Saturday, April 18, 2015

Seeking, Striving With All My Heart!

'I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart.' 
Vincent Van Gogh

'Louisa' is finished. I have learned so very much from doing this rug. I am here in Idaho and what I have learned has been on my own. A lot of studying and observation and things I learned when I used to paint. Who would have guessed back then how someday I would glean lessons learned painting and use them as I 'paint with wool.'

The collar bone area down to the scoop of her neck went in and it just looked wrong. Then I thought to trace my own collarbone area with my fingers and create the shape with the direction of my loops.

The background. Ha! I was convinced that once I had Louisa finished, the back-ground would be easy. Wrong. The background that I had dreamed of simply competed with her beautiful skirt. As I cut the area down and started pulling more and more lavender out, I saw that less was more. Suggestions of flowers over the ground was all that was needed. 


Louisa hung on my easel for over a week as I felt increasingly annoyed. I do that. I will feel such aggravation when I cannot solve a problem with whatever I am working on. As I looked through one of my favorite books of art by Alphonse Mucha, I noticed all the arches he used to frame all his ladies. A stone arch came to mind- stone, so that color-wise it would tie in with the soft  folds of her blouse. Lovely!

Currently, I am actually working on an up-coming new pattern. I have not done one of those in quite some time. I am taking some of the things I have learned from other rugs and bringing it into this new design. Similar in style to my 'Marie, the Rose of France' pattern, this one has a beautiful woman  and a sheep and a floral border. I have color swatches laid out and am in one of my very favorite stages of any rug design- the dreaming and building of inspiration. 

I have been working on many, many rug hooking kits this last few months. Currently my work room has neat piles broken down per kit and customer. I am getting them put together and I am visiting my Post Office daily. I have been receiving messages asking me if I do kits for my designs and the answer is absolutely 'yes!' Contact me through my Etsy shop or at hooknwool@gmail.com for information. And please come visit me on my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/vintageheartprimitives?ref=hl

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Louisa

This is my design that I am currently working on. It is called 'Louisa' -named after my best friend, Louise. Louise is a personal 'life coach', comedian, and entertainer all in one. She has been my best friend for 20 plus years.



This actually started when I saw a blouse that I thought was beautiful. I created the whole rug off that blouse. I saw it back in maybe early January and as the weeks went by I was so busy and had no time to devote to the lady that I was creating in my mind. But, I kept thinking about her- her hair, the style dress, the colors. I also kept thinking of her face. I was intentionally observed people's faces and how the light fell over cheeks and noses that I studied in conversation or my own in the mirror.

I was quite sure that once I had the hard part done, 'Louisa' herself, that the rest would be easy. Wrong! Her skirt came out so beautiful but it seemed that the background bothered me terribly. So, it has hung in my living room as I looked at it in irritation wondering what to do. I decided that what was bothering me was that the background looked too busy and competed with her beautiful skirt.

Looking through a book I have of one of my favorite artists, Alphonse Mucha, I was inspired by his arches that so many of his pieces have. I wondered if limiting the view of the background by having Louisa stand in an arch would fix the problem. After some thought, an old stone arch came to mind.

Not only did it solve a problem, but I really love it!

The stone arch is made from one of my favorite colors that I have available in my Etsy store. it is called, 'French Urn.' It's a blend of gray and brown which always looks so 'stony' to me and pleasing to my eye. 



Speaking of wool, I am finally working bit by bit at getting colors that I either use all the time or just love moved into my Etsy store. Raspberry Jam, Blue Lavender, Run Through A Meadow, Overcast Skies, Pumpkin Pecan Pie, French Roses and Midnight Blue. There are others and I have many more coming...if I could just tear myself away from Louisa for a while.