Discovery Continues

I tell you now one of the main motivation I had in organizing Pics to Picks was the almost perverse pleasure I receive from being allowed to look into artists' notebooks and sketchbooks; it's tingly and giddy and most certainly physical for me. But as I gone through the final posts, this time reading carefully, referring to previous posts if applicable, and soaking in what everybody wrote, these are the gems I'm picking up from their experiences.

Lynn looked what what she did accomplish, not what she didn't manage, which was the point of the challenge.

"In the midst of infected mindlessness, all I could do was wind a warp of good ordinary blue, with accent dimity stripes of pale, silvery green. That was it. No complex, shifting, evocative combinations of blues/greens with a smudge of violet, sparked by raised dimity stripes in color counterpoint, all suggesting a sun-drenched, humid Florida summer day about to be cooled off by a rocking thunderstorm. Um, no. Not with a brain sat upon by an overweening sinus or twelve."

Sure, I would have loved to have seen this, woven or sketched, but the thought, the vision was put into it, and that was what we promised to do. Fortunately she kept getting bored and tried different wefts. She played around, (which I am told over and over is so important but tend to resist or limit my scope,) and instead of getting one lovely scarf, she got fabric for several lunch bags and at least one idea (but I suspect more?) for a scarf/shawl. I'm glad you got bored, Lynn.

Goodness me, Bety/Deep End of the Loom got inspired to spin, and a Etsy shop with her Baja bags is forthcoming! Far, far beyond what I thought we might get out of this challenge, and good for you, Bety, congratulations!

The first time I saw Linda's post, I was so awed by the pictures, as you can imagine, I couldn't read her text. When I went back, I discovered a similar frustration over which I hissed about just yesterday. Though I think as weavers we work on a continuum, (of "art/craft" for want of a better description), not in distinct boxes, and from time to time we move around on that continuum. As I wrote in my second comment, with my dogged insistence that I make my "art" on the loom and within the restrictions of the interlacing warp and the weft, I'm in the "craft" end of this continuum in the eyes of many "textile/fiber artists", and I'm OK with that. But, I need to find out for myself where, when and how much doggedness I need/allow myself, (it ties in so much with integrity in my mind,) and when to play. That's a long road ahead of me; maybe even that balance will always shift and I won't/shouldn't settle in one place. All I know is, I'll only find out heuristically.

By the way, some fun links from Linda's post about bar codes, and note Trapunto's comment.

Which brings us to Trapunto, who reflected, "I discovered that when I designed from a starting place someone else chose, it made everything less serious."

That's what I experienced as well. I wasn't responsible, (in fact, neither was Lynne) and I could change/adopt as I pleased, and in my case, my final product is quite different from what I had planned, but I don't feel guilty, because I was just playing.

Rose, who is, among others, a walking encyclopedia of weaving structures in our Marlborough group, seems to have gotten so many ideas from her clues. I look forward to seeing them in the future, but really, winter came rather quickly this year and I can well sympathize her wanting a new rug in front of her hearth suddenly.

I like Amanda's multi-layered approach, (pun intended), particularly as we had some off-line communication earlier on and I got to know her a little better, and, oh yeah, I so envy her youth and energy. Dyeing and then weaving would make the completed piece personal and intimate; I can't wait to see where she goes with this. Amanda, you must, you know. For me?

Again, I just gazed at Julia's piece the last time. Today I found she wrote about procrastination, on which subject I am the expert practitioner. Strangely, in my case, I confirmed that I work better nearer the deadline - something I have been trying to remedy ("near the deadline" part, not the "working better" part,) but it hasn't worked so far.

Before she settled on needle weaving, she examined, "I thought of tapestry, huge chunky twills, then of kente cloth. If I wove strips of cloth, only to sew it into a sort of twill? Then I dreamed of ikat details, to mimic the light in this photo. An ikat kente cloth of greys. As I worked to get my tea towels off my loom, I realized I would not have enough time to get another warp on the loom." I know all of these techniques, but for me, weaving structure is something that is decided early on in the design process, and though I know I therefore limit the possibilities of the outcome, I haven't learned to work the other way around yet. It took Julia writing them down for me to learn that this is something I can change.

