A day in the life

It's time for a WIP (work in progress) check-in.  This time I thought it might be fun to share with you "a day in the life" of this artist.  Yesterday, Tuesday 12/6, was somewhat atypical, in that I had no appointments, meetings or exercise classes on the calendar.  A blank slate!  And it was rainy--a perfect excuse to stay inside and work in the studio.

I kissed Sam goodbye at about 7 a.m. and headed downstairs.  I spent 45 minutes working on cleaning up the back of my tapestry diary.  I have tied off the warp ends in fringe on both ends, so it's stable at least.  Because I left so many open warps, it's not as simple as just trimming the weft tails on the back to about one inch.  I have to tack down those tails so they aren't visible from the front.  T-E-D-I-O-U-S!  Note to self:  no open warps on next year's diary!

The back.  The tails at the top are tacked down and clipped, and slits are sewn.

The same area, from the front

Then I wound the last of the skeins of dyed and natural Churro that I picked up at Tierra Wools in New Mexico last month.  I'm thinking of using these for the Mater Dolorosa tapestry that I have in the design stage.  Till now, I've chosen the yarn to fit the tapestry design.  This time. with this thick hairy singles, I'm going to have to adapt the design to the yarn.  That will be interesting.

possible palette for Mater Dolorosa

detail shot of collage in progress for Mater Dolorosa design.  Much work remains.

I fetched the PVC loom with the sample for my current, M3, tapestry in progress and decided there was enough warp on it to do some more sampling.  So I added a hem and wound butterflies from the yarns I want to try.

At 9:30 a.m. I headed to the office to work at the computer, fleshing out the classes I'm offering at SEFAA in the new year.  I'm really excited to share what I've learned about the value of a daily practice in  Discover Your Daily Practice, on January 15.  The following week, in response to requests from my design students last summer, we'll experience a non-threatening method of discussing and evaluating artwork, both others' and our own, in  Art Critique 101.  Three design workshops in Color, Contrast, and Collage will happen in February and March.  Click HERE for more information.  Registration will open in the next couple weeks--I'll let you know!

After lunch I wove for awhile on this piece, whose working title is M3 (for Mary/Mother/Me).  I like how it's going, but it is slow.

I wound the warp up to show the entire piece.  Soon it will begin to wind around the cloth beam! 

After the rain let up I walked Harry and then headed to the Y to swim laps.  For me nothing works so well to get out the kinks in my muscles . . . and my mind!

For me yesterday was pretty much a perfect day.  I am grateful.