slowly she turned

I have made a little bit of progress on my tapestry, “Rascal and Sissy Share the Sunbeam,” this past week. There’s more than one reason why I named my studio “Slow Turn Studio,” but a big one is that I tend to choose media that take a long time, and even if they don’t, I take my time anyway. In the case of this tapestry, I have made the color blending so complicated that I have a hard time getting my brain into it most days. If I can relax into it, I do better. However, no matter what, I do a lot of unweaving and reweaving, and that makes an already slow art glacial in speed.

This tapestry was designed from a photo that I took of my sister’s cats a year ago. I then put it through a lot of different filters in the Deep Art Effects program on my computer, and chose the one I liked the most.

Sissy’s top eye shape still wasn’t perfect, but I finally decided that it was good enough and decided to move on. The yellow cast on her white fur was one reason I loved this design, but my left brain keeps yelling “Sissy is NOT yellow!” Sigh. I’ll keep plugging away.

Diego went to the vet for his very expensive blood panel work and for the first time in ages he was given a clean bill of health, teeth and all. Apparently he charmed the veterinary staff in a big way this time because they were all gathered around him in the back oohing and aahing over how adorable and sweet he was, and cooing over him when he emitted a surprised MAOW! This is why people lose their minds over Diego. He works those kitty cat eyes. Maybe this will be the basis of a tapestry if I’m not too tired of weaving cats later.

In all fairness, my puppy cat Pablocito is a cutie patootie also. He’s a good dancer.

The London/Cornwall trip for my sister and me and a friend is in the works now. Plane tickets and trip insurance have been bought. Reservations for most nights have been made. I’m used to doing research on how to travel as cheaply as possible without getting into the slums, but London is a whole nother thing. Airport and hotel fees and taxes are crazy expensive. We did better in Cornwall, where we rented three bedroom holiday places in Penzance and Port Isaac. I’m not sure where we will land on the last couple of nights on our way from Port Isaac back to London, but it’s good to keep a little bit of a mystery yet. We won’t rent a car, and plan to use all public transport, trains, and Ubers/taxis. That’s going to be a bit tougher in Port Isaac, but by that time we will probably be exhausted and ready to soak in those Doc Martin scenes. (Port Isaac is Port Wenn in the British TV series Doc Martin.)

Lastly, I leave you with a photo of one of my favorite trees, a loblolly pine that has lived on our street for many decades through many tornadic storms. Nevertheless, the neighbors keep making noise about having it cut down, so I decided that it’s time to show some appreciation for the old girl. White pines are notoriously unstable in storms, but loblollys are solid, and people don’t understand the difference. I grew up in the land of pine and swamp, so I have a fondness for them. This is one of the tallest and oldest trees in our neighborhood.