The first thing about Esmae is, she sent me one big PowerPoint presentation with everything in it. Very self-contained, and so easy for me to manage. I've used PP before, but I never thought to use it in sending multiple images in one go using PP, and when you think about it, it's just a "Duh!" moment.

Esmae went form thinking about the images, weave-sampling one, then dyeing and weave-sampling another. I was impressed with what she did, but more to the point I liked the short, sharp presentation of her process. Beautifully done, Esmae; brava!

Desirée, oh, Desirée! Did you know she moved house while working on P2P? Hats off to you, my friend. And she finds it easier to weave in blocks, which, at this point, still baffles me. Lovely Swedish-looking results.

Holly introduced a totally unexpected (to me) aspect - collaboration; her cloth didn't hold very well, so she had a friend machine-quilt it, and what a lovely friendship; click on the fourth photo from the top. The extent to which I think of collaboration with other textile artists is to hold a joint exhibition; that's how far inside my head is when I think of my weaving, and honestly getting inspiration from another person was quite a stretch for me, at least at the inception of the Challenge. I thought Holly's solution was not only practical, but a good reminder. And would you take a look at the end product? Holly, do you think you'll open a Etsy bag shop?

Now, Shirley's experimentation was the kind I do a lot of, and what Dr Phil might call a "soft place to land" for me. I understand this. And it's rather easy to do, compared to, say, sketching or collages. Or sample weaving. Thanks, Shirley.

And then Kaz, who received my photos. Can I say I had about 20 I wanted to send, but trimmed the selection to, I think, six? No, five. I just wanted to see her draw in her sketchbook, and she certainly satisfied my sketchbook page lust.

"... how do you design from an image when loom weaving has so many restraints and restrictions to imagery and placement." That's what I've been asking every since I signed up for a design course in 2002. Kaz continues: "It’s these limitations that are part the creative aspect in this challenge. The designs going on in our heads are mixed with our technical knowledge of what is possible on our looms without setting out to create a full imagery in tapestry weave."

Kaz concludes, I think, that art takes time. I can live with that. In fact, if weaving something spectacular was easy, I might have gotten bored after a couple of years. I'd like to look forward to weaving something spectacular, finally, when I'm 73 and 82 and 95.

And me? Besides discovering I can live in amazing peace, harmony, almost, with my Right Brain, without the Left doing it serious damage?

After reading everybody's post, I learned that compared to my own previous ways, I did built the project from the ground up; I did work with the image, rather than deciding the many, usual parameters first and working within the constraints. In particular, to go with Summer & Winter came late in the game, after I decided I wasn't going to just weave the colors of the selected photo. So that's progress.

After reading one of Kaz's posts, and inspired by examinations she did on my bamboo photo, I thought of weaving a scarf that somehow represented the hollow, comfortable, unpretentious sound mature bamboo makes when they hit each other in the wind. And I'll most probably keep it; a rare thing for me.

So, this is like my book report. Thank you, again, participants for your work, insights and images. And visitors, especially for your comments on our posts. Finally, please excuse me for gloating, but,

Man, this was so bl**dy worth it!

Pics to Picks: Debriefing

About my project:

There is no doubt the big surprise during this design challenge process has been that I was able to follow the lead of my right brain. I feel like a new person; well, more like two persons.

The project was deliberate and slow and spontaneous, all of which I value in others' work, and in theory in my work , but not exactly a big part of my practice. The process felt intimate and personal, and it made up for my feeling my pieces were becoming "thin" in early 2008, after the mad dash being involved in however many exhibitions I was involved in in the previous 14 or so months.

I liked being so involved with the making of one tiny almost-scarf; I missed that. I liked feeling as if perhaps I was weaving something extraordinary. And I enjoyed remembering Randy Darwall's workshop; swapping colors and thinking of the kind of transition I want to introduce put me back in that classroom in Paraparaumu.

