Halfway there

Well, thanks to Trend Micro Internet Security Pro, this page is not considered safe enough to upload any more pictures. I am going to have to reconsider this blog now. I was about to announce that I am halfway there, having completed my eighth tapestry in this series of sixteen.
I will continue weaving, but I will not be able to show anyone the results of my work unless I can somehow persuade TMISP to accept my pictures.
Maybe when I press Save Now, all this will disappear too.

On-going

This is really weird. I wrote this post two days ago, but when I added the pictures they were far too big and there seemed to be no way to replace them with the same pics but smaller, so eventually I am re-doing the whole entry. The post immediately before, 'And another one', should be read AFTER this, but that's computers.

I seem to be charging ahead. From my last effort (way back in 2009), I have woven three more tapestries (though none of them are finished-off or mounted yet) and I'm nearly finished my fourth (NB this is 'And another one'). Maybe it's the weather . . .

I am really enjoying mixing strips of material with thread in these tapestries. The texture is amazing and it always surprises me what the material looks like when it's scrunched up through being woven and beaten down. I weave the thread across it every few passes, which helps secure the material - and keeps the colours on track. I am weaving the same materials here as I did in my second tapestry, but the accompanying colours give it a slightly different hue.

In my 'den' tapestry (No 2 in the sequence) I didn't have the colour material I wanted, so, impatient to start, I decided to mix threads all the way through - the only contrasting texture is the moth's mohair 'feeler'.

I have been remiss and not spent much time searching out these little moths in the patch of grassland at the Dunkeld Arboretum, as I'd planned, so I still haven't seen one of these tiny creatures, even though December-January is their flying-mating time.

A noteworthy happening: I have just been shortlisted for the inaugural Kate Derum Award by the Victorian Tapestry Workshop. Wow! I am so excited. The award is for tapestry weavers who graduated in the three years 2006-2009. I go down for the formal opening - and announcement of the winner - on February 10.

Three of my works from the Lifeblood Series - Grampians, Nigretta and Sandford - will be exhibited, together with work from the other finalists at the VTW through February.

No exhibition at Off the Rails Gallery this month (it was closed for New Year) or February, when a Draw Club takes over the station.

And another one

This one - tapestry No 15 was on the loom yesterday and I have managed to finish it in time to add yet another completed work. I'm nearly at the halfway mark now and that's a relief. One of the problems with a long-term tapestry is that you get other ideas and enthusiasms that you want to follow, but can't until you've finished the one you're working on.

Actually I have finished another unrelated tapestry - and a piece for a tapestry competition while I've been working on these, but it's not easy. I want to keep focused on this one.

Mosaic of Arts

This weekend festival was October 31-November 1 and Off the Rails Gallery featured works on the Golden Sun Moth and the environment. I showed the two completed tapestries togather with the finished designs.

The work was not hung in the 'moth' template but in a sequence across one wall of the gallery. This was to give viewers an idea of each tapestry and potential tapestry as an individual work. I plan eventually to sell the tapestry as 16 separate works (unless I can find a patron who will buy the whole).

It went well, lots of visitors and lots of comments, so I was pleased. It was written up with a preview in the local paper, which I hope encouraged visitors to the town and the gallery.

I have now started my third tapestry and am about a third of the way through it. This one has more single weft wool weaving than the other two. It is number seven.

What I enjoy about weaving is creating the colour effects as I go. I use my paintings as a guide only, and select the thread and techniques as I go.

I never seem to be able to work two pictures at once. The top one was supposed to be larger and centres and the bottom one was supposed to be smaller and to the left. Oh well, at least you can see how the tapestry was hung and the other is me with the regular tapestry display outside Off the Rails gallery as it appeared in the paper.

Design

I have almost finalised the design, in that I have a complete design, but will adjust the colours - mainly background ones - as I weave. The tapestry was not exhibited at the October exhibition unfortunately, but look out for it at the Dunkeld Mosaic of Arts exhibition on October 31 and November 1. I will not be exhibiting it as it is seen here, but will separate out all the individual designs and tapestries to display in a single line. This will give me an idea of the continuity of the piece and how the abstraction hangs together. If you can get to Dunkeld on that weekend, please call into the Off the Rails Gallery. I have been concentrating on other weaving projects in the past few weeks so still have only two completed tapestries, but the rest will be unveiled as they and the new year progress.

(Non) Exhibition 3

Third time I try to edit this blog as the pics won't go where I want them.

No exhibition this month because the Off the Rails Gallery was showing railway memorabilia for the Discover Dunkeld weekend.

I will post a longer blog to describe my weaving techniques another time (when I have the strength to deal with stubborn blog posting formats that cannot be changed without re-doing the complete blog.

For now, here are my two finished tapestries - one of the pupa and the other of a portion of the Golden Sun Moth's wing. I use bias-cut material strips for texture and interest over double warps with woollen thread over single warps for the moth itself.

Next exhibition - and hopefully an actual rather than virtual outing - on October 3 & 4 at the Off the rails Gallery at the former Dunkeld Railway Station.

(Non) Exhibition 2

This is only a non-exhibition because I didn't show my work at Off the Rails Gallery this month. We had a tree drawing competition instead. However, I have painted some of my canvases, and couldn't resist starting a tapestry. More has been done since this photo was taken. I love working with fabric strips which I am using across double warps. The moth will be woven in yarn across single warps, which I hope will give the completed work a nice textural feel. The two pics here are of my design (left) and its progress as a tapestry. I have pictured them both side-on (as I am weaving the tapestry on its side). Final hanging will see it (them) rotated to the right, so the pupa is upright in its silken tunnel.