Online tapestry group challenge - My Place

Despite all the interruptions, I have finally finished my small tapestry for the online group challenge. I posted it today - hooray!

I have been working on it for ages, trying to fit in around all the mess caused by the renovations. I was worried that I wouldn't get it done in time, despite it being such a small piece (approx 20 x 12cm).

I read K Spoering's blog about her artwork, mainly tapestry, and she has posted about not having large amounts of time to work, how hard it is to just do a little bit on occasion. Her work is much larger than mine but I know exactly what she means, it is hard to just do a little bit of weaving, it is a medium that cries out for long periods of concentration.

However, I decided that I would largely ignore my designs (I couldn't find them till a couple of days ago) and just use one that doesn't have a lot of resemblance to my original designs but that I had made in desperation.  I had started weaving using the original designs. Lately I have just made it up as I have gone along, trying to meld the original ideas with the later design. It is based on the area in which I live and so I was also influenced by what I know to be in the area despite it not being in the design. (Does that sound confusing? It is how I have been feeling about it.)

I decided that I needed to do small bursts of work just to get it done. As I don't tend to follow my cartoons exactly, I usually take time to think about what I have just worked on, what colours I was using, what I was thinking. Not recently, I haven't had time. I just sat down and started weaving in any available times..

My Place 

It has worked ok I think.  The image is not really like my suburb, it is VERY green. But all the houses around us have gardens and the nature strips and laneways add greenery - and Darebin Parklands is at the bottom of my street, so I feel it is a representation of how I see and enjoy my local environment, not how it actually is. I have tended to ignore the larger developments. Maybe it is really an image of how the suburb used to be, when it was less densely occupied. Or how I would like it to be.