Watching paint dry

Literally. Is what I was doing yesterday.

First, I forgot to give my boards (for the painting wip storage thing) their last coat of paint the other night, so I had to do it early morning (6 hours’ drying time). The garage is too cold and messy, so I’m doing this on my dining work table in the living room. Which means, cats are going to investigate – so I had to sit and watch (until I quit, locked them in the kitchen and went for my shower).

wallboards

Then I wanted to try matching the wall colour where I’d filled in holes. Most of the holes were only pin pricks from nails, but you know, even if you wipe, some filler gets onto the wall (structured wallpaper). I was a bit scared to use black in my mix, so I definitely did not get it in first attempt even if I tested on a small portion elsewhere – must have faded a bit there. Each time I tried a new layer, I made the circle slightly wider, to blend it in a bit, right? Not. So I ended up with multiple large splotches on the wall in varying shades of “cream”. I’d like to renovate the room whole house and just paint it white, but that was not today … Of course we all know that most colours dry up a bit darker, so I was having a hard time containing myself from trying new layers and also anxious to know when I’d hit the mark. Perhaps it dries a little faster if I keep an eye on it? I did, just in case. To the point of burning my omelette – which I had to go eat in the bedroom would you believe it, because the cats were very much asking for a third breakfast if I tried to sit down.

Molly can't sleep without rearranging the entire sofa. I didn't have the heart to wake her up and tidy up before taking a picture.
Molly can’t sleep without rearranging the entire sofa. I didn’t have the heart to wake the old girl and tidy up before taking a picture. It looks like this all the time. Now you know.

Anyway, I eventually broke out the black and it went a bit better. I can’t match the gloss, but it would be nice if it’s not the first thing you notice about the room. I even resorted to using “glazes”. And now it simply has to be good enough. Most of it will be covered in pictures anyway, which was the whole point of the board exercise: To be able to store, dry, hang various small paintings out of the way, to be able to move and rearrange without making new holes every day, and make it slightly decorative as well.

wallpaint

The idea is to hammer nails into the boards instead of the wall, basically. And not have to measure the height every time, just the three options, take it or leave it. I couldn’t find my box of little nails for the purpose, so I have yet to show you the finished result.

wallend

G casually asked me if the house is going to end up looking like hippies live here. I didn’t have a definite answer. It’s very much a Danish thing that you should conform, the norm is good enough and no reason to want or be more. While I’ve never really conformed, I have felt restrained at times, both physically (tiny house) and otherwise.

Well, I’m fed up with being less than me. It has nothing to do with feeling better than others, simply that I want to be all of me. Not just some parts of me, the acceptable ones, the managable ones, the inconspicuous ones. And if being me right now involves turning this tiny house into a workshop with looms on the wall and arranged for storage space rather than a modern show home, so be it.

Chain-dyeing

Instead of cutting mini skeins to dye, when I knew I’d be using at least some of it for weft, I decided to try to dye the unbroken yarn. I wound up small loops, tied, wound another etc. until the whole ball of yarn was used up, and then painted them side by side. I then use steaming so the colours don’t run too much, but having soaked the yarn in vinegar water first and also having vinegar in the dye solutions makes this superwash yarn absorb and hold most of the dye anyway.

The process from soak to dye layout to steaming and then tossed into the hot water to cool after steaming (with more vinegar to prevent bleeding) did cause some tangling obviously, that’s the nature of yarn, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. And now we’re ready to weave again.

According to my calculations

…since my shuttle is empty, I must be round about halfway through my rainbow blanket. Perhaps more?

rainbow_warp10

I do have more mini skeins, they are all twins or triplets however, so I think I shall have to dye some new ones. What fun! The variegated yarns don’t show all their glory with the uniform warp, especially since I also decided to try out a closer sett (more threads per inch/cm) – probably not the project to do that, but I’ve been told to think less and just do, right? šŸ˜‰

I can’t remember the blanket as it disappears around the cloth beam, so it will be interesting when I get to cut off and unroll.

rainbow_warp9

As I was hemstitching I noticed I’d missed a thread in one hole, so I thought it would be fun to try a little fix. Then much later I saw that I’d also threaded two into one slot, but by then I couldn’t care less, I’d already woven a fair bit. I make mistakes anyway, weaving in too dark without reading glasses = sticky warp threads go unnoticed and suddenly you’ve skipped a couple.

rainbow_warp8
5 meter warp thread in the canister and nuts to add tension

How’s the weather?

