On third of the way - nearly.

I am about one third of the way to completing my large tapestry.  I am enjoying weaving it but it involves many bobbin changes to get the mottled look of the earth up north.  I am pleased with my "barra"; Tim and I spent lots of hours sitting beside the Ord River at Ivanhoe Crossing trying to catch a barramundi.  My job was to catch live bait which was quite a task as I am not a fisherman.  However I caught enough small fish, including a small barra about 20 cm which was thrown back. We went fishing in the afternoon to be there as the moon rose.  It is quite a spectacular and historical place and despite catching plenty of live bait, we didn't catch a barra. Each of the shapes tells a story of part of our trip and the shapes are based on escarpment shapes.  The Green shape is about the bombing of Darwin and the orange shape is about a visit to a zebra rock mine owned by friends of Tim that they are developing into a caravan and camping site. I am experimenting with the  outlining the red marks in the rocks, but this isn't working.

Visiting Tim

Well I have finally made a little progress with my tapestry and I am  calling it Visiting Tim as it is a visual representation of our trip earlier this year to see Tim who lives in the Kimberelys.

The beginning was easy; soon however I ran into difficulties with the boabs and  colour.  I tried several times to get a representation with which I was happy.

Too stiff

I tried white as their trunks are a light colour then I added yellow.

This is starting to look better.

 

 

 

 

I consulted my tutor and a neighbour who  mentors me when I ask and both said the same that I needed to include some of the  surrounding colour so the trees blend in. I did this and am moderately pleased with the result.

If only it was easy.  The process so far has highlighted 2 things. The first is the benefits of leashes and the second is my lack of experience with mixing colours.  My mentor asked me if I had my colour palette chosen and although I had chosen many colours I might use, I had not chosen a specific range.  That took time and has made things easier. The other work  tool I have decided to adopt is to have bobbins wound ready to use like they do at ATW.  I have also decided not to waste time pulling weaving out which has been a feature of my weaving in the past; sometimes I have pulled out as much as I have woven. 

The sky 's looking good.