Keeping On, Keeping On

I'm fighting with fatigue these days and the short, grey, dreary days are not helping.

I am finding satisfaction in working with colour, which adds a certain zest to the studio.

I didn't start out feeling comfortable working with colour.  Truth be told, I'm still not all that comfortable now, although after a concerted effort to understand how colour works, theoretically, then within the woven structure, I am a lot braver, a lot bolder than I used to be.

Not everyone is instinctively comfortable working with colour.  To those people I have suggested to begin by weaving colour gamps.  First the primary colours, then the tints/tones, pastels.  Really look at how the colours are in their undiluted state, then how they look when they cross each other. 

Train the eye to see differences.  I find that years of making jigsaw puzzles has helped with that, and to learn to see fine detail.  Both good things to be able to do when a weaver.

But for those who would like a more structured approach to learning about colour and textiles, Tien Chiu is developing on line classes in colour and design.  She has been working hard on getting her first class ready for the new year.  If you, like me, are not comfortable working with colour, this might be a nice way to jump in and get your creative toes wet.

As for the fatigue?  It, too, is a matter of just jumping in and getting moving.  Fatigue is not cured by resting or naps.  It is just a constant companion, a veil that needs to be shoved aside so that I can carry on with what I really want to do.

If I sit for too long it just gets harder and harder to get moving again.  So now I give Fatigue a nod, tell it I see it for what it is, but I'm going to get up out of this chair and go weave anyway.  Because while nothing much makes Fatigue 'better', nothing much makes it 'worse'.  It just is. 

I'm hoping that I will be able to start treatment soon after my next appointment.  I've been told that if the pills work the fatigue will go away.  I really hope so.  Because I have things I want/need to do and I'm getting tired of shoving my way through the veil...