I didn't do as many supplementary warps as I had planned because I had a tension trouble on the borrowed table loom; nothing to do with the loom, but my fault in putting on a warp hastily. In the end it turned out to be a good thing because securing loose warp ends in this uncharted (remember I made up the threading and treadling as I went?) fine cloth was tedious. I did not change the threading of supplementary warps, either; regarding this, the term "diminishing return" kept popping into my head while I wove.

I would like to keep doing this slow weaving on the table loom; for one thing this was a more therapeutic experience than weaving on the larger looms. I am redefining for myself how I should consider/differentiate unique/exhibition/production pieces/processes.

After the washing and the photographing was done, however, the scarf looked as though I had seen something similar before. Maybe it was one of Randy's work; maybe something else. I still like this piece; it's rare for me to weave a scintillating piece, but I think this is one such. I have tons of future ideas, but I'm not sure what I'll work on next.


About the Challenge:

With all of us living in different parts of the world and living different lives, I never know when is a good time to hold such challenges. If you recall, I started thinking this out loud last December, and we had two months to work; I had imagined that would give us ample time. But as usual, real life gets in the way, particularly if you have children, or if you move house, (well done, Desirée!), and even if you are not a seasoned procrastinator like myself, we run out of time. I'm not sure how to improve that; we could easily have three months after we exchange photos, but would that improve the challenge?

I must apologize to some of the participants. The deadline was the end of Saturday, June 5, wherever we lived. Which would have been later on Sunday for me. I was away all day Saturday and when I came home I had few emails from participants telling me they had posted their final posts, and Ben was shouting (in excitement) how hits on this blog was "getting up there". Which in my typical guilt/paranoid way I interpreted to be in anticipation for me to hurry up. So after I got the 8th notification (i.e. more than half), I went ahead and posted the Big Reveal post. Which was not what we had agreed on beforehand.

I'm sorry if you felt you were behind; that was so not the intention, but I thought folk could start looking at the ones which were finished, and come around to ours later. It won't happen again.

I would like to thank all 14 weavers for taking up this challenge. And if you had a fraction of the fun I had, it will have been worthwhile.

And thank you to all our visitors. Do please leave comments as you tour around the world and look at the results.

PS: Participants, if you do something beyond the last post, please keep tagging/categorizing the posts, and let me know if you'd like links changed/updated.

PPS. If we do this again. any words/phrases of apologies for not weaving the end product, or not going as far as had been intended, will be banned. Of course while it's lovely to see a finished piece, (particularly for someone who is visual and has a hard time being described artwork with words,) we didn't commit ourselves to that. We promised to think of something to make, and show how we thought, and what we thought of. Not too late to go and delete those words of apologies from your posts, but of course you don't have to. But I'll whip you thrice for every word of apology with a skein of Japanese sewing silk if you do it next time.

Pics to Picks: Mine

The original image, from Lynne



The journey
(Flick through the posts to follow the pictures)


The piece




Warp: 2/20 cotton
Weft: 2/20 cotton in pattern
2/60 cotton in tabby
36 EPI; 8 inches wide on the loom
Structure: Summer & Winter, alternating

3PM Saturday in Honolulu

And it's after midday Sunday here. It's a gray, unattractive day in Sunny Nelson and I'm struggling photographing my piece. Either that, or it's a surprisingly unphotogenic piece! But I promise I'll post soon.

Pics to Picks 2010: The Big Reveal

Back in March, 15 weavers exchanged visual clues to inspire and entice each other to design, and possibly weave, based on these clues. Ben picked names out of his baseball cap and matched exchange partners.

