PLANS FOR A NEW TAPESTRY

I don't know how this year has disappeared so quickly? I think that we spent most of it in a flu induced coma here. I always seem to have a panic attack the moment I see Christmas cards in the shops. I bought two frames the same size, one to frame the 'Teapot with Lemon' tapestry and the other with the intent of weaving this painting.
I have drawn it up on paper to paint in gauche but I need to spend time weaving, not painting. I have always liked this painting and so must others as it is the most viewed of all my small paintings that I uploaded on to flicker. I bought some gold metallic embroidery thread to weave the background pattern with. It has very little give in it. But considering the struggle that I am having at the moment with the linen I am using in my current tapestry, I think that I am up to the challenge! I like the rhythm on the background pattern and may change some of the green tones in the leaves in the center. The complexity of this tapestry should compliment the simplicity of the other when they are hung together.

TAPESTRY BLUES EXHIBITION ON FLICKER

The 47 tapestries created by Australian and New Zealand weavers for the 'TAPESTRY BLUES' exhibition have been uploaded on to Flicker. The brief for the exhibition was to create a tapestry that contained the colour blue. View the exhibition to see how each of the artists responded.

REFLECTIONS AT ELLERY CREEK BIG HOLE AND SIMPSON'S GAP

This photo was taken at Ellery Creek Big Hole, in the West Mac Donnell Ranges. We drove out there on a Friday evening planning to stay the weekend. Saturday morning the wind came up and our tent changed into so many different shapes before our eyes, we decided to take it down while it was still in one piece! The West Mac Donnell Ranges are spectacular just like the paintings of Fred Williams , with their colours and sparse vegetation. The waterhole was freezing, we laughed while we watched 3 young German girls deck themselves out in their bathers and barely hit the water before jumping out yelling and screaming about the cold. Gerard braved the cold and can be seen as the small dot on the water in the photo's. The first group of photo's were taken at Simpson's Gap about 27km from Alice Springs. Water is so rare in the desert and there are many dry rivers and creeks. A little rock wallaby came along while we were at Simpson's Gap and dug down in what looked like a dry creek bed to get a drink. Alice Spring is a wonderful place to visit but you would need to stay at least a month to have the time to explore all there is to offer in the area. I would love to go back to Alice to see the Henley on Todd Regatta. I think that it best shows Australians wacky sense of fun as it is a boat race along the ..DRY.. Todd River that runs right through the township of Alice Springs!


Looks like fun? If you prefer to go to the races you could also go back for
'THE CAMEL CUP'




Gerard will stay in Alice Springs until the beginning of December and it will be hot by then, temperatures can get as high as 43c that's around 110f, I am sure that there are times when it is even hotter. I think that that explains all the serious beer drinking and mad sense of humour that the locals have. As Alice Springs is almost placed in the centre of Australia it is a very long way to the beach.



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

KATA TUJA AND STANLEY CHASM

Kata Tuja can be seen on the horizon from Uluru, spectacular with their rounded forms, but very different in the way that they catch the light as they are a conglomerate rock formation. The weather was kind to us as the days were mild, much better than walking around in the heat. It will only be a few more weeks before the tourists disappear, as the weather turns unbearably hot. Kata Tuja has such a nice feel to it, not as huge and imposing as Uluru. After walking around close to the rocks we returned to the car park to see an almost full moon rising. Quite spectacular! There is a viewing area where I took these sunset photos from. Altough taken only a few minutes apart each one is different.
Stanley Chasm is in the West Mac Donnell Ranges. Only a short and pleasant walk from the car park. The colour of the rocks are brilliant and I had never seen Cyclades growing in the wild before. The native eucalyptus have such white trunks and stand out against the oranges in the rocks. The last few photo's show the different textures that mother nature offers us.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

RAIN ON ULURU

After five hours on a bus to Adelaide in teaming rain, followed by 25 hours on the Ghan I finally made it to Alice Springs the day before my 50Th birthday. We spent two nights in Alice Springs before driving in the heat to Uluru. Arriving early evening we decided to set up our tent, get some food and just relax. About 6am the next morning we woke to thunder and lightning, a storm in the desert is a rare event. Uluru would have to be the most photographed rock in Australia, one of the most popular destinations for overseas tourists. We were so lucky to be there in the rain as water flows from the rock forming spectacular water falls. Gerard and I decided to walk the 9km around Uluru. Taking our time to watch natures wonders. If I had not left home in teaming rain I would not have packed a rain coat, it would be considered the last thing that you would need in the desert. About half way through our walk the weather completely changed and it became dark like it was going to pour with more rain. Within minutes the storm completely passed over, out came the sun and we ended up wind burned by the time that we had walked all the way around Uluru. You can see the storm and change of weather in the slide show. I took so many photo's it was difficult to chose which ones to put here.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

TAPESTRY PROGRESS

I know that this is not the best of photo's but I am in a rush to head out the door and will post a better one later. While plant dyed clothes are better left to slowly steep with gentle heat and little attention, a tapestry does nothing! This is where I am up to today. I am not sure about the white highlight on the jug. I may unpick it down a bit and start to grade the colour a bit darker? It will be good to see it with fresh eyes when I return.

SHOULD I GO OR SHOULD I STAY?

You should always expect the unexpected! Gerard is teaching in Alice Springs till the end of the year. I had considered going up in December and driving home with him. The Northern Territory school holidays start this week and Gerard was planning to come home for my 50Th birthday. So with a change of plans, I will now be taking my land skin on that long train trip. The Ghan travels from Adelaide to Darwin, taking in the outback. My trip from Adelaide to Alice Springs takes 25 hours, that's a lot of reading and stitching. We have had the flu here again and I really don't have the spare time for a trip like this, but you only turn 50 once, so it is a wonderful way to celebrate. Last night I read Zandra Rhodes beautiful book, The Art of Zandra Rhodes. I bought the book in the 1980's when it was first published, it is a fabulous source of inspiration. It was interesting to read her response to Ayers Rock, Uluru as it is now known by it's aboriginal name. I also bought the book about Olive Pink, an unconventional anthropologist and advocate for Aboriginal rights, a while back at a second hand book shop, it seems the perfect time to read it now. There is a garden in Alice Springs named after her and they say that she still haunts Alice Springs.
So I plan on taking lots of photo's and spending time drawing.
I had bought some good quality white cotton clothes at the op shop, shorts and T shirts. Luckily I had dipped them several times in a soy then ash mordant months ago, so over the weekend I dyed them with onion skins and dried mistletoe, so now my clothes match the colour of the dreaded outback dust!

THE FINE ART OF UNPICKING

You may think that I have arranged these photo's in the wrong order but, my mantra is if in doubt pull it out! This tapestry has been a challenge in every stage of creation. Trying to make a good cartoon from an out of focus photo. Dyeing all of the wool has challenged my skills as a dyer. All of the colours have been greyed down with a mixture of red, yellow, blue, and black. I wasted a lot of time that could have been spent at the loom dyeing 5 gram samples. But now I am loving the colours, very different from my normal pallet of bright hues. I even had the loom warp, so it has been taken apart with the warp on it to be fixed! I also decided to celebrate my Irish heritage by adding one stand of linen to my weft bundles. This ended up a disaster as the linen won't unwind off the bobbin the same length as the wool. I ended up un plying the linen by spinning it through my spinning wheel. The first time that I rang Marie I had only woven 15 cm and every single pass of that I had to correct by pulling the linen through separately. So you can just imagine what I was thinking about my Irish heritage at the time? For the last three weeks every Monday morning I have sewn a thread across the tapestry so that I could chart my progress each week. Last Wednesday I decided that I could not live with the jug the way that it was as you could see my turns and I thought that it would look better woven a different way. So I spent hours un pulling it.

This confirmed my opinion that you must be crazy to work in tapestry, if you aren't it helps to be. It took me two days of solid weaving to weave the section back in. I am glad that I made the choice to un pull the equivalent of a small tapestry, 36 X 14 cm. I am happy with it now. It takes courage to unpick your work, but living with what you think is not working is a lot worse.

This is where I am up to today, the beginning of another week. It is difficult to get a good photo of this tapestry as the loom is taller than the ceiling fan so I am not able to push the loom far enough back. Best get on with weaving!