Good

I feel good. 

Two days back at my Big Shannock and some real progress in the New Year on my Seeing Red project for Designing Weavers.  I'm half way done with weaving another poem; this one about six feet longer than the first one I wove.   And I am on schedule to finish with time to spare. 

Life is good. 

First Tapestry of the Year

Just finished sewing the back of this small tapestry I wove as part of a group project for our tapestry group.  It's 1/12th of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.  I am actually not sure if its positioned correctly; it may need to be shifted 90 degrees in one direction or flipped over.    Whoopee!  My first tapestry of the year.

Only 18 days and it has been quite a year. Finished a tapestry.  Celebrated my birthday.  And have three pieces hanging in my second exhibit of the year!   All this with a week of nasty flu.    Looks to be a fast moving year.

More Progress

Here's my progress photo after the unabridged version of P.D. James' The Private Patient.  The reds are fairly true in the photo but the greens are a bit off.   Please don't ask me what it is; since I have no idea.  There is nothing recognizable in the black and white scan I received to weave. All I know is that it's one twelfth of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.

I must say, it was a wonderful feeling to make it to the top; at least in one spot.  I figure one or two more books on tape and I will be done weaving and onto finishing. This is the point where I need to pay attention to my edges; I have a tendency to pull in at the very end in my excitement to get done.




PS.  This is woven on a Shannock table loom which has gotten a bit skewed.  I am thinking the leg bolts on the bottom should be below the bottom beam and not above.  Once I finish this weaving I am going to swap the position and see if the piece is more stable.  I took the loom apart to fit it in my suitcase when I went to Convergence...so perhaps I put it back together wrong!

Progress Shot - 13 hours and counting

Here is what my small tapestry looks like after one book on tape...a book of 11 Cd's; with approximately 70 minutes per CD.   I've never really tracked how long any of my tapestries actually take to weave but using books on tape seems like an easy way to do it.  

So far the values are fairly close to those in my given design.  The original is a tiny photograph - perhaps 2 by 3 inches without a lot of detail.  Even though I was one of the two who saw the original Georgia O'Keeffe poster before it was cut up into 12 pieces; the design in my piece is meaningless to me.  As I weave I have been adding colors, shading, bits of interest here and there without any context as to what my image actually is. How many times have I heard 'it's all about the image'...well here I am weaving an image totally out of context.  It is somewhat of a clinical exercise; no real passion.  I feel odd weaving a tapestry without that real passion inside.  I normally can visualize what I am weaving - not this time.  So, I just seem to be plodding away...interested in how it is coming out but without great enthusiasm.   The book on tape is far more interesting that the weaving itself.

Accomplishments

I read this today...100 Accomplishments in 2009...what a wonderful idea...I think I will make a list of my top 100 things I accomplished in 2010...it should help me plan my journeys for 2011.

Hopefully one of the items on my list will be to finish an 11 CD 'book on tape' which I am listening to as I weave this small 7 by 12 inch tapestry.  This is where I am after four CDs...seven to go. It is rare I can actually listen to an audio book while working.  I have found the constant rain this weekend to be a wonderful time to weave so I suspect before long this book on tape will be done.  

Unfortunately, even though this is a small tapestry, I project it to to be a six+ audio book tapestry...so it won't be done this year.