minarets & weaving

minarets
Originally uploaded by megan_n_smith_99

This is a tiny little painting I did for a sort of color sample for a larger work. I think I am going to end up doing the buildings all in warm colors and the sky in blue. Though i do love the purple sky here and will probably use that color soon for something.

Speaking of color, my mother and I went to the weaving show at the Burke Museum, this weekend. Some of you know that my mother is a weaver and that my twin sister grew up on a sheep farm on Vashon Island.

The show at the Burke was small, but very interesting. They had woven, embroidery, painted / dyed garments and other textiles form around the world. I think the native american and japanese textiles were my favorite. They had several looms set up ( which made it kind of look like my mother's living room, to be honest! she has 3 looms, a spinning wheel, and a very large warping reel set up in there.)

I think my favorite part was seeing the samples dyed with natural dyes. When I was a child my parents dyed yarn and wool using various natural products- onion skins, marigolds, etc. Now my mother prefers commercial dyes for their bright colors.