shoreline circles

My latest tapestry "shoreline circles" is now winging its way to the Bonhoga gallery in Shetland to take part in their "An Island Christmas" exhibition which runs from 4th November - 24th December 2021. Mum and I have been invited to take part along with three other Orkney creative makers so if you happen to be in Shetland over the next two months you can pop along to see my tapestry and some prints of both our artwork in person.

"Shoreline circles" is an exploration of circular repetition found on the Sand O' Wright beach in Hoxa: pebbles, limpets and scattered edges of waves.

 

"Shoreline circles"

size: approx. 60cm square/ 2ft square (not inc. painted wooden frame)

materials: cotton, linen, rayon and wool, woven on 8 warps per inch on cotton warp.

This tapestry follows on from my "found on the shore" sewn drawing series which I created a couple of years ago. I don't believe I'll ever tire of working from the Sand O' Wright beach; I am forever fascinated by repeating marks and shapes found within the shoreline.

The original drawing for "shoreline circles", seen in the first photoraph and also the foreground below, is acrylic paint and oil pastel on paper, 13.5cm square.

This tapestry was a completely different type of weaving compared to my previous piece, "Eynhallow, disappearing island" as it focussed more on quality of line and playing with surface texture rather than translating a multitude of subtle, painterly marks and colour blending. It tested different technical skills but the simplicity of the composition allowed me to work much quicker. After a run of more intricate, complicated tapestries it felt lovely to complete something within a few weeks rather than a few months.

new prints: Eynhallow, disappearing island

I am delighted to announce that I now have photographic prints of my latest tapestry "Eynhallow, disappearing island."

Small and medium sized prints are available to purchase online through the gallery website. They can be found in "jo art prints" in the "shop" drop down menu on the homepage, here's a direct link.

Small, medium and large prints are available, framed and unframed, at the gallery.

blog update: subscribing by e-mail

Just a quick note to say that I've updated the "follow by e-mail" button in the right hand sidebar of my site this week. The e-mail subscription service I previously used through Google was scrapped in July which meant those who previously followed by e-mail stopped getting updates on new blog posts.

Before the service closed I managed to download my list of followers and I have now (hopefully) transferred them to a new mailing list service. Those who previously subscribed by e-mail shouldn't need to do anything to receive future blog posts, you should get notified by e-mail as normal with a link to my latest post (best check your spam filter in case it heads there though.) If you no longer want to receive my blog updates you can opt to unsubscribe from the mailing list at the bottom of the e-mail.

Fingers crossed this has all worked. I am a not a techy person!

In other news I have been working on making photographic prints of my latest tapestry, "Eynhallow, disappearing island". They will be available for sale through the gallery and gallery website within the next week. I'll be back with an update when that's live.

Eynhallow, disappearing island

 

"Eynhallow, disappearing island"

Size: 170 x 76cm (67" x 30")

Materials: cotton, linen, rayon and wool. Woven at 8 warps per inch on cotton warp. 

 

 

Handwoven tapestry based on an acrylic painting in my sketchbook (size 20.5 x 9.5cm) of the view looking across to the uninhabited island of Eynhallow from Aikerness beach in Evie, Orkney. 

Eynhallow, also known as Holy Island, is known within local folklore as a disappearing island due to the surrounding turbulent tides. It was also the summer home of the mythical "Finfolk": fearsome, amphibious, human-formed creatures with webbed fingers and toes and scaley skin. They were known to be great swimmers and equally at home on land or under the sea.

A selection of detail photographs below:

cutting down

I finished my tapestry and cut it off the loom last week. It was an exciting day.

I don't think I was prepared for just how tired I'd feel after finishing, I felt like I'd completed a marathon! Granted it is my biggest piece to date and I put in a huge effort over the last month as I was determined to be finished by the end of July. Post-completion mental and physical fatigue was therefore inevitable. I'll be back with "finished" photos and more coherent sentences soon.

Trimming all the long end on the back. There were a lot of colour blends, therefore a lot of ends!

Ta-da!

blending

I'm on the home straight, just lots of subtle colour blending until I reach the top.

I say "just", but obviously creating a seamless, subtle blend has its own difficulties, but at least I'm not weaving lots of interconnecting shapes whilst blending, like the lower half of the tapestry.

This tapestry is proving to be a classic example of why it's difficult to answer the often asked question, "how long does it take to weave a tapestry?" I managed to weave 1ft last week (1ft x 30" wide) whereas a similar sized area in the lower half of this tapestry took around a month to complete. It really does depend on the complexity of the composition/drawing and how you're choosing to weave it.

I'll be finished next week. Watch this space!

 Photograph taken this time last week. I am now less than 3 inches away from the top.

over the horizon

Wayhey, I'm finally in the sky section of my tapestry! After reaching the half way point last month, the horizon, I had a big tidy up in my studio and put away colours and bobbins that were no longer needed. I think I felt smug for half a day before remembering that the second half is almost like starting a new tapestry as it requires a completely new set of colours. I also made things more difficult for myself as I no longer wanted to weave the sky section the way I had drawn it on my big sketch/cartoon (which is tied behind the loom) as it would look too different and disconnected from the sea section, so I'm now working between the original painting, reference photographs and the cartoon. 

I had a couple of days of head scratching and finding new colour blends but now that I've got the new section established I'm fully on the move again. It has grown a fair bit in the last couple of weeks. It won't be long before I need to stand on a scaffolding platform!

deluded

"It'll get easier when I reach the bright turquoise-blue near the horizon" she told herself, naively.

Ha ha ha.

approaching half way

Two whole months since my last update, time is flying this year. It appears the further into the tapestry I go the less I remember to photograph any progress. The section I've been working on over the last couple of months has been very complicated: lots of fiddly shapes and subtle colour blends and tonal shifts. However the tapestry is really starting to push on now. I'm excited to approach the bright blue horizon...

easing into the flow

I thought it was about time I updated the blog since a month has passed since my last post. Progress on my latest tapestry has been fairly steady as I've been working on it most days.

The lower half of the composition is the most complicated in terms of weaving so at least I know it should get easier the more it grows. I'm 1ft up now so starting to get a good feel for the piece and all the colours. Onwards and upwards.

new year, new tapestry

In January I bit the bullet and warped up my biggest tapestry to date. I've had the idea and composition for this piece ready since April or May last year, but left it on the back burner as I wanted to experiment with some weaving techniques which I knew would inform this piece and future work.

This tapestry is just under 6ft tall so the loom has been extended to 10-11ft high! It was a two person job warping up. 

Attaching the leashing bar.

All set up, colours laid out and turn back (hem) woven.

 

Initials and date woven into the turn back. 

Getting started is always the most difficult. Onwards and upwards now!