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Stephen and Effie. . . . semi-final

7/24/2013

2 Comments

 
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When I am hooking a mat that has areas that are difficult for me, I will often turn to other hookers for a new perspective on what I am doing. In this particular case I sent photos and discussed this project with another teacher,  and she gave me some great feedback on what she was noticing.  As it turned out - some of the things she saw were things that I had not!  Nothing gives you a new perspective on a project more than another set of eyes! But, do bear in mind that you have to trust the artistic experience of that other person for this to work!  And, you cannot take offense at what is suggested. You have to truly want to put in the effort to make the project the best you can. Nobody wants to be in a position of providing honest feedback to someone who is easily offended. Thank you, Anita!


And so. . . here we are at what I call the Semi-final stage of this mat. Now is the time that I go in to do a final tweaking of things that I want to change. 


I sit down directly across from the rug as it hangs and I make a list. My list for this mat has 13 line items on it. Some are tiny changes and others are, at least I think, pretty significant. One error that I think absolutely hysterical and that I will share with you is the fact that Effie's hooked knees are well below where her legs bend! Now, I am pretty in tune to the human figure, and yet this type of mistake just goes to prove that I (and many others) get into a groove when we are hooking and so much happens serendipitously, seemingly without conscious thought. This is why it is so important to take the time to seriously evaluate what you have done BEFORE you call the rug done! 
Don't be in such a hurry to get on to the next project that you leave out this very important step (self-evaluation). You will be surprised at what you notice! Especially if you leave the rug hanging where you will look at it several times a day in all lighting. 


Now, I promise not to bore you with anymore details about this mat! But, I will post the finished  (maybe not bound, yet, but done with hooking) product in a couple of days.




2 Comments

July 24th, 2013

7/24/2013

20 Comments

 
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I am still puttering along on the mat of my grandparents. Here you can see the original faded photo of Stephan and Effie on Daytona Beach. I have cropped it in really close for my pattern. Might be fun to do this in sepias. . . . . hmmmm? Another project!

I can look at a rug I am working on all day long — even taking breaks and hanging it across the room and still not notice areas that need work. But, as soon as I take the time to photograph it and project it onto my computer screen there are a ton of little things jumping out at me! Here, I can see that I need to work on Effie's legs! The shading is off and it makes her legs look straighter than they are in the photo. Among other things, that will have to be changed! The process of hooking any portrait is just as tedious/painstaking, so never underestimate the amount of time and effort that goes into rendering those compositions! Do note that I changed the angle of the front tire because it bothered me that I would not be able to see both sides of the handlebars from the original angle. That looked "off" to me so i took artistic license and changed it.


Also, note the lighter sand that defines the underneath part of the motorcycle! Making that small change will make a significant change in the appearance of the mat.  

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Stephan and Effie, continued

7/15/2013

0 Comments

 
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Well, here I have completed the sky, using a couple of spot dyes and lots of bits from my worm bag of leftovers from other projects. I love using wool from this bag to accentuate things as I hook — in this case the highlights on the clouds. Most of the water wool came from that bag as well. The strips may not match exactly, but that is what makes the water look more realistic!


It is an amazing adventure to take   photos of any rug as you hook them. By doing this I can see the rug in a different way by putting it on my computer screen and examining it. Here it becomes obvious that I need to adjust the width of the tire and re-draw Stephan's leg. You may also notice that I have decided NOT to include the extra lights on the handlebars of the motorcycle. Editing out some of the detail on a rug  allows the artist to cut to the chase of what is really important. Sometimes all those extra things can clutter up a hooking AND an idea, thereby confusing the viewer — or just lose them in the detail. Deciding what is not important to what you are trying to convey and deleting those things gives the the viewer easier access to your art.

Now, this series of 3 photos shows big changes as I rip out and re-do specific areas in my hooking. As I started hooking the sand I realized that it was too dark immediately behind the motorcycle. The third photo shows the lighter sand and how it makes the wheel and structure of the vehicle stand out more.  Now, take a look at the motorcycle engine! In the first photo you can see that the resource I was using to draw the motorcycle was at a different perspective and did not show the engine from the angle that the photo was taken causing my hooked version to look flat and show no depth. So I added some components to simulate more of a 3 dimensional engine!

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What I see. . . .

7/15/2013

1 Comment

 
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 I dearly loved my grandmother and while I have been working on this rug I have spent hours thinking about her. I obviously never knew her at the age she was in this photo, yet I find myself thinking about that younger person as she might have been in 1928! I do not think that she and Stephan were married at this time and I know very little about him. He died when my mother was only 3 years old, so all I really have heard about him came from stories told by family members.


I have also never tried to execute a vehicle in wool! So this has been a real learning experience for me. As a matter of fact I did not even know the make or model of the motorcycle when I began this project and was lucky enough to find a man who loves old Harleys. He was able to help me identify the make and eventually the model and that is how I dated this photo. I was able to locate lots of resource material in the way of photos of this motorcycle on the internet. As I understand it this is a fairly common color scheme and going from an old black and white photo - it seems right!

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1 Comment

    Author

    I am a fiber artist and sculptor living in sunny, Tennessee.  I have a home studio where I dye and sell gorgeous wool fabric. 

    Teaching rug hooking, sculpting and how to dye wool are some  of my favorite things to do!

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