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New Loom

Thought I’d end up getting a Mirrix loom but not for a year or so – then when I joined ATA I saw that I’d get 10% off if I got one within three months – so I figured I needed to see how it went sooner but then I saw they were having a 20% off on the one I wanted…so my cheap little heart spent money to save money… and guess what came today!!!

In the mean time I thought I’d review basics as I know more in my brain than in my fingers and while I’d like to experiment with my 6 epi loom at 12 epi, I was still waiting for 20/6 warp which has not been available for several months – so I warped up my 8 epi and experimented with different wefts etc.

Been experimenting with Harrisville Highlands yarn and planning to place an order as I’m weak on spring colors – yellows, greens etc.

About 30 min after the Mirrix came I got an email from The Woolery that my 20/6 warp has been shipped. Opps – with this warp I want finer Weavers Bazaar yarn….. What’s a girl to do???

Summer Sketches

Never posted about our trip to VT this Sept. We had put off figuring out what we wanted to do for our anniversary. Finally it was a few days before and we decided we should do something and we didn’t want to go south as there were terrible storms etc and reports said they could effect the north eastern coast so we figured we’d go to northern VT. Bread and Puppets were having a last of the season performance and that could be fun. We headed to VT and it turned out they had a heat wave—in the 90’s—but we stayed in Rochester VT and saw Peter Brooke’s exhibit at Big Town Gallery and one evening headed south to see Susan Abbott’s exhibit at Gallery North Star which were both great! BUT…Bread and Puppets on a 90 degree day… Once the sun goes down things cool off quickly and the evenings were lovely but that heat and a hot mountain sun… nope!

I did these sketches early in the morning before Bob woke up from the window in our room—well not the berries—they were done on a little hike we took. I think they might turn into a print design…

This morning was very foggy and this sketch was done as the fog was burning off.

So, we left Sunday and headed home and since we had planned on taking off Monday—we did—we went down the shore—to Cape May Point and the weather was perfect and we had a most wonderful end of summer day!!!

Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving and as much as I love fall, I miss summer!

Moments of Wonder

One of the great things about having a cell phone is that a camera is always with me. Perhaps not as versatile as my regular camera with it’s interchangeable lenses but the important thing is that it’s there. Whenever I’m walking or wandering about and see amazing pattern or colors I can take them home with me and they end up in my work. Lots of times we might be on a road trip or other planned event and I take my camera and sometimes images happen and sometimes they don’t but my cell is always with me capturing serendipitous unplanned moments of wonder. Here are a few from this summer. Some from Colorado, some from New England, some from walks in the Wissahickon here at home in Philadelphia.
[Click image for larger view.]

The textures and colors can keep me busy sketching and drawing for days, weeks, and much longer as my head swims with ideas for paint and fiber translations.

Bridges, Not Barriers

Each year Imperfect Gallery has an all Germantown group exhibition. I love this gallery and the way it supports the local arts! This is my entry this year. It is of the bridge at Valley Green in the Wissahickon.

It is part of a series called “Bridges not Barriers”!
The series explores how the bridges allow us to overcome obstacles yet become part of the environment themselves.

Monoprints with plants

I’ve been wanting to do something with leaves etc that I saved from last spring and summer and now that my eyes are on the mend I decided to try some mono printing. I have previously printed from natural objects that were glued to a base and ran through a press but I don’t currently have a press and I wanted to try various ways of using the same material more than once. These leaves have been sitting in a pile on my table all winter and finally ended up in a bag hanging from my bulletin board so the time had come.

First tests of monoprinting with plants

Some were used alone, some in combination with each other, and some repeated in the same print. I used a mix of red, green, and yellow inks as well as straight black. Some results are more successful than others but I really am excited about the whole process and may combine this with some of my rusty bit prints.

I love the look of these leaves after they were used for printing.

Here are the leaves I used (and the “helicopters” from the maple trees). Think they will have a future life as well!

Fountain Pen Sketching

I like sketching with pen and ink but taking a bottle of ink on location is a bit daunting so I’m exploring fountain pens. I’ve also been trying out a water brush and am working with the two together. First I drew some supplies on my desk – next some small bottles of nail polish I was about to throw out – (have decided I really only like natural colors – so out with the reds, the greens and the blues…)

Quick sketches of things on my table

Tried it out on people sketching and buildings outside. All were very quick sketches – each perhaps five minutes at most (house a bit more…but just a bit).

Quick sketch of Bob on phone and of the Back of my house

This is very fun and I like not worrying about spilling ink but I’m going to look for a pen that gives even more of a thick/thin line.