In progress...

While the weather was dark and grey at the beginning of this year I was preparing to be bold with colour...

 
My current artwork in progress has some some pretty wild colour blends. It has been a refreshing change of palette as I have largely been working with soft blues and neutral sand tones for the last couple of years. 

However, despite the brightness, there is still a lot of subtlety going on here. I've begrudgingly come to accept that complicated, subtle tonal blending is "my thing."

I'm now moving into turquoise-blue tones and on the home stretch. I had hoped to have had this finished in time for the gallery reopening at the beginning of April (our tourist season runs from April- September) but there was so much admin/prep needing my time and attention that I barely got near artwork for most of March. I have to keep reminding myself that I can't do everything.

Stay tuned for the big reveal, hopefully not too far away! 

Reverberance of nature

I see I had started a post in December called "winter working" but that clearly fell by the wayside. We're now in April the following year, the gallery has reopened for the 2025 season and my latest tapestry, which has taken up the majority of my time over winter, is now finished and hanging in the gallery.  

Reverberance of nature

Handwoven tapestry: cotton, linen, rayon and wool

size: approx. 120 x 53cm (47 x 21")  

"Reverberance of nature" explores the idea of interconnectedness through a series of echoes: wet sand mirroring sky and sand ripples reflecting headland and island forms, cloud formations and bird flight. These harmonious connections and repetition create a sense of ambiguity, energy and rhythm under subtle shifts of light.

I've been mulling over the concept of interconnectedness within nature and gathering research related to it since winter 2023 but the visuals for this particular artwork only fully formed towards last spring. I then delayed starting it until the latter half of the year when the gallery shuts for winter (October-March) as I knew it would require my full attention without interruption.

 In progress, November 2024.

 

In progress, December 2024.

As suspected, it did indeed require my full attention due to all the complex subtleties in tone and texture. Initial progress was fairly steady, reaching half way by the end of the year but I hit a massive mental block in January. I felt like I spent more time head scratching and undoing weaving than weaving for the best part of a month.

In progress, February 2025.

I spent a lot of time in January feeling uncertain whether what I was creating was actually working and communicating what I had envisioned. It felt like a precarious balance of wanting the artwork to be delicate, ambiguous and tonally and texturally subtle but not so subtle that it looked flat and uninteresting. Somewhat nerve-wrackingly it took until moving into the blue tones before I felt I could really see that my idea was coming together. 

In progress, March 2025.

As a result the upper 1/4 of the composition came together much quicker. "Finishing fever", as my Mum referred to it, kicked in as I wove most of the last quarter in just over a week. Another wonderful example of why it's impossible to say how long it takes to create a one-off painting or tapestry artwork; there is no fixed template for creative thinking and decision-making as it can vary wildly from piece to piece or even within one artwork. It took me the whole of January to progress a meagre couple of inches and everything felt like a slog, compared to towards the end of the artwork when I wove around 1ft in about a week as I was in a good decision-making flow. (It also depends on other variable factors, but I'm resisting going off on a complete tangent.)

Cutting off the loom mid March, 2025.

I'm aware many people will be asking if this piece is for sale and I'm afraid the answer is no for the time being as I'm still trying to build up a body of larger artworks (you can read my reasons behind this in a blog post here.) Realistically I only make one bigger tapestry artwork a year so it'll take at least 2 more years before I can consider parting with any of them. At present they're worth more for me to keep for display at the gallery than to sell. However I will continue to produce smaller tapestries and other artworks for sale throughout the year. I have two preparatory studies for this artwork and they will be listed for sale soon at the gallery and on the gallery's website. 

Once all my post-artwork admin is complete it'll be back to the drawing board for new artwork. Time to dig out the sketchbooks and paints and see where my creativity takes me.

Research, paintings, new studies and musings

After finishing "tidal traces" in June I've mostly been busy with visitors at the gallery so haven't had much creative time over Summer. However in July I managed to spend a couple of weeks gathering new research, developing some existing ideas and creating a couple of new summery paintings.

