Starting a small tapestry - finally!

I am currently trying to start a small tapestry. I went to the Australian Tapestry Workshop yesterday to buy some colours for my latest idea. The inspiration from the workshop last week is still there, I just have to get organised and actually start weaving. But it is closer, I have warped up the loom and now have the yarns.

I hope I have all the colours I will need, I am more doubtful about that now that I have done the colour workshop and learnt about putting in colours that seem unrelated - I will have to experiment and hope that I can get an approximation of the inspirational image.

One good thing was that the ATW has yarns the weavers use, ready mixed, and I can use them as a guide. You can buy small bits quite cheaply, they are the ends cut off from the back of the tapestry. They are very good for seeing how the weavers mix colours and use different yarns.

We used these thrums at the workshop last week and I was surprised to see other yarns, silk and cottons, in the mix.

I am using one of my sunset pictures. I seem to be obsessed with them. It is almost a year since I took them, I had better start looking out at sunset to see if there are more spectacular sights this year.

I have had one printed at a print shop and then realised that I had it in the wrong proportions for my small tapestry, which is only supposed to be 20cm x 20cm, or less. So I printed it out on the home printer. Of course, the colours look different! And the actual photograph that I had printed out is different again. So I will have to be careful not to use all three sources and get the colours all wrong. I'll have to pick the one I like best - and for which I have bought the correct colours, hopefully - and stick to that. Be decisive.

Returning to skyscape pictures

I have been working on some free motion machine embroidery, using my photos of the sunset over the city.

I did not include the city buildings, I just wanted to use the clouds and the colours.
I have interpreted them rather freely and have also been influenced by my recent workshop with Meredith Woolnogh (not that she will necessarily see the connection) and my zentange doodling.

Both pieces were based on photos I took.
The first one looks better at a different angle, so it is no longer a sunset piece.

The second one is better as a landscape piece but is in the opposite orientation of the photo with the darkness of the evening being at the bottom. Not to worry, it is BASED ON my photos.