Now that the holidays are well and truly behind us, and the weather here in the Puget Sound region has begun to feel like Spring (almost), the movement into the new year of work has begun. My husband has been in Texas with one of his daughters since December 22, and returns later this evening; life can return to its normal routine.
My work plan for 2010 is finished, and reviewed with friend Anne Belov, a painter and print-maker. I just need to write it in ink in the back pages of my calendar, where it's easy to find and refer to, and where it can be readily related to specific dates and events. My first show of the year is for the month of April, a joint venture with my friend Paul McClintock who's a painter and mixed-media artist. Our working title is "Rags", which makes us both smile and jiggles out lots of interesting ideas. My first detailed planning will be to map out how many pieces I want to put in the show, and a timeline for completing them in plenty of time for photography before delivering them to the gallery.
Progress already on some of the goals for this year ~ the first batch of studio photographs of recent woven pieces is complete and on CD, and a preliminary plan of attack for updating my website has been developed. My new reconditioned AVL computer-assisted loom was delivered on the 8th, in eight large heavy boxes now stored in what I call the back room at my studio. I'll finish weaving off the Tapestry series of scarves on the workshop dobby loom, then move it out of the way, and a couple of friends will help me assemble the new 30" production dobby loom. The WDL will be sold, so I'll still have two looms, but both will be true production looms, and once I've hired a part-time weaving assistant, both should be in use much of the time. One of my goals for the year is to produce 50 yards of handwoven fabric (for clothing and/or interiors), ambitious but I think not impossible.
One reason I decided to do a blog was to force myself to learn to take pictures with my digital camera, and post some of them here. It's an area where I seem to go all timid and helpless-feeling, but I figure that if I can learn how to design complex weaving patterns on the computer, I can certainly learn to do this. And I will. I especially want to include photos of the loom assembly process, as well as periodic shots of various stages of my weaving. And maybe the occasional picture of our garden, or the beach where I walk the dogs, or . . . .