Most of my days out researching were spent close to home, pottering around South Ronaldsay admiring the patchwork fields, expansive skies and hazy horizon due East.

 

I also spent a lovely, sunny afternoon up at Marwick (on the west mainland of Orkney) at the end of August, soaking in the sunshine, sparkling seas, open skies and expansive horizon due West. As I'm stuck indoors during the day for most of the Summer months I really cherish the days I manage to get out to sketch and think in the sunshine.

After my week exploring I spent some time back in my studio working through ideas and created a couple of new drawings and paintings. For a bit of fun I photographed this pair outside the gallery on a bonny morning. All different locations within Orkney but they share expansive, blue skies.

For the past couple of weeks I have been working on smaller woven studies for a "bigger idea" which has been floating around my head for a few months, hoping they'll provide some answers I need to bring the idea to life.

I posted the above photograph and accompanying text on our Gallery Facebook page a couple of weeks ago and received the comment "Like an artist making a sketch before their final work," to which I replied that it's exactly the same process, just a different medium.

I know the comment was said with absolutely zero offense intended (as I receive similar comments regularly) but I find it interesting that when I decide to communicate my ideas through tapestry rather than painting that it's somehow no longer considered artwork or I'm no longer an artist when I use both mediums with the same purpose.

I always say it's not the medium which dictates whether something is art or design (or neither!) it's how the medium is being used. In my case (and my late mother's) I use handwoven tapestry as a fine art medium to create one-off works of art; I do not use it to create pre-planned, repeatable designs. I think of my tapestry work as painting with threads instead of oil paints.

Art tangent aside, I have now finished my studies and feel they have provided the clarity I needed to approach the final artwork. Hurray, all systems go! 

ebb and flowing up the shoreline

I thought it was about time for an update. Here's what I've been working on over May/June:

 

 

Unsurprisingly, it's another shoreline inspired piece!

As is always the case, by the time we reach the end of May I get very little time to do any creative work as the gallery becomes busier with visitors but I've generally tried to make a bit of progress each week, even if it's just an hour first thing in the morning. Thankfully this tapestry is nowhere near as complicated as what I was working on this time last year!

The finishing line is in sight as I move into dry sand. All shall be revealed soon...

rippling up that sky

I've got "finishing fever", the end is in sight. What started as tentatively thinking "I could be finished by the end of August" has turned into "I *WILL* be finished by the end of August." To be honest I'm pretty fed up with this tapestry, it's been on the loom far longer than intended, and I want to shove it over the finishing line so I can work on new ideas. If I can't get near it during the day while the gallery is open then I'll have to put in the hours elsewhere. Either way, I'm determined to get this finished in the next couple of weeks.

The first colour mix for the sky felt crucial as it needed to set off the horizon and create a sense of distance and after many "not-quite-right" attempts in early July I abandoned the tapestry to work on some sketching and painting instead. The change of pace and scenery must have done me the world of good as when I returned I immediately found the "right" blend. Once I figured out how I wanted to treat the sky section I've been making good progress. Other the first inch or so above the horizon the majority of the sky has been woven in the last two weeks.

The day I discovered I colour matched my work-in-progress.

Subtle colour gradation + subtle ripples = a lot of bobbins in very close shades.

Playing with fun camera angles. I love how shooting from below brings out the texture of the doubled up weft in the foreground.

Subtle sky ripples.

Hopefully my next post will be a "ta-da, finished!" reveal.

half way update

Progress has been slow for the last two months as the gallery gets busier with visitors. It's a double edged sword: being open to the public is what allows me to make a living from what I do, however it also means I get very little creative work done as I'm busy speaking to visitors, manning the gallery all day. Every year I have to frustratingly accept that most of my creative work happens over winter when the gallery is shut and I have time and peace to concentrate.

Any progress in the last month has taken place first thing in the morning. I started coming to work earlier so that I can have at least one hour to myself before the day starts. Half of that time is usually spent just staring at the tapestry, trying to refamiliarise myself with what I was doing the previous day as it is complicated with many subtle colour blends. It's slow, fractured progress but better than no progress at all.

