Thursday, July 24, 2008

Time to Go Home

It's the end of my vacation and the 16 days of hot sunny weather. So far today it's been sunny, windy, thunder in the distance, then a little rain. I don't know if I'll be able to get in one last swim at high tide (about 5.30), but I'll certainly try.

I've been playing with some watercolors and having a very good time with them; I discovered a new kind of mark I can make with the sharp edge of my square brush, after the paint has dried.

I've also been weaving my latest grid tapestry. Here's a photo from a few days ago. I'm now halfway through the 6th row, so I only have two more to go. I had hoped to finish this piece and start another, looser, wilder one before I go home.



I always come home from vacation with lots of new ideas, and new projects, and I always believe that somehow I will find time for all of them. In the back of my head, I know that as soon as I get home, LIFE will grab me, and I will be spending way too much time doing things I don't enjoy, and that some of my new projects will fall by the wayside.

The challenge is to arrange my everyday life to make room for the things I really care about.

4 comments:

Tommye McClure Scanlin said...

Hi Jan,
The grid works look just great! I enjoyed seeing your doodle from which this one came. I'd love to see an exhibit of your pieces like these together...the delicate, spidery lines of the "doodle" and then the tapestry rendering based upon it.

Wouldn't a challenge to other tapestry weavers about "grid works" be interesting!

You're leaving your vacation--and we're just starting ours! We're off to the mts. of Western NC while folks house/animal sit for us. Of course I'll have a small loom along...the one I sampled with at the ATA retreat with Joan Baxter...will finish off that small study while gone, I think.

Tommye

Jan said...

Thanks, Tommye.

I like your challenge idea. There are so many ways people could interpret the grid. It forces me to deal with vertical lines, something I usually try to avoid. This latest one is easier, because where white is next to black and white stripes, for example, no slit appears.

I hope your vacation is as re-energizing as mine was. Jan

Anonymous said...

Hi, Having just struggled to remove the pegs from my Schacht tabletop tapestry loom, I was wondering how you warped your Friendly loom to the sett you wanted without using the pegs. Thanks!

Jan said...

There are not that many pegs on the Friendly loom, in fact they are a half inch apart. I just wind the warp between the pegs, 4 warps between each, which comes out to 8 epi. My warp is just wound around the beams, so I can weave one tapestry (or two) on the front, and another on the back. Hope this helps.