Wednesday, June 29, 2016

2 + 3 = 3 too many

Many artists like to work on more than one piece at once, and I do too.  If you get stuck, or tired of puzzling out one piece, you can shift gears to another.

Right now I have about five projects going, though, and that's too many.  It's just making me nuts. This is not the first time this has happened; I seem to be a slow learner regarding where exactly the sweet spot is for me.  Sigh.  But we all know the siren call of the new idea, the seductive thrill of beginning something new that will be the most exciting thing ever, right?

Here's what's in progress at the moment:

1.  On the floor loom, two Tencel twill scarves, in belated fulfillment of an order from my very patient sister-in-law last Thanksgiving   months ago.  The first scarf is a sort of buffalo check, taken straight from the color gamp I did a few years back.  You can see it to the left of the orange line that divides the two scarves, winding around the cloth beam.   The second scarf features a straight diagonal twill with occasional veers into the other diagonal direction, at roughly Fibonacci intervals.



2A.  On the PVC tapestry loom, I'm sampling colors and weave patterns for my next big Mary tapestry.



2B. As I sample I am going back to the full-size draft of the cartoon that's in progress on my design wall and making adjustments.  It's really cool the way sampling colors has allowed me to approach the design with fresh eyes and sharper focus on what I actually need to know in order to begin weaving.  Thank you, Joan Baxter!  Here's a detail of the design.

(c) Molly Elkind 2016

3. On the Mirrix tapestry loom, I'm making a 4" x 6" tapestry in the series I'm thinking of as modern, miniature illuminated manuscripts, a piece entitled WTF, my response to the horror in Orlando.  I'm thinking I need to un-weave and re-do the W and the section around it.  Sigh.




4. And then there's the bed quilt I started a year ago, inspired by Turkish tiles and meant to coordinate with the Turkish rug on the floor in our bedroom.  I thought I couldn't tolerate the way the current quilt clashed with the rug, but apparently I can.  Admittedly, this is a project I work on very intermittently.  I'm still appliqueing the right side panel.  Next steps will be to do the applique border along the top and to seam all the panels together.



5.  And you already know about the tapestry diary from last week's post.  This is a no-stress project, only requiring 15-30 minutes per day.  So it hardly counts in terms of adding to my self-imposed project stress.

My son would say at this juncture, "First world problem, Mom."  And he's right.  I am a very lucky woman to have the time and resources to do this work.




2 comments: