Tapestry thinking: keep it simple…
Learning basic techniques (so I can find out the extent of what I don’t know…)
(…keep it simple, stupid…)
I had (self-assigned) homework from the first week of my artist residency at Australian Tapestry Workshop; to think about some colour palettes I wanted to explore in week 2, and start thinking about my own designs.
Now…this residency has also coincided with the end of a body of work (the work for my exhibition Sun Path) which I actually finished a few weeks prior to the residency starting.
So, it has begun in that interesting period of time that happens at the end of something, where things can feel a bit open and loose and FULL of POSSIBILITIES.
Which is all good and great…but it also kind of tripped me up a bit.
In this open state, I’ve been thinking of new things - but (…momentarily, stupidly) I was thinking I could tackle them ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
I was getting a bit drunk on all that potential, and not thinking about practical logistics (like those pesky constraints of time, space and cognitive capacity…).
My tapestry eyes were too big for my fingers…?
A classic case of wanting to do too much all at once.
I was thinking I could explore a brand new colour palette AND learn tapestry AND think about how these colours work together through tapestry…I then I found myself feverishly creating multiple digital sketches of designs, and converting source materials into swatches AND starting to analyse colours from the landscape AND AND AND…
Nope. Bad. System overload.
I was overcomplicating things WAY too much.
So I’ve come back to some of what I already know, and tried to remove or simplify some of these decisions. There is enough going on already - and I have a pretty short time here. And, there are colour palettes that I already have established in previous artworks that are just THERE at my fingertips.
I know them, I (still) love them, and they still have juice in the tank that I have not reached the end of yet. They are there to be used.
There is plenty of time for shiny new colour palettes down the track; when I have large swathes of time for research and exploration, when I can play with quick and speedy materials like pencil and ink and paint, and I can throw colour around like a manic pixie girl.
If I focus on familiar colours now, it leaves more room in my brain to ask myself other questions about tapestry itself. WHICH IS WHAT I AM HERE FOR.
My questions can be focused on colour, but not necessarily WHAT colours…I think the actual palette doesn’t really matter too much (right now…although, obviously I want to be working with colours I like or it will make me sad…)
So now these colour questions are more focused on the HOW of colour, and how I can lean in to different tapestry techniques* to create different colour relationships and interactions.
*Hatching? Or colour gradations and blending? Or both…?
Also, in learning what these tapestry techniques can do, I really want to answer the question: what techniques work for me?
My (revised) questions are:
What can I do, what do I want to do, and what works for what I want to do?
So simple…!
Note: I have brought the loom and my new exploration (with familiar colours) home with with me for the Easter weekend, so I can keep trying to figure out the answers to some of these questions, and continue grappling with the tapestry...
Public transport and looms are super FUN…
