Sunday, May 18, 2008

Finally ready to weave...

I have finally finished my cartoon on vellum so that I am happy with it and I am finally ready to weave. I have been working on this idea for months. I thought I could just sketch something and be ready to go. It has been a real learning experience for me to find out that to get ready to weave would take so long. I found my first drawing had no depth and the shadows on the pail were not very realistic. After spending an afternoon outside in the afternoon light, and then two days off and on coloring on my vellum, I am finally happy with my drawing. I finished weaving my selvedge this morning, and I hope to start weaving today or tomorrow.

I should have ridden today, but it is very windy here. It is really hard to ride on a very windy day. The horses are likely to be spooky and not really willing to pay attention to you. I had a riding lesson with Mike Shaffer last week. It was an interesting experience. He had me start working with Oliver in a small circle and to have him walk and trot in a small circle. Mike is like the horse whisperer of the dressage world. He believes that you can’t put a frame on a horse and move them into the bit, but that you need to let the horse discover that frame themselves by carrying you in a small circle and help them to find where their head should be carried, then let them move their heads around. Then, bring their frame back to the correct head carriage, and then let them go, so that it is a fairly quick process. The horses quickly discover that the collected mode in which you want them to go is the most comfortable for them. It does mean that you have to start with the basics and master them before moving on. Therefore it takes patience, but it is supposed to pay off with a happy horse that can quickly learn the upper movements of dressage quickly. I guess we’ll see. Now I need to get back to weaving…

3 comments:

Threads of Inspiration said...

Susan,
You are a prolific blogger! It makes me think I need to get my thoughts in order and add a new post. I like reading about the progression of your tapestries.
Susan L.

ringadal said...

Susan,
My first comment! Yeah! Thanks for reading it. My goal is to post once a week if I can do it. Although, now I would post my winged rain piece next, and I don't want to ruin our next meeting's unveiling.
Susan

K Spoering said...

Susan, thanks for visiting me on my blog and telling me about yours! I'm bookmarking it so I can visit you often. I love your mounting approach for the persimmon tapestries - very clever! Can't wait to see what you do next - Kathy S