“Everybody talks about it, but nothing is being done….”

This post has been a lot longer in my folder than I anticipated, the days seem to suddenly just have flown by with all sorts of nonsense no matter how I prepare. :/ It’ll have to be a prequel instead.

I actually chose “whoop whoop” a topic for getting some painterly skills back, while I ponder my problems with the figurative stuff. I do have ideas that include recognizable objects such as horses, a few tiny people and one very large fish! but I can’t draw for s**t without the aid of my computer. I always did best with a large brush.

So while I was on the background production theme anyway, I grabbed “skies” off my multi page idea list. Simple, fits well with my photography style too. To make it even less complicated I got a stack of really cheap-get-what-you-paid-for tiny 20 cm canvasses that I seem to have no fear of attacking. I don’t like working acrylics on paper unfortunately and I’ve given up on watercolours just now, also to simplify my task list. So there. Supermarket canvas. Boards would be fine too, but I don’t have any. I got 12 canvasses, then G went insane and raided two more shops on our way home from the big city.

pile

It’s the first time ever that I’ve enjoyed working small. 50×50 and up used to be more like it, but for some reason I’m having a blast playing with these. (Still using 5 cm foam brushes, though šŸ˜‰ ) Mostly just winging it, sometimes looking at cloud photos because I can’t quite remember the technique to paint them. My aim is not traditional landscape, really, so I hope eventually I’ll arrive at something that is “mine”. Currently I’m trying to get a feel for doing like I used to vs. wanting something different. Definitely fumbling, mainly trying to just do, not think. Wading through standard compositions to see if new things emerge in the process.

weather01
A batch of first layers

Some of the pictures comply and resemble skies, others persist in remaining backgrounds, my usual syndrome. Sometimes I let them, simply swiping the remains of my palette before ending the session. I don’t know what’s going to be on any of the paintings beyond the next step, and sometimes not even that, no sketching, I just begin by throwing paint. Makes life interesting… Some of these are getting A LOT of layers, another advantage over watercolour.

When I run out of storage space I’ll have to auction them off to get money for a new batch šŸ˜› If all else fails, there’s gesso! Perhaps this pile will last me forever?!

While they dry, I play with some of the bigger wips. Colour blending exercises are fine too, I’m attracted to different combos than I used to, so I need to learn to make them, rather than my “goto greens”. Then we’ll see what happens. It’s a long way to go, but I’m not counting.

I felt I could find space to paint at least 3 days a week when I began this post and definitely feeling the flow and the glow, but reality has been different. There is no gallery of 20 weather pix for you to browse, just a few beginnings and sketches. I’m going ahead and posting them anyway, since I started the journey here, I may as well keep recording it.

I still feel it’s possible to pick up momentum again, if I’m “allowed”. If I allow myself. Complicated issues are happening on the sidelines and I tend to sponge some of it up even when it’s not mine to deal with.

Wish me luck pls! I feel right in this element, so there has to be something more to it besides wasting supplies. During this process it’s slowly dawning on me what I do want to make, that is not like this. Maybe. Things are lurking in the mists at the back of my head that would like to come out. Or I’d like them to. So I can see what they are. šŸ˜‰ Perhaps that will help me become slightly less obsessed?

To be continued….

Where’s my weft?

All warped up and no yarn to weave. Can you believe my weft has gone missing? Meant to wind it on a shuttle while – well never mind why, the thing is, I can’t find the darn thing. I can find a multitude of other cakes, but that’s not my weft…

weft

Usually as soon as I complain about such matters, they have a tendency to turn up, so it’s now official. Any psychics out there are welcome to chime in however….

FOUND AND WOUND!

I just knew that whining was good for something.

weft2