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Sharon Smith Rug

1/28/2016

I finally finished the Sharon Smith design called The Readers. Just a fun rug for my 8 month old GREAT grand baby.
I am posting a detail of the dog's head. I made it very fluffy by pulling the loops high, clipping them and actually combing the hooked and clipped loops with a dog brush. Essentially this just removes the weft threads, giving the warp a very shaggy appearance. I only used that technique on the head. He has black button eyes. You can see some of the clipped loops were not brushed and others were. Once this was completed I trimmed the shape of the dogs head a bit. You can see how fuzzy this look is in the detail shot.

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January 25th, 2016

1/25/2016

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The Denver Botanic Gardens is a wonderful place to walk around and clear your head. It is also a fabulous place to view art. On this day I had the chance to see some of Deborah Butterfield's sculptures. Her main interest is horses and these examples show some of the range of materials she uses (driftwood and metal.) There is a sparcity of lines Deborah uses to interpret the form that is still very recognizable as a horse. I look at the powerful imagery and wonder how I might render the same effects in hooking.

And, of course, I take the time to take another photo to add to my pattern collection. This one is of a stone walkway at the Botanic Gardens. Just look at the color ranges in this photos from blues and greys to the warm earthy tans and browns. I see a lot of purples and mauves in there as well. At the McGown camp I direct we had a theme last year of Think Like An Artist. Of course much of that thinking entails a lot of see-ing, and learning how to look at things for the possibilities. Art is all about problem solving and is a learning process that we all can master. I collect patterns because I like to look at visual rhythyms, thinking of ways to use that in our fiber artform.

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What is on my frame right now!

1/25/2016

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My frame holds a modified pattern named Fragrance, available from Honey Bee Hive. This is a pattern that I will be teaching later this year. I like looking at the flowers collected by the many resources on line.
The photo below is one that I took on a trip I took last fall to Georgetown, CO.
This lily is an excellent example of the dark values that are apparent in the throats and shadows of most flowers. I will be making some adjustments to the shadows on these roses and will show in another post.

The main street in Georgetown is a fun place to go to spend some time and revel in that old mining town. There are many building that have wonderful iron designs on the steps. The third photo below is just one example. I love to collect photos of patterns — both those found in nature and those that are man-made.

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McGown Studies

1/25/2016

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One of things I love about being part of the McGown Teaching program is that we learn so many things each year. I am the Director of the McGown Teacher's Workshop that is held in Pottsboro, TX each November. I also teach there. This past year I taught a class on monochromatic color design. The pattern that I used is a pattern from Honey Bee Hive called Morris-like Bunny and the red mat below is hooked the way the pattern by Jane McGown Flynn was drawn. I just pulled worms from the reds in my worm bag for this rabbit. I also used proddy extensively throughout this design.

The gold rendition has been redrawn by me to resemble the hare in William Morris' tapestry. I had fun with this one by also doing an achromatic background.

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Happy New Year!

1/25/2016

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So far January has been busy!
I would like to share with you a series of photos of projects that I worked on last year.
This one is part of a traveling show — Oh To Live By the Sea — and if you attended the fabulous Sauder Village rug exhibit, then you saw it there. The star fish, shells and bird are sculpted. I used common cotton gauze for the foam on the water.

One, or should I say three of things that have been keeping me busy are the new canine members of our family. We have Dare, Ivy and Shine. Dare is 5 years old and a retired champion. Ivy is 6 and a rescue. Shine is just a year old and is also known as NO NO Bad Dog for her antics with the toilet paper. All three are schipperkes.

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Sharon Smith Rug

January 25th, 2016

What is on my frame right now!

McGown Studies

Happy New Year!

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