I am somewhat regretting starting such a complicated artwork when I don't have much time to dedicate to it at present. I think this is the reason I've delayed starting this tapestry for a couple of years, I knew it was going to be complicated! Now that I have finally reached the horizon (hurray!) I think I'll temporarily ignore this piece and spend some time with my sketchbook and paints as I haven't painted in ages. My brain could benefit from a change of scenery.

new beginnings

I've had an idea for a tapestry sitting on the back burner for a couple of years. For one reason or another it has been pushed aside in favour of other ideas, but I finally got around to projecting my drawing to scale by the end of last summer. Then it got abandoned, again, as I didn't feel in the right head space to start it. By January I decided it had too much potential to leave languishing in my sketchbook and that if I didn't commit now then I'd never make it.

I always like to have a rough idea of how I'm going to treat a surface, whether it's woven or painted, even if I change my mind as I'm working and I think this was the main reason for the delay. When stuck like this I often turn to smaller studies. I don't always find this to be a necessary step in my creative process, again for painting and tapestry, but they can be useful for experimenting with different techniques, surfaces and colour blends before venturing onto the "real thing."

Often these studies become lovely individual artworks in their own right. Below are two studies which I no longer need for reference so I'm happy to release them into the world. They're also listed for sale on the gallery's website under Jo Original Artwork.

"rockpool edge" *SOLD*

size: 18cm sq. (inc. limewaxed wooden box frame.)

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

"sky ripples"

 size: 17cm (h) x 18cm (w) (inc. limewaxed wooden box frame.)

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

*sold*

In March I started the "real thing" which will be 3ft square when completed. The beginning is a watery rock pool. I love that almost luminous shade of green in seaweed and rocks that can be found around rockpools on the shore.

I've taken a break from weaving for the last couple of weeks as I was feeling burned out and having increasing bother with aches and pains (oh the joys of recurring repetitive strain injury.) Instead of feeling frustrated by it I've used my time to catch up on admin and other things which invariably fall by the wayside when I'm tunnel-visioned with creative work. Hopefully I'll get back to weaving next week with renewed energy.

echoes of the shore

This is my latest completed tapestry, "echoes of the shore." I started working on it in December last year, following on from "shoreline circles" last October. 

 echoes of the shore

size: approx. 5ft square

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

"Echoes of the shore" is a collection of memories from walks along local beaches, mostly the Sand O' Wright beach in Hoxa, exploring repeated shapes and patterns which echo one another: limpet shells, pebbles, circular marks found on pebbles, sand blisters and scattered edges of waves before they disperse over wet sand. The tapestry is based on and developed from a small watercolour painting in my sketchbook. In the photograph below you can see the sketchbook painting along with the pebble which inspired the main concentric circles in the painting and tapestry. It's tiny but packs a visual punch.

 

On first impression the colours in this tapestry look predominantly grey but there are actually lots of shimmering blues and warm sandy colours running all the way through it. The tonal background allows for subtle shifts in colour and surface texture. 

 

As a naturally very colour-driven person, creating something so "grey" at such a large scale felt potentially boring(!) but that's what the piece needed to be to feel right and to create the effects I wanted. Also wet sand is, after all, wet sand! I found myself longing to reach the blue, tufted circles for a burst of something different. 

 

I think there's an expectation to feel elated after finishing something large which has taken months to complete (in this case 3-4 months weaving, not including research and development) but I just feel zapped, both physically and mentally. I am pleased to be done as the idea is out my system and into the physical world, but as usual I need some distance before I can look at the work again with more objective eyes. On the whole it was a fun piece to work on; I enjoyed experimenting with varying tufting depths and weft thickness and it was a good exercise in weaving circles.

As I completely neglected to post any work in progress photographs here earlier in the year I'll add them now at the end.

January 2022

 

February 2022

March 2022

 

April 2022

 

 

After catching up with general business admin I'm back to the beginning of the creative cycle again:  walking, thinking, sketching and painting. I can never decide whether it's daunting or exciting to start afresh. Hopefully exciting!