Riley on the move, 2018
The making of ...
a work inspired by my own works "Riley in Metz" from 2012 and "Agam-o-weave; in motion" from 2016. The idea was to combine the angular shapes from "Riley" with the wavy movement from "Agam".
Design by chance
During the 2017 summer holiday in the Swiss mountains, I made this painting with a dark vanishing point and dancing angular shapes that escaped from their tight rhythm.
The basis of the painting is the design of "Riley in Metz". By manipulating the design in the weaving program Winweef and drawinging an extra layer, both the vertical and the horizontal angular shapes move independently of each other and new "windows" are created (not yet colored below). In this way I allow chance to play a role in the new design.
Intermezzo, the older works that are the inspiration for the new work
"Riley in Metz", from 2012. A detail, with the "windows" neatly placed between the vertical and the horizontal angular shapes.
"Agam-o-weave; in motion", from 2016. A detail, with the wavy movement when you view the work form the left.
Use of colour
I wanted to use two consecutive colours from the colour circle in a gradiënt from light to dark and back to light; blue and purple. These colours are the background in the design. The angular shapes had to have a contrasting colour, but not necessarily complementary to blue and purple. I chose earth tones from dark brown (contrasting with light blue) to increasingly lighter brown, beige and white (contrasting with dark blue and dark purple) to light green (contrasting with lilac).
Yarn choice
My favorite yarns are both in the warp and in the weft; Fårö Nm 6/1 wool from Borgs, Mora Nm 18/2 wool also from Borgs and 30/2 Merino from Zurcher Stalder, in different shades of blue and purple. Combined with all kinds of qualities and thicknesses of linen from Bockens and Lino Flandrica from Bart & Francis in green and brown.
Some yarns I therefore use single-threaded, others double or even triple.
It is not really wise to use the Fårö in the warp because it is a single ply wool and wears out quickly. But I think the colors and the matt effect are so beautiful that I can't resist. By regularly incorporating stronger yarns such as the Mora and Merino in the warp, the thread breakage is limited. But still there are certain colors that must be repaired regularly during weaving; especially the light purple and lilac.
The combination with linen in the second warp is also a challenge because linen is not stretchable.
Weaving technique
Also a favorite; double weave in Summer & Winter combined with plain weave.
The dancing angular shapes are woven in plain weave on the earth tones warp, the colourful background with the "windows" is Summer & Winter.
The Summer & Winter is woven without tabby to get extra colour contrast between the "windows" and the rest of the background. This colour contrast is caused by the long warp floats.
The final result
The colour order of the weft is the same as the colour order of the warp.
The woven cloth is stretched on a wooden framework and measures 115 x 140 cm.
