I'll have to start thinking again.

 Well, the online course for tapestry weaving, through the Australian Tapestry Workshop, has finished. I am feeling a bit flat about that. The course was interesting, I learnt and relearnt things, it took concentration and time. 

We were given a task to do that required all the above but not much decision-making of a creative sort - except to think about how you might incorporate a certain technique into your work. 

The final task was to interpret a design that was provided. It was a black and white cartoon. But we were also provided with three interpretations of the piece, done by the three different teachers. 

I did mine, which turned out not to be all that much like the other interpretations, which I didn't really notice till we had our Zoom session and people were talking about how they had interpreted them, They were talking about some bits that I just had not seen. That's probably the fault of Covid fatigue and wanting to get it done in time. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.)

Seeing I am very unlikely to be weaving someone else's image, I didn't worry too much. And it was very difficult to do all the detail as we were weaving with a thick warp and weft - thicker than I usually use. And it was only 16cm square. Not much room for small detail. 

Anyway, I am happy enough with my piece. I wanted to get it done for the final Zoom session and did. 

I wasn't happy with the top right hand corner, so have now pulled out a bit and rewoven it. Of course, I was concentrating so hard on that that I started to pull in the sides - it is so easy to do that! I wasn't up to the task of pulling it out again - it will have to do. (I'm not what you would call a perfectionist!)

I had trouble with the warping up - as usual. I did a better job than usual but did notice that is was slightly tighter on the left-hand side - now I can see that there are ridges in the weaving on that side. Live and learn. 

Obvious

 I have been taking photos, for years, faces that I see in various places, usually trees. 

These two are from my most recent walk along the banks of the Yarra. The faces I see aren't always human. They make me think about the stories about beings living in forests, etc. No wonder these stories have evolved. 

But today I saw the easiest one ever to recognise. It was outside the Eaglemont Station where some people are making a garden in the shared council and railway land. The garden is developing beautifully and I really appreciated the whimsical elements. 

Trying to stay positive

 21/8/21 - makes me post. Something needs to motivate me. 

We are back in lockdown. I know that I am not that burdened by it, compared to many other people, but I still feel exhausted. 

To help me keep interested in things, I am doing a Cas Holmes online workshop, through Fibre Arts Take Two. I attended a workshop, in person, a few years ago and really enjoyed it. So I thought I would give this one a go. 

So far, we have focussed on drawing, not a favourite thing of mine. But I have made a little sketchbook, using papers I have left over from Tara Axford's online course that I did last year (also Fibre Arts Take Two). Cas suggested that we use a variety of sketchbooks, some commercially made, some made by us. 

I have made a simple one so far, just some used photocopy paper that I did some gelli plate printing on, folded in half and sewn into a little book. It is to be my daily drawing sketchbook, along with some of the others that I have purchased. 

As we are not supposed to venture far from home, I have decided to start with very local sights - from the front and back yard. 

The first emphasis is on doing a continuous line drawing, probably because we will eventually move onto using the sewing machine for the drawing and it has to be continuous line, unless you are willing to be very picky. 

Shadows that can be inspiration for drawing shapes. 

Tried a white pen, based on some cockatoo feathers I found last year. Will almost be time to get them again soon, when the babies start growing their adult feathers.

Used a pencil on the left, a black pen on the painted surface as it was relatively dark.

Line drawing using the blank side of the paper and another piece that has paint on it. The paint felt good with the pencil 

Random pieces of paper. 

Soft paper bought from the Papermakers of Victoria. A ready-made sketchbook. 

August already!!

 Time is rushing by - in a slow sort of way. 

This lockdown life is weird, it seems to be going slowly and quickly at the same time. 

I have enrolled for an online tapestry weaving workshop at the Australian Tapestry Workshop (how appropriate) and that is giving me some mental peace, even though some of it is challenging me a lot. 

I learnt the things that we are doing, so far, in the workshop while I was at RMIT but that was a while ago. and we had a lot of new learning - very new for me at the time. I had never done any weaving. It is good to be going back over some basic principles to make the weaving work better. I think I understand better now how to work out what I am doing wrong and how to correct or adjust for that. I just have to be able to incorporate the principles into my work. 

We started with a circle - I had SO MUCH trouble with it. I did it twice (not counting the 2 or 3 times I pulled then out) and it still isn't quite right. I just decided to keep going and do the rest. I 'might' try another sampler of circles in the future but have two others to do in the next two weeks. Other techniques to remember or learn new. 

Lots of learning, lots of concentration.