Here are the final results:

Lynn - Bety

Linda - Trapunto - Rose

Sampling - Sampling in Dec 2010 - Julia - Esmae

Desirée - Holly -

Shirley (Design and Color, P2P, Good Old "Birdseye")

Kaz (Print to Loom, Patterns for Print, Enjoying Images, her thoughts, and the scarves)

- Dana - Lynne - Meg


If you'd like to follow the progress of individual weavers, here they are:
(Blogs prefaced with * have had posts relating to this challenge since the Big Reveal)


Kaz's "curious weaver" posts tagged "Pics to Picks"

Julia's "Space and Structure" posts labeled "Pics to Picks"

Rose

Holly's "Honeysuckle Loom" posts labeled "Pics to Picks"

Lynn's "Linnet Knits" posts labeled "P2P"

Trapunto's "The Straight of the Goods" posts categorized
"Pics to Picks Challenge 2010"

Desirée's "hemvävt.net" posts tagged "Pics2Pics"

Bety's "deep end of the loom" posts tagged "Pics to Picks"

* Amanda's "Sampling" posts labeled "P2P"

Shirley Treasure at "Shirley Treasure"

Esmae

Dana's "A Cat in My Lap" Posts labeld "Pics to Picks"

* Meg's "Unravelling" posts tagged "Pics to Picks"


The Challenge Brief

The previous Links page


The Big Gallery Flickr sets for this challenge has been deleted; some of the links were modified. 

Grrrrrrrrrr

No picture today. I'm too embarrassed. I'm having an old problem I thought I overcame in 2000 - somehow I measure the warp incorrectly. I wanted a 150cm piece, so with loom waste and sampling, I made a 220cm warp. The sample was approximately 25cm; the loom waste on this loom is minimal, but I suspect I'm going to be able to weave up to about... 120cm only - maybe less.

I had something like five consecutive warps in 2000 where I got pieces drastically shorter than I had planned, and I can't remember how or when but I thought I had overcome that problem. Come to think of it, I rarely make a warp for one piece only, rarely shorter than 8m, so I might have been getting around the problem, not overcoming it.

OH, BOY, AM I FRUSTRATED AND MAD AT MYSELF!! This was not a project I needed to make such an elementary boo boo, but what can I do? I'll finish it anyway, (OK, shorter weaving time, ha ha..) wet finish, photograph, etc. But I don't know if I can wear it. I looks like a Lilliputian table center, folks!

Today, I Have No Time to Work on This

Weaving Against the Clock

But resigned to the probability that I won't finish this in time.

Oh, Heck...

I've been weaving a little on the widened warp, and I'm just weaving, because I have a hard time remembering what I wanted to do.

Analogous colors are easy. The minute I saw the picture, I wanted to weave in mostly oranges, plenty of yellows, murky dirty greens, perhaps a hint of brown or black, with a little bit of teals as highlights. I wasn't sure how else I was going to make it interesting.

While making the warp, I wanted to mix purples because I had only one brash orange and wanted to tone it down, make the warp more interesting, and make the overall value darker.

I like the warp well enough, but I wanted to tone down the orange.

Had I a couple of browns, things might have gone smoothly. But I didn't. So, without thinking, my body automatically added some darker analogous stuff, and dilute the orange. It's not ugly, but it looks like two bits of analogous gradation with a smidgen of contrast squeezed in, and visually so not what I had wanted to do for this project.

I know these things are natural progression of projects/processes, and as long as I'm playing everything by ear, it was bound to happen.

At one point in the afternoon my weaving became "automatic", selecting analogous wefts and creating a weft-wise gradation as well. My body was home, but my psyche was back in Paraparaumu, October 2006, in Randy Darwall's workshop, desperately trying to make "painterly" color transitions. Randy doesn't advocate just analogous, but that was the easiest painterly/watercolor/wash transition I could think of. And it's so not what I had in mind for this project. I took out some picks. Not a lot, but a few.

What I want for this project, at this point, are blotches of squares/pixels, in different sizes, in relative but not complete harmony. A tiny version of a vibrant, tantalizing modern geometric painting. Something like that...

PS: I've about 10cm woven - 140cm to go.

It's a Little Like 3D Chess

I threaded and sampled last night. Under artificial light, the sample was too, too cheerful, like a summer table cloth. I will use proportionately more of dark wefts in the pattern and especially in the tabby, if I have any, and I will widen the warp by two inches - a bit of toned-down reds on the orange side, and either more light blues and greens, or purples, on the other side, while trying not to make the bright yellow portion the dead center of the warp. I think I'll get more desirable results because a) whilst the colors are nice as they are, I had intended to create a much more subtle cloth, and b) for the complexity, for want of a better word, of the interaction of the blocks, I wanted a slightly bigger field to play with/in.

