2 Oct 2014

Poetry

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Today is National Poetry Day, so I thought I’d share a poem which I have been mulling over lately: Tay Bridge by Douglas Dunn. It’s about the bridge, yes, but also about the river, and the relationship of the city to the river, all of which are things which preoccupy me. I’ll just quote the opening lines here, but you can read the whole poem in the Scottish Poetry Library online.

A sky that tastes of rain that’s still to fall
And then of rain that falls and tastes of sky…
The colour of the country’s moist and subtle
In dusk’s expected rumour. Amplify
All you can see this evening and the broad
Water enlarges, Dundee slips by an age
Into its land before the lights come on.

Tay and sunlight

“Poetry” was posted by Cally on 2 Oct 2014 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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28 Sep 2014

In and out of the studio

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One day last week I was walking back from the Post Office to the studio and the sky was just perfectly Septemberish, so I stopped to take a picture.

View from Urquhart St

For those of you who haven’t seen Meadow Mill in person, it’s the big square stone building on the right. My studio is in the topmost leftmost corner, so when I walk this way I like to give myself a metaphorical wave to say hello.

On Friday I got things organised in readiness for a workshop, so I stopped at the door to look back and check that I’d done what I needed to. The light coming in made me get the phone out again and take another picture. The photo doesn’t really show anything special, but I just felt a surge of gratitude for my own weaving place.

Studio all tidied up

24 hours later things were not quite so tidy, but four new weavers had made their first samplers. We hung them up fresh from the loom for a few glamour shots – the samplers that is, not the weavers! – but sadly most of my photos are blurry. This one isn’t, but I lost most of the lefthand piece.

TD samplers

It is funny how groups can often encourage each other in one particular direction or another. Sometimes everyone gets deeply into structure, sometimes colour becomes the focus. This group were especially excited by texture and the funky yarns had a busy day.

Since I was teaching yesterday, our ‘weekend’ has been a short one but has managed to include a surprisingly balanced menu of activities: political debate, art, exercise and cake. Not bad for 24 hours, eh? The first two items were deadline-critical. Last night was the final chapter of Five Million Questions at Dundee University, with a panel of historians reflecting on the outcome of the referendum and discussing what might happen next and this afternoon was the last chance to see Alison Watt’s paintings at Perth Museum & Art Gallery. The exhibition there is part of Generation, which is still ongoing, but we would have been really cross with ourselves if we had missed this particular show. Fortunately, Stuart checked the programme yesterday! If you don’t know her work then do follow the link and have a look… And any trip to Perth is an excuse for a long walk beside the river and for a teashop visit, thus completing our recreational quartet.

Ready for Monday? Of course not, but I’m looking forward to it anyway. Time to start warping the Delta!

“In and out of the studio” was posted by Cally on 28 Sept 2014 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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26 Sep 2014

Meanwhile on the other channel…

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OK, so I’m not suddenly throwing in the colour towel altogether! Over on the Delta I’m sampling in my favourite trio: purple, orange and blue. I’m aiming for the shape of autumn leaves and they are starting to come into focus.

samplingin colour 2

sampling in colour

It’s amazing what 8 shafts and 3 colours can do.

And I’ve got four new weavers-to-be arriving in the studio tomorrow, so looms are warped and I’ve even swept the floor. Just need to remember to buy more teabags.

“Meanwhile on the other channel…” was posted by Cally on 26 Sept 2014 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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24 Sep 2014

Retreat from colour?

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Could I possibly be drawing back from strong saturated colour? I find I am gradually sneaking more and more grey into my weaving and I really like it.

When I introduced it into the Fresco design I wasn’t sure how well it would work. Although I have always been partial to a bit of charcoal, slate, fog – or whatever grey thing comes to mind – I sometimes hear nasty rumours about grey yarn. Black is often recommended to set off bright colours, while grey is said to suck all the colour out, taking everything else down with it into greyness. But personally I am not that keen on solid black. I do use black, but prefer to use very dark blues (or purples or reds) either on their own or mixed in with the black to make it richer. Grey on the other hand…

greys with green

This week I have finally got myself organised to return to the remaining Fresco warp on the Megado and I have been branching out a tiny bit. In the cushion above, and all of the others I’ve finished so far, the wefts are one colour and one grey. The grey weft is a medium tone, halfway between the light and dark of the warp. I particularly like the blend of the three greys with a single colour. The shading from dark to light makes the pattern appear quite three-dimensional.

Fresco greys

I’m giving myself a bit of a change at the moment by weaving with a light and a dark blue, which is about as close as I can get to two more greys without actually using grey!

new greys with blues

That’s not a very good representation of the colour, but I think you can still see the 3D effect in the grey part of the warp. I am really keen to try a multiple-shades-of-grey warp. My idea is to go a bit bonkers throwing colours at it, but maybe I will like it without them?

“Retreat from colour?” was posted by Cally on 24 Sept 2014 at http://callybooker.co.uk

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