a day.
In preparation to starting,I cleaned up my studio and warped my big pipe loom. The warp is 16" wide and nearly 4' tall. Weaving will start soon

Colour Vibe

Starting a new painting. It is in acrylic and is 36x48. My daughter ran in the colour vibe run and I took photos of the dance party. Loved the blue and yellow powder fog and all the hands. I am using glazing to push hands into the distance. As always I am painting back to front. The things in the distance  get painted first and the foreground  is last.
Happy Painting
Chris

Established 1802

I did it! I achieved my two mains goals. Finish this in time for my show and complete it in acrylics. As oil is my go to medium; which I have painted in since I was 13; when I was challenged or just feeling tired and lazy I wanted to opt out and reach for my oils. Perseverance and the deadline looming made me stick with it. By the end of the painting, I had developed a bond with this medium. I have found a system that worked for me but this does not come without guilt. Guilt you say to a medium, to a style? Or is it maybe more a bit of remorse and embarrassment for discounting acrylics for so long. And what about my affiliations? Must I now not call myself an oil painter? As artists do we really need to be defined by the medium we use or even a defined style for that matter? As artists, are we not drawn to create by an internal need, a vision, and do we not continue to create through the very act itself? The joy of colour, the texture of the medium, the complete and utter immersion of self into the act of creating? I love most mediums (I haven't tried them all). Each has it's own beauty and utility. 

i muck about in ~ oils, pastels, everything ~ no subject defined

Silver

Slow going. But making progress. Silver teapot is 50% done. Working in acrylic is getting easier. It is a hot day and my air conditioning system is not working. The paint is drying wickedly fast. Spraying it with water like crazy.
I am working one section at a time. And treating each section like an individual painting. I will make sure it reads as a whole painting near the end.
I really like big ongoing projects and things that offer me a challenge.