Today, we have sun and clear air, and I can see the interaction of the tabby colors, and I like the sample better than last night, and the late night decisions proved very valid.

The random threading, I like, but when I widen the warp, I would like some more in the block on Shaft 3 on the blue/green side; I hope you will be able to see what I mean when I'm finished with the piece.

I don't know which face is called summer and which is winter on this piece; it look more like Spring & Autumn, but I like better the side I don't see while I weave. The warps are more dominant, meaning not many shafts are lifted at any time, and I like the tiny squares making sparkle-like pixels. But I'll keep weaving the way I sampled, because as Uber Teacher Bonnie Inouye said, "Lift fewer shafts where you have the option."

Usually in Summer & Winter, one unit, or a pixel if you will, consists of four warps and four wefts, so initially I had planned to make a warp where colors changed every four ends. The narrowest bits in the above sample is one pixel wide. At 36EPI, a pixel would be 1/9 inch or 3mm wide, and I wanted smaller, so I disregarded the weave structure in this respect and mixed as I pleased. I started making the warp from the orange end, so you can see by the time I reached the purple part, I was all Right Brain.

The side I see as I weave. In real life, the colors are more vibrant and intricate,
particularly in the left half.

The side I don't see as I weave. I like the blocks of weft colors creating the sparkles;
these are one pixel wide by four tall, so I can make smaller bits of sparkle.
Again, the colors are more vibrant, but this is the best I could do.

A previous sample, in same size yarn combination and same EPI but
8-inches wide on the loom, showing different pixel widths.

And because of the randomness in warp colors, I wondered if Birdseye is the right treadling, and wove the sample in Alternating treadling; Alternating is also easier to remember.

Warp colors, weft colors, threading, and treadling - it's as mind-boggling as the concept of 3D chess. This is turning even more fun that I had anticipated, if that was ever possible.

The Warp is Wound

Nelson and most of New Zealand continues to have pretty dreary weather; our house has been dark most of the day but I had to get started, so I switched on all lights on around the hallway and stairs, and made a warp under six halogen bulbs.

The problem I have with selecting colors under artificial lights is the colors appear less saturated than they actually are, so I end up making noisy garish warps. In addition, the main orange I have is screamingly loud, not the soft, elegant orange found in the photo. I reduced the proportion of the orange, and increased the yellows and purples. I also decided not to include white nor black in the warp, as the sharp contrast added to the already saturated warp colors would render it ... unbearable. Still, I didn't want the pale blues and greens to predominate because I didn't want a cool, sad warp.

One of the very pale violets appear so susceptible to theory of simultaneous contrast: it appears almost brown at the right end of the warp, but quite purple at the left. If I believe the weather forecast, it's going to be a few more days before I can see the warp under natural light, and by then, I'll probably well on my way in weaving the piece.

My right brain continues to predominate the process. I looked for better light and height around the house, and the loom was precariously perched on a soft cloth couch as I wound the warp. Then, without thinking, I took out the cross sticks and tied one to the front of the loom! I don't have a threading plan, but I know the rules of Summer & Winter so I'm threading by ear.

Warp Candidates

I don't have lovely soft oranges in this size, so I'll have to dilute it. It's been dark and rainy all day, not a good day to pick colors, but I've got to start some time!

15 candidates, but I think three or four will come out, perhaps more. Quite a difference from when I had to have a lie down after adding just a few colors in supplementary warp only 18 months ago. I think I can say I am making progress.

Luckily, I have far more choices of oranges in my 2/60, so planning the tabby colors has been the best part of this project so far.

Rightie Replies... Which is More Musing Out Loud...

Gray, wet, cold afternoon. The fire has been on for three hours, but I can hardly feel it. It's only when I move around that I know where my pants end and socks start; there is definitely the comfort-free zone below the knee. I was to make my warp this afternoon, but didn't feel like it in this dark, or under artificial light. Besides, it's a design challenge; what's the use of rushing to get things done. Heaven forbid if I make something ugly!

