Custom Portrait for Christmas

How do you design a portrait for a client that has no photos?
I've woven many tapestry portraits and the process usually follows a familiar format.

The client sends me a variety of photos. We talk about the personalities of the people, clothes they might wear, hair style, earrings, flashy or conservative, turtleneck or button down, and we discuss it until we get it right.

This time it was different. Clear photos of her two close friends were difficult to find and I couldn't get a clear idea of what the couple looked like. Once we both realized another approach was needed the design process opened up and we quickly settled on her friends' love of biking in the Fingerlakes area of Upstate New York.

All that remained were the details (her favorite color is pink) and the background (mountains will be in the distance) and I was ready to weave.

The piece will be ready for Christmas.
And don't worry, I made sure they were wearing bike helmets.

Biking on the Fingerlakes, 3 1/2 x 9 inches

Weaving Face Expressions

Sixteen people came together at the Weaver's Guild of Rochester in Rochester, New York and brought 16 new personalities to life with handwoven tapestry technique.

In preparing for my workshop Face Expressions, I purposely did not ask for cartoons, photos or preconceived notions of whom you might want to weave. I find a workshop can be more exciting if you experiment and let the process reveal the design...open ended exploration.

I encouraged names for all our new people and often the titles had to change as the weaving progressed. Zsa Zsa became Gertrude, then the Queen Mum and back to Gertie again. It's hard to ignore someone with boucle hair and why not try that overspun handspun you have in the basket.

Whether fully completed or still in progress, our woven people left with their personalities intact, sure to be finished at a future date.

Try faces, see what you reveal.