What's SUP?

Hope all the dads in your lives had happy Fathers' Days. Our Dad had separate celebrations with his offspring, since our son had to work the weekend. He came on Thursday and left Friday. Our daughter and her beau arrived Friday night and left yesterday afternoon.

Since the weather was beautiful part of the time for both of them, they "racked and stacked" all their favourite water activities into the short time they had. It was quite funny to watch actually - sort of went like:
1. jump in lake for quick swim
2. climb on stand up paddle board and go for a quick jaunt
3. hop into kayak and go around the island - in Matt's case, go to seagull rock and take pictures to email to friends who aren't here to see for themselves
4. jump in lake again to cool off from frenzied activity
5. drink beer, eat a big meal, have a wonderful sleep in the quiet room (sans sirens)

Repeat the next day.

They gave their Dad wonderful gifts that suited their personalities. He was very pleased.

Speaking of the SUP (Stand Up Paddle Board), I was out twice on Saturday as well. Luckily, it is like riding a bike - you don't forget, so my fears of a chilly dip in the lake were for naught. Unlike my offspring, I wait till the lake is warmer before doing things "in" it. Right now,  I do things "on" it.

But, now that my required hooking projects are done, I have finally got around to starting my series of "fun things to do in summer at the lake" mats. (It is pretty much the list above.) And the SUP is the first one. I got a few hours of hooking in most mornings last week and it is coming along nicely.

I started with this picture of my daughter on the board.

Then I uploaded the picture to Be Funky and creates this impressionist sketch, to drop out some of the smaller details. Go check it out - you can create a lot of effects with pictures - make cards, do all kinds of fun things.

And with this nice, simple sketch, I started hooking. First I hooked Laura and now I am working on the water. (I think her head is a little large, so I may go back and adjust that after I get more background around it - I love how things are so much easier to see when you put them on your computer.)

This is a really good lesson on how the colour of water is merely what is reflected in it. Laura was in front of a veritable forest across the bay - hence all the green in the water, from nearly black to nearly white. Even her shadow on the board takes on a green cast.

I love all the movement in the water and the reflections in front, which I have just started are really interesting in how realistic they are. The upper part of the mat will go more quickly because it is just a series of vague green shapes, so that is why I tackled the bottom part first.

I think this ended up a bit larger than I intended (it's 20" high by 11 wide), I guess because of the height of it. But I hope to make the rest of the series a bit smaller.  I do love the little 8 x 10 size sketches, since they go so quickly.

Anyway, I am very happy to be hooking something just for me, and will continue that trend for a while. As I always say "Hook What You Love and You Will Love What You Hook." (I am in the process of designing a pattern of that saying, which I will also add to my hook-for-me list.