Monday, June 22, 2009

Fractured, a new basket for the wall

This basket began as a desire to work with a new, dark neutral reed I'd just dyed. For the last few months, I've been working with bright colors, but now I'm drawn to working in muted tones. (The recent rain has literally dampened everything.) While I weave, I think about the construction, graphics and the use of color, as if they all had personalities. I've always liked the privacy and security of courtyard gardens, so in this piece I wove a raised wall around the center grid. From the top of the wall, I added the spiral design to draw the eye out to the edge, but contained the graphic with a solid band. The red I used as emotion - as the contrasting element in a field of neutrals. It's the 'red' that gives this piece - life, and meaning.
The basket measures 15.5' wide x 1.5" deep.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Emma and I visited Helen Dimos's garden

Emma and I were invited to a Helen's garden over the weekend. After I took photographs, and she "tended" to details, we sat and watched shafts of light penetrate the deepening shadows. (Emma had been off leash the whole time and no plants were destroyed! I was proud of her.) The day before we went to visit, it had rained. Helen gave us these peonies to take home.