The Omniart Notebook

Big Leaf Maple Art “Appreciate and don't take for granted the things and people you have. Better yet take the good out of the situations you may face, I think 2020 came to teach us that.” -Hopal Green These Big Leaf Maple trees in our area will grow nowhere else, though people have tried. And they make the largest maple leaf of any other maple.  These trees are everywhere around us as we meander through the rainforest. They light up the understory in dappled sun, drenching us in golden light. Their leaves pile up into crumpled papery paths through the woods. They read like naturally self recycling newspapers, littering our way, with the stories of the last few seasons printed on them. Pick one up, it has a message for those who can read tree language.  There is the news of wind, rain, and sun, gossip about the affairs of birds and squirrels, and from this fall, the tale of the great smoke. We kick through them as we walk. The rain turns them into soggy cornflakes that squish u...

The Omniart Notebook The Rainbow Viral Geometry Fiber Art Project When I started this project a year ago, the whole world was in the beginning stage of the first truly global pandemic in modern times. Never before had an event affected almost everyone in the world before, (although certainly a good case could be made for the advent of the almost universally available cell phone.)  Many did not realize how long things would be quite different at the time. Some thought we would all hunker down for a couple of weeks. But as weeks turned into months, people realized that not only would things not go back to “normal” soon, that indeed, they would be changed forever in some ways, some even for the better.  Families realized that they enjoyed hanging out together with their children.  Couples either found out how compatible they were, or not.  Working from home was proven to be workable in many cases, and may never again be seen as an unusual option.  People came to va...

My latest unit of art is called “Flowering Rainbow” But before I show it to you, let me tell you what went into it!  It started with the Värmwool. This is a story of some sheep in Sweden, the lost “forest sheep”. More than a hundred years ago, when wool processing began to go the way of factory farming, new breeds of sheep were introduced to Swedish farmers which were “nice and fat for eating,” as well as bearing the uniform, factory ready, wool needed by the mills.  The old breeds of sheep were abandoned. Thought lost and gone forever, some just wandered wild in the forest for many years. Thirty years ago, the first of several of these heirloom breeds was rediscovered; a flock with only a few dozen sheep. Sweden now protects these “heritage breeds”. They are too skinny and stringy to eat, and their wool is not uniform enough for commercial use. I am thrilled to find an entire raw fleece from this first rediscovered breed, Värmwool, for sale, and send for it.  Her name is...

The Värmwool Bag (“Värmwool”: See previous post) I love my tools. I love them almost as much as doing the art itself. I also love baskets, as anyone who has been to my studio will notice. Everything is in baskets.  But I decide that I also need a strong and large bag to tote around with me for my current projects, and the tools I am using with them.  A basket-like bag, perhaps one that can be semi rigid, like a basket, but also expand a bit as well to fit large or odd shapes. I double knit the walls of my basket bag into rectangles, and join the sides. Too floppy. The värmwool is strong and thick, but not rigid.  It gets an inner structure made of repurposed cardboard, and a salvaged rigid plastic bottom to protect it from puddles.  I make the inner lining out of denim from cut up old jeans, and use the pockets for inner compartments for my smaller tools. These are the tools and yarns I use to create the unit of art described in the previous post, Blooming Rainbow Th...

Adventures with my New Tufting Gun! Finally get to try out my new tufting gun. It’s like rug hooking or punch needle machine gun. Padda padda padda! Whooo hoooo! Pretty wild!  I already had the frame prepared with the canvas stretched across it. Getting the frame to hold still while I tuft is the first hurdle. I try holding it with my feet against a table top while shooting with both hands. Hmm. Pretty shaky; tufts come out irregular sized.  Then I clamp the frame to an upside down table which is clamped to the work table. Nice. Sturdy. I wish I could just draw freehand with my tufting gun, but this is a one way shooter, and that way is just up. Up straight, curved, or diagonal. Mostly people seem to like filling in shapes with lines. Turns out that is the easiest, so I start with that.  My first project is with homespun merino yarn, a great big ball of it. It works in my gun! What a relief. Just white, just one shape: a cloud. I love clouds; their fractal changing nature...