Landscape Values

Imagine teaching for a week in this studio, how lucky can I get?

This is Sophie's Studio at Sievers School of Fiber Arts on Washington Island, WI. Sievers was a place I knew about early on in my career (founded in 1979). Little did I  know I would be able to teach tapestry there one day.

Since design is a focus on my blog I'm going to show you the initial piece the class worked based on values. This idea came to me from something I had done with Archie Brennan years ago. I asked the students to choose 3 values (light, medium, dark) from the yarns I brought and weave three bands with them. They could use the values in any order, but the middle band needed to have some shape to it, eccentric or otherwise.

Here are the results and I was blown away. Those minimal requirements created interesting graphic pieces in a day. Warp width was 4" wide and there were 8 threads in an inch. It got the juices flowing for the next piece.

Now I feel like I want to do one. No thinking about color, just value.

Try it.

p.s. look at the pile of Paternayan yarn John was flaunting on his table.....more about their second landscape to follow...

Social Graces

You remember, right?

The gloves, the sketch from the tiny bit of a Martha Stewart magazine, the agonizing over the expression?

It's done, but even the finishing is not without angst. Leave it to me to get wedded to the idea of sparkle. Must be a holdover from my adventures as an elementary art teacher, I just wanted so badly to have a sparkly lavender silver background.

Only problem? It didn't work and thanks to my friend Chris I finally let go of the idea and moved on.

But I still have the tube of silver paint. You never know...............

Social Graces, 20 x 24 inches