Tapestries Depict Don Quixote
Nov. 6th, 2005 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebToday the family went to the Meadows Museum on the SMU campus to see their exhibit of tapestries celebrating the story of Don Quixote.
I was very impressed with the tapestries. The degree of shadings accomplishable in weaving is just amazing. And some of this required weaving small odd-shaped pieces, sort of in the manner of paint-by-number design. Then they are sewn together in a way which at worst, looks like a patchwork quilt, and at best, appears virtually seamless.
We saw fourteen(?) tapestries, of various scenes from the book. One favorite was Sancho getting tossed in the air by several men holding a sheet--the look on his face is priceless. A tapestry depicting a dance was accompanied by an oil painting of the same scene, either both based on the same drawing or one based on the other. The facial expressions on the tapestry were surprisingly good. Bit it's easier to do with oil paint. With oil painting, a single person can do an entire piece, but with the tapestries it took many people working together. My sister showed us how to see widely varying abilities within a single piece.
Other birthday adventures included getting lost on the SMU campus, lots of delicious eating, playing the board game Life Stories, and having a large cake delivered by some friends of my mom. It's some sort of Russian cake they made themselves, involving several layers, chocolate, nuts and meringues. We were just about out the door when they dropped by, so I didn't get to taste it, but it was amazing just to look at.
Nanowrimo Update
I wrote 63 words in 19 minutes. That's a rate of 198 words per hour, I am still 15% complete, and at my current total speed for the month, I would finish on December 9.
I am just so sleepy. No excerpt today.
P.S. I had no access to the internet yesterday, so I uploaded yesterday's entry today.
I was very impressed with the tapestries. The degree of shadings accomplishable in weaving is just amazing. And some of this required weaving small odd-shaped pieces, sort of in the manner of paint-by-number design. Then they are sewn together in a way which at worst, looks like a patchwork quilt, and at best, appears virtually seamless.
We saw fourteen(?) tapestries, of various scenes from the book. One favorite was Sancho getting tossed in the air by several men holding a sheet--the look on his face is priceless. A tapestry depicting a dance was accompanied by an oil painting of the same scene, either both based on the same drawing or one based on the other. The facial expressions on the tapestry were surprisingly good. Bit it's easier to do with oil paint. With oil painting, a single person can do an entire piece, but with the tapestries it took many people working together. My sister showed us how to see widely varying abilities within a single piece.
Other birthday adventures included getting lost on the SMU campus, lots of delicious eating, playing the board game Life Stories, and having a large cake delivered by some friends of my mom. It's some sort of Russian cake they made themselves, involving several layers, chocolate, nuts and meringues. We were just about out the door when they dropped by, so I didn't get to taste it, but it was amazing just to look at.
Nanowrimo Update
I wrote 63 words in 19 minutes. That's a rate of 198 words per hour, I am still 15% complete, and at my current total speed for the month, I would finish on December 9.
I am just so sleepy. No excerpt today.
P.S. I had no access to the internet yesterday, so I uploaded yesterday's entry today.