It's a design challenge. I can do things I've never tried, I've never thought of trying, things that may or may not work. The big 16-shafter is a nice loom, but I don't want to weave a fine-tuned contrived design. So, Lefty, thanks for the table loom. I'm thinking of doing that thing some people do: design on the loom! Keep the sample warp on Klik in case I want to test out something. Use the last remaining loom: the 8-shaft table loom.

Let's go "unplanned", swapping warps, not just colors but shafts. Swap weft colors, both the pattern and the tabby. But I still want to have fun, so let's eliminate potential grief; What can I get rid of? Oh, I know, I will stick with either the alternating or Bird's Eye form of Summer & Winter from start to finish. The latter would probably suit better, whereas the former is easier to memorize on a table loom.

It's a design challenge. I don't want to just recreate the colors of my favorite photo on cloth; that's not a challenge. Let's bring in, let me see... Some bubbles or lights into the mix.

The loom has eight shafts; I'm weaving Summer & Winter; that leaves six blocks. How about using three or four shafts for the main colors, and two or three shafts for the bubbles. That's like... two levels of pattern and background.

Something like this...

This is so much fun, now I really want to choose the colors!

The Battle of the Brain Halves

Or Half-Brains? Here are the things Left Brain is now insisting, and rightly so:

• I've seven more days to work on it; that is, ideally, to fringing, washing, pressing and photographing. Of the seven days, I have commitments for three full days!


• With the time constraints, use some knowledge/material I "know":

1. 2/20 cotton, between 30-36EPI,
2. 6 inches on the loom, it's quick to make a warp and I "know" this size.
3. Make a short warp, not the 8 meter default,
4. Weave a short scarf - from my waist, around my neck, back to my waist; for once it's good to be the shortest grownup around me!
5. OK, OK, use the 8-shaft table loom; I'll give this to you, Rightie.

• Issues to be solved by Right Brain:

1. I don't have the soft oranges I wanted to use to fill the majority of the cloth, but I do 2/60.
2. I have more soft blue-greens in 2/20. We I flip the proportion?
3. This is a design challenge. Just using a color scheme in a photo and reproducing it on the loom is not challenge enough. What's the "pushing myself a little bit further" bit?
4. If you must include designing on the loom, go ahead, but would you please get off your achy bottom, now?
   

To which, Rightie is giving the slow, contemplative, full-of-meaning, and slightly puzzling, slightly secretive smile.

Play nice. Both of you.

I Think It's a Go

I have been thinking about my Pics to Picks project in an abstract way for a while; the development of this idea was unfamiliar and I felt rather lazy about not tackling it proactively, but nevertheless I let it progress at its own speed. This week I decided on a technique I will execute the said vague idea, and felt the left- and right-hemispheres ready to cooperate but emotionally remaining aloof from each other. I'll let you know as the steps reveal themselves to me, but looking at the calendar, Lefty is going to coax Rightie a little today.

These are some of the color combinations and placements I liked from ooodles I cut out from one of the photos I received from Lynne; the selection was not purely an artistic one in that I concentrated on combinations I can do with the cones I already have.

Sometimes When I don't Know Where I'm Going...

I stay on the bus to see where I end up. Usually I manage to get back to where I started, or thereabouts.

I See Dye Patterns

It's not as if I've been thinking about dye/shibori patterns obsessively, but when I look at Lynne's photos, all I see are dye patterns! Stitched, bled, discharged, and all the fancy things some of you do. Or painted textiles, beading ideas, patchwork, or ceramics. Even Modernist paintings. But where's my cloth??

In Tune with "My" Colors

Remember the machine embroidery threads I bought? Stuff I collected in Japan, (mostly yarns from Mom's stash,) are slowly arriving, and among them were the silk thread I bought in January.

I'm glad to report I know what color schemes I want to work with in the near future. These silk sewing threads came in about 30 silvers and grays, too, but I managed to refrain from further extending my range. Maybe next trip.

