Sunday at Julian Academy of Handweaving

Three friends and I spent last Sunday weaving in Santa Ysabel. Beryl Warnes moved her weaving studio and shop and school to Santa Ysabel years ago, when she outgrew her space in Julian.
In addition to conducting three day workshops, Beryl sets up looms by appointment, for would-be weavers to weave for a day, and is on hand to help with selection of materials and design, as well as basic instruction on how to weave.
Her forty-plus years of weaving expertise and love of weaving contribute to a spirited day of creativity, and everyone leaves with the satisfaction of having woven something beautiful, that will be enjoyed for many years.
Here are the three weavers at their looms:  Annie, Peg, and Alex. Silly me...I didn’t think to take photos of their finished pieces!  The fourth photo is of the blanket I started, which I will finish before the month is out.

Tierra Amarilla

October weaving highlight was a five-day workshop on Navajo-style rug weaving in the tiny hamlet of Los Ojos, New Mexico.
The site of the workshop was Tierra Wools, a long-established weaving center in this beautiful region of northern New Mexico known generally as Tierra Amarilla, which means yellow earth.  There is a retail space, a huge room of looms, and the wool dying area.
Our teachers were Nathaniel Chavez and Lara Manzanares, both multi-generational weavers of the region.  The weaving technique is primarily tapestry, which is defined as a hand manipulated design rather than loom manipulated.  It was not so foreign to me, since placing botanicals in my weavings is definitely a manual process.
This experience has whetted my appetite for more new weaving adventures!  Stay tuned.....

Summer’s End, and Possibilities

I love this time of year....the temperature can occasionally soar to 100+degrees, but mostly it’s what I consider welcomely warm in the mornings, pleasantly summerly during the day, soothingly cool in the evenings, deliciously cool at night.
And the colors of the chaparral have shifted from predominant greens with subtle splashes of color to muted greens among the overall rusty browns with creamy accents.  And the scents, especially the laurel leaf sumacs, are so very rich!
I’ve woven two new botanical weavings in the last couple of weeks, inspired by these colors and scents.  One is the second in my “Patterns” series, entitled “Summer’s End”. The other came to me as I found myself reflecting on the myriad of choices we make in our lifetimes, both those of daily life as we move in familiar routines, as well as those that arise at pivotal junctures in our life.  Each choice is like a seed we plant, which may or may not ever sprout, or which may come to fruition as we envisioned (rarely) or as we could scarcely ever imagine possible.  “Possibilities” is about the plants’ seeds, which hold possibilities for Earth’s future.
Hanging in 2Create Gallery montage — Summer’s End: 22”x37” $330

“Possibilities” 22”x26” $230

How I spent my summer vacation

Weaving and traveling!  That’s how!
Santa Fe, Mendocino, France, Canada....and in between weaving, weaving, weaving!
Two more itty-bitty botanical weavings, a table runner for the newlyweds Justin and Kellie, four baby-girl blankets for friends’ grand-daughters, and a large botanical weaving which I just finished this morning and hung at 2Create Gallery in Ramona.  Photos in the following order:
“Flowers, Sprigs, and Twigs”/“Lavender Prayers”/ baby blankets/“Patterns I:Surrender”
Please contact me for details:  kccweaves@gmail.com THANKS!

Monkey Business

I am posting this photo just for the fun of it!
We were recently in India for seven weeks — from mid-January to early March.
Without exaggeration, every moment there was memorable.  We saw many monkeys, of which this one photo is just a peek into the way in which these rascally creatures weave their way into the everyday life of India..
“Monkey Business” isn’t about this kind of monkey though. It’s about a California native flower affectionately known as monkey flower.  It’s one of the first to bloom each Spring. It’s colors range from soft creamy peaches to vivid reds. We have many now blooming on our hillside.  Here’s what they look like:

And here’s a photo showing me working on it, and what my “Monkey Business” looks like:

A Few of My Favorite Things

Greetings friends! It’s been almost five weeks since our return from India — still not quite the length of time we were away.  And even now, not a day passes without some thought or feeling or sense of being in that incredible country overtaking my awareness, and I pause to cherish the gift of remembrance.
Since we’ve been home I have once again taken up my usual pursuits: piano, weaving, flute, long walks.  Spring is upon us...the air is a sweet welcoming caress...beckoning me outside to wander among the burgeoning chaparral. New growth everywhere I look, and wildflowers sprouting among the shrubs.
I started weaving the day after we returned, and just completed “A Few of My Favorite Things” a few days ago, in time to hang it at 2Create before their monthly “First Friday” social event.
It is a celebration of being home again: Spring wildflowers, Cleveland sage, muntz sage, grasses that I gathered years ago and have been keeping for a special weaving, beads from my favorite bead shop in San Luis Obispo, yarns from Colleen’s yarn shop in Ramona.       21”x15.5”      $280

Twilight

TWILIGHT....the in-between time....the last sigh of the day....the quiet, soft time of gathering the threads of the day....the shadows and purple of dusk....the settling in for the night.....
I wove this piece in the twilight of 2017, using long fronds of wand buckwheat that generally grow at higher elevations, but happen to like growing on our hillside as well.
I had started reading poetry again in the morning, and came across a lovely piece from Stephen Mitchell’s anthology entitled “The Enlightened Heart”. Here’s an excerpt from a poem by Lao-Tzu that went straight to my heart:

I have just three things to teach:
Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and in thoughts,
You return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
You accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
You reconcile all beings in the world.

This message went into my weaving of “Twilight”.
The beads are made in Ghana from recycled glass.  “17x28”. $210.  
50% of all my sales are donated to the California Chaparral Institute.
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And here are some photos for your delight: