Friday, April 8, 2016

Spring Has Arrived at the Fiber Studio



Happy Spring from my neighborhood to yours. Here is a little watercolor view from a recent dog walk. In just the space of the few days since I painted this the Redbuds have turned from red violet to yellow green. This was an overcast day but making an attempt at welcoming the sun.




Things have been humming along in the studio and I just received a new shipment of Ymmyarns last week. I have all the colors in stock now and color cards too so let me know if you need some.

Here I am in the process of getting them safely tucked away.













They are resting nicely on the shelves. This is a view I never get tired of!













Work on this years tapestry diary is swimming along. It seems like I just started it and now it is April.






Here are some details. I had a difficult experience in March while walking my Border Collie, an unknown dog at large ran up to us and started a fight with Laddie. In an effort to stay between them I took a not too graceful dive into the street. Fortunately Mack came up behind me and some onlooking neighbors helped me to my feet. It seemed like a long time before I felt comfortable enough to get up although I am sure it was only seconds/minutes. The worst was the next day - so sore and bruised. Laddie was fine, I was the bigger casualty. Long story short I wove myself floating in my bathtub the next day. Yikes!

Here is another detail of the middle of March...













and here is a detail of the beginning of April ending with today.

When Spring arrives I have this huge tug to get out and explore and that means taking my sketchbook along.

I wove a little river scene that spanned over April 7 and today, April 8.








This is the little pencil and pen sketch I loosely translated to tapestry.

While exploring with the dogs we found that a new trail had been completed at Washington Irving Park in Bixby that has great access to some river and creek views. Since it took one day to "discover" it and one day to make a couple of sketches I decided to weave it over two days.  I will take another day soon to go down with my watercolor supplies and do some painting




Here is another sketch from a slightly different point of view.
















I have finally returned to working on my Paintbox tapestry. While working on the shadow under the box it ocurred to me that if I am going to have an entry for Fiberworks 2016 I had better start the finishing on 2015- Into The Hills. Never a dull moment I tell you! I haven't even trimmed the ends on the back yet!







Here is a reminder of the 2015 tapestry diary. I had to roll it up and put it away so I would not be distracted while starting 2016 but now it is time to bring it back in the studio and get it finished.












A few more Spring Sketches to end the post. It has been a transformative year for me and in many ways kind of distracting from my blog writing.  I made a promise to myself to get my health and fitness under control last Spring and now almost a year later and 93 pounds lighter I feel like I have made a great effort to keep it.

Last Spring I took a week long Plein Air painting class and realized that I wasn't really in good enough shape to enjoy the all the things I wanted to do. As a student reminded me lately acheiving balance in life can be very challenging but I have been working on it...

Leaving you with another little sketch and hoping the Spring where you are is kind and that you are finding balance as you define it.

Happy Spring!