Meanwhile, don't do things if you are under the weather. Mom sent me several machine washable silk T-shirts. I put them in net bags, then into the washing machine, then proceeded to put them through a regular cycle with regular detergent. The pale pink-purple one looks already worn, a bit... Darn...

Meanwhile, I've been pondering about my P2P choices and wanting to concentrate on one and move to the next phase. I can't help but be attracted to the fourth photo because of its colors, but feel it's the easy way out, just weaving in those, (plus or minus a few more,) colors, and have been wondering what else I can do. I love the shapes and the contrast in the first, and stories I can concoct with the plane stories, a favorite starting point for cloth design for me. I'll decide by the end of this week.

Today, I'm sampling Summer & Winter some more.

Thinking, Thinking...

Last night a thought popped up in my mind regarding my Pics to Picks project. It's a project Lynne, who sent me the images, worked on a while ago, called "Mrss Mary Atkins-Holl". I'm not sure why this piece or where this story came from, because it's not my favorite; my favorite has always been "Candy. C" because it looks so different in light and dark. I do remember reading a story about Mary Atkins somewhere, (could be this post, but I can't remember,) and I connected that, for some reason, with this photo.

I'm unsure how much I want to connect my project with Lynne's work; granted it won't get too near because her thing is so different from mine, but part of me wants to keep my project, at least in the early stages, very much influenced by my interpretation of Lynne's aesthetics.

Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying following Kaz's thinking. What I find most interesting today is her interpretation of the bamboo slats. In Japan, and I understand in cultures where Chinese have migrated, bamboo are/were used in environments surrounding foods, because of their antiseptic characteristics. And because bamboo was so readily available, we used to make lots of cooking utinsils and containers. Our first drink bottles and lunch boxes were sections of bamboo, and our first plastic wrap, bamboo leaves. And so it would have been an easy choice use it to separate the kitchen section of a restaurant with bamboo slats. Not to mention the straight, geometric appearance of bamboo appeals to the Japanese aesthetics.

And have you had a good look at her mind map? I'm downloading the software as we speak.

I have to unpack and do laundry now but I'd like to keep thinking about these things.

Another Day of Collage

Today didn't proceed as swimmingly as yesterday, (possibly because I used fewer food photos?), but I completed all 16 basic exercises in Clare's instructions. There are hints on how to do more, different things, but I think I'll take a break, and observe the 46 collages I did in the last four days. In class, some students were coloring in, adding, subtracting to the collages they've completed, and I might want to try these, or, observe and find out more about what I've already done. And weave.

I found the first two terribly difficult. The idea is to cut up a photo into small squares and remove some but maintain the original "picture". First, removing any piece appeared as if I took away an important piece; then once I got started I wanted to remove almost all of them. When I paid attention to the shape of the negative space, some pieces needed to come back in to make the overall picture attractive.

With this one, I wanted to leave in many of the dark piece in the lower right corner.


I also worked on some of Lynne's photograph.

Is this my favorite of the four because of the colors?

Alas, no, I love the B/W and the "scene" I see here. As well, I like the band of bright lights one third of the way from the top; it gives a great focal point, secondary only to the person.

Negative of B/W, and you can see the shape of the band of light looks like land, and below, water. Almost Monet-esque. But even though I changed the blade tip, this picture didn't cut cleanly, and I was so unhappy, I decided not to do any more collages. But I did some photoshopping.

I'm learning that, like anything else, (drawing!) it pays to stick with collage so that I can improve on the technique and be able to put in a little bit of me into what I do, to really enjoy what I'm doing. When I'm there, I can get into the moment and not worry about how this is going to help my weaving, or weighting out if I should be making collages or weaving.

I think, I hope, my mind is ticking even after I finish the work for the day. I keep looking at them and going back to them, and not exactly thinking about them specifically, but they don't leave me for a while. The last three nights I've preferred to watch mindless television for a couple of hours in preference to good shows, or reading, and though I'm not aware of it, my mind seems to be thinking about the collages. Only after a couple of hours of watching, or having the TV on but not exactly watching, can I read.

Strange but wonderful. But then it's autumn here, and nothing can possibly go wrong!