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Happy New Year!

1/25/2016

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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Meaningful Portraits

11/20/2015

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A really big thrill for me in 2016 is teaching at Green Mountain Rug School in Vermont. The class is designed with a concentration on creating meaningful portraits, and most certainly we will cover a lot of material related to that. There is no end of possibility when you allow yourself the freedom to take an idea — expand it and play with it to create meaning in a rug. All it takes is a little day dreaming to create a memorable idea that can be used to design more powerful imagery with any subject in your hooking endeavors. The class dates will be June 22-25, 2016, I hope you will join me!
Look HERE to get more information about Green Mountain Rug School.

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Limited Color Pallettes

8/21/2015

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Ruminate, ponder, cogitate, contemplate, analyze, review, reason,we have so many words in the English language that refer to thinking and re-thinking about the same subjects over and over again. As fiber artists we explore ideas, and continually stretch the envelope of the process as we understand it today.
The very complex act of creating presents us with a steady re-examination of what we already know. We do this with rug hooking when we study, plan and execute our next project. Often, what becomes a familiar process will put us in a sort of trance - and this is when the best ideas come floating to the surface. Those wonderful Ah-ha moments. When it comes to rug hooking whether it is the process itself, or the planning that takes place when we are thinking about a specific rug project - we all have ideas to share. Never discount your knowledge (and wow - we are so good at that!)
Making art is all about problem solving - and rug hooking IS art.
So in your classes this year, pay attention to the subject that is being taught. Think about it in class, talk about it, share ideas. Hopefully, these are things that will help you stretch your fiber boundaries and imaginations and give you fodder for contemplation!

Just for the fun of it I am attaching some art. Sometimes limited color palettes can be magical. I find that looking at posters and ads from the 30s, 40s, 50s and even 60s will show me outstanding examples of using a limited color palette.

Here is a very limited palette. . . . Red, yellow and a skinny amount of blue. This one was particularly interesting to me because the saturation and values are so similar.

Now, this poster is fun because unlike the previous example — here we have distinct value changes and use of complementary colors. It seems so simple, but try doing this with a rug! There is a lot going on here to make this a successful composition.

Here is another strictly complementary palette.

Complements of orange and blue; red and green; yellow and the purple is limited to some lines. Interesting.

This is all just information to think about. Observe, ruminate, contemplate, ponder. . . . you know!

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Happy New Year!

1/8/2015

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I just love to start the new year by finishing a project. This is an adaptation of an antique rug that I began in September in a workshop with Cynthia Norwood.
Isn't it gorgeous?
Below is a detail of all the paisley in this rug. I used 7 or 8 different paisleys.

Now all I need to do is the binding - and that is something that I really enjoy. Those hours of handwork are a great time to think about other projects I have starting up. One new project is pretty big and then there are 2 smaller projects. I need to get my ATHA OH MY STARS mat started for the biennial. I hope many of you are doing the same!

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Gorgeous fall day

10/19/2014

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I have done a bit more on the flower basket.
Tomorrow is a wool dye day, so I won't get a lot of hooking done. The good thing is that hooking the flowers gives me time to think about the faces and how I am going to teach that subject.
IT is so nice to have the time to just hook. YAY!

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Planning for a Face camp

10/18/2014

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Today, I am still working out the details for the face camp that I am teaching in November. AND, I am playing with a wonderful design that I adapted from an antique rug. I started this rug in camp with Cynthia Norwood in September. The pattern is just plain fun! I really do enjoy hooking all cuts of rugs. The faces above are done in 3 to 8-cut. And the rug below is a 9.5-cut with some 10s and hand torn thrown in here and there. More of the rug will be revealed as I complete it.

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2015 ATHA Biennial

9/2/2014

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Here is another view of the weighted Jack-o-lantern figure that I am teaching at the ATHA 2015 Biennial in San Antonio! It will be a fun class. The figure has a wired armature and is pose-able. His piano hammer legs bend. His face is hooked and sculpted. There will be several patterns with other pumpkin-y faces to choose from.

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Still Playing!

9/2/2014

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I am still playing with faces and skin tones- such a nice thing to have the time to do! I really try to take advantage of my time away from editing for ATHA magazine. This is a small mat for me at about 12" square. I am discovering just what it takes to get some detail hooked into a smaller face. This face utilizes a multitude of strip sizes. I have been studying the methods for lighting and hue and value that painters use - and have been learning a lot of those ideas can be used in our hooking techniques as well. One of the things that I am concentrating on is the topography of the face and how we can predict where light and shadow will fall.

Can you believe the trees are already starting to change color here? Wow, the summer just flew by. Seems like I just planted the garden. This year has not been as veggie productive as past years. I blame it on our unseasonably cool summer.We have also had an abundance of rain for this high desert plains region. The moisture is certainly welcome and i know the trees have really appreciated it.

I am starting on a new face later today. Actually, it is a pattern of Five views of the same face! Will start posting progress in a few days. But, first I have some dyeing to do!

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Playing with skin tones and expression

8/25/2014

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Grandson, Kawika, is a very wonderful and talented singer. . . . everything from the constant humming and rythym noises coming out of his mouth - to opera and everything in between. He is also a middle school band teacher. Just BELIEVE when I say the young man's mouth is always open - so this rug befits him. I used a photo that I took of him when he was a middle school student. I really love the look of the wide cuts on a portrait. It makes it look like a mosaic, don't you think? I also like mixing in the textures with the plain skin tones.

My brother was graced with his first grandchild a couple of years ago. This is the Fabulous Miss O looking in her backdoor. I just love that hair. . . .wild as it can be. AND the famous popcorn popper. I can remember the one my daughter had, and this one is basically the same.
I am preparing a Faces class for a class I am teaching in TX this November. So, I am doing a lot of playing with skin tones. Looking to see what I like. For years, when doing a face I have just picked through the wool worms and made a face. I realize that is impractical for a whole class to do - so I am experimenting. I do not want a swatch per se, but will mix up a batch of 6 - 8 values. It is fun to work out those details on these small 10"ish x 12"- ish mats. (I suppose they are probably somewhere in that sheet of paper neighborhood.) These are great for using all those scraps of rug backing.

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I have been busy!

8/18/2014

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I saw this beautiful antique rug on Pinterest and could not resist replicating it! I love the colors and style. AND, the antique rug is just as beautiful. (from the mid 1800's). I started this rug in Maggie Bonanomi class. I copied the original color plan and the only thing I changed is to morph the falling petals into paisley designs. So, this is just a wee sample of what I have been up to this summer!

I am going to be teaching a Faces class in Texas in November. I have been very busy organizing material for that class.

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Happy New Year!

Meaningful Portraits

Limited Color Pallettes

Happy New Year!

Gorgeous fall day

Planning for a Face camp

2015 ATHA Biennial

Still Playing!

Playing with skin tones and expression

I have been busy!

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