Underpainting - can you hook it?

I have always been a fan of art with an underpainting. I think that it makes everything look better, and I think that is why I love so many of the Canadian paintings that my husband and I have collected over the years. Nothing makes a sky and water look better than a touch of orange showing through.

In doing a little on-line research into underpainting, it turns out that it isn't a painting style that is restricted to impressionist work, although that's where I love it, but to still life painting, and portraits - virtually every kind of art. Virtually every medium as well, including pastels and pencil crayons. And several of the software programs for use with photography also have an "underpainting" tool to help give a painterly quality to a photo.

I was reminded of how much I like it a couple of weeks ago at the Muskoka Arts and Crafts Show in Bracebridge. I met a new artist whose work I really enjoyed. Here is one of his paintings.

In addition to doing an underpainting, he told me that he paints on plywood because he loves the texture that it gives. And he also discovered some art markers that let him outline his shapes before painting them.

When I got home, I took out a little Martina Lesar mat that I have been working on and decided to see if I could simulate an underpainting on it. As you can see from the subject matter, it's the perfect little piece on which to experiment.

I am introducing a burnt orange yarn into the already-hooked shapes as well as the to-be-hooked shapes. And I think it will create the effect that I am going for. And it's a good exercise to try something about which I have been curious to see if it will emulate the underpaintings of the artists I so admire.

I'll share photos as this progresses, but thought there was enough here to demonstrate where I'm headed.

Another Celebration Mat

I have another little mat to share that I couldn't post last week, since my friend Jane (for whom it was created along with her husband Peter) reads this blog.  I didn't want to ruin the surprise. The mat was received this week, so now I am free to share it.

Jane was my very first friend when I moved to Toronto a million years ago. She has been living in the Peterborough area for the past 20+ years, so we don't see one another that often.
However, like all good friends, we seem to pick up the minute we see one another - as if the last time were the day before.

Jane has recently taken up rug hooking, so we have yet another thing in common. She has a group in Peterborough with whom she hooks and is very enthusiastic about it. She even did her first year at Trent this summer in Bea Grant's class, and loved every minute of it.

Jane and Peter and Rick and I share another thing in common. Our Anniversary date - August 1st. They have an 11 year head start on us, however, so this year is their 40th!!! Wow! And they are off on a European River Cruise to celebrate, which is why I sent the mat a little early.

When the four of us got together  at our new home a couple of weeks ago, they shared stories and pictures of a Barbadian holiday this past winter. They had a great, warm February and March, and from the pics I found one to use and create a small celebration mat.

Here is the picture:

And here is the little mat

Thanks to Robert Browning for the words. I have always loved them and finally got a chance to use them here.

This was another fun "featureless faces" project, which I think captures the essence of the picture. I learned it is quite a bit tougher to do facial hair. However, I enjoyed doing it and think of it more as a large card than a mat.

With so few people these days making it to a big number like "40", it's definitely worth the celebration.

Happy 40th - again- Jane and Peter. Have a wonderful time on the cruise.

Bra Project Update

Before I do a new post, let me thank everyone who responded so enthusiastically to the Bra Project. Both here and on Rug Hooking Daily, the response was amazing!

I am now galvanized to take it to the next level with a couple of things up my sleeve. I delivered my hooked bra to the Hospital Foundation Office and they were thrilled, not only with my art bra, but also with the fact that the rug hooking community has embraced this. Obviously, they are very happy to have any support that helps raise the awareness and supports the cause. And tapping into a network like our rug hooking one is a big boon to getting the word out. (And hopefully a few more bras on the line at www.thebraproject.com)

For anyone reading this who hasn't been to Rug Hooking Daily, please go and see my page there. I have shared the steps in creating my bra. It's impossible to share a pattern, since it is dependant on the bra selected, but the general process is there.

And thank you all again for your support. It's much appreciated. I will continue to update both here and on Rug Hooking Daily as I create any more pieces.

You hooked a what????

I have a special fondness for "non-mat" hooking projects and in the past have done many different things that will never be put on the floor. Purses. Belt buckles. Flowers. Pendants. Snowmen - the list goes on. But I have just finished the one that will be the most unusual for my collection.

Here is a picture of it in progress. And I'm pretty sure you won't know what it is.

No, it isn't two Pac Men, although that is what it surely looks like.

Here's another picture that will help solve the mystery.

That's correct! I hooked a bra!!!

More precisely, I hooked bra cups and attached them to an existing black bra. Pretty neat, don't you think?

So, why on earth would I hook a bra anyway. Here's the story.

As a new resident of Parry Sound, Ontario, I volunteered to get involved with a fundraising effort to raise $700,000 for a new digital mammography machine for the wonderful new hospital here.  I am always blown away by the way smaller communities can take on, and achieve, these incredible challenges. I have no doubt that this group will succeed.

Anyway, this bra, which I am going to title "Hooked on Early Screening" will join a series of others on a website called www.thebraproject.com.  You can visit the site and see some of the other amazing "art bras" that have been created.  And you can learn more about the undertaking.

Maybe you'll even be inspired to hook one of your own and add it to the line!

Happy Birthday Beth

Today is my baby sister's 57th birthday - wow, how did that happen.!!

She is known as the "little redhead" to many, and she has a unique fashion sense, to say the least. This picture was taken at our niece's wedding, to which Beth wore a tuxedo, red bow tie and her vintage red cowboy boots.

I decided to commemorate her "dress up clothes" in a small mat for her birthday. And for the first time in recent memory, I actually got together with her ahead of her birthday and gave it to her. She was delighted.

Homemade gifts are something I believe in - and I think I have "inflicted" many of them on Beth over our lifetimes.  One of my earliest memories was a grey and pink dress with big bell sleeves (we're talking the sixties here). I think I sewed the sleeves in backwards (give me a break, I was 12!) and I think in my rush to finish, didn't pink the seams. So, luckily for her, it probably came apart on its first journey through the wash.

I like to think that the gifts have improved over the years. And she has kept most of them (save the little grey/pink fashion fiasco). She is always very gracious. No wonder I love her.

Have a wonderful day Beth. 

My Newest Student.

This past weekend, we had a house full of fun. Our son and daughter came, along with two other relatives, my great nephew Ian, and his dad James.

We filled the days with all the things that you do when the weather is perfect - waterskiing, tubing, swimming, and relaxing with good books and the newspaper. Add to that lots of delicious food and conversation, topped off with fireworks on Saturday night, and it really does make for a magical time for all.

The icing on the cake for me was that Ian was fascinated by the studio and rug hooking  and asked to learn. I was thrilled to teach him and he became my first student in the new studio - and - at 14 - my youngest student full stop.

He decided he would like to hook a name sign -  his name is only three letters - an easy first project for sure. And the way he took to it, like the proverbial duck to water, he will be done quickly. Here are some pictures of him at work, starting inside the studio, but moving down to the deck in the afternoon to be with everyone in the shade by the water.

He pulled his first loops just before lunch and by late afternoon - with a big distance swim and water skiing in between - he had managed to finish all the lettering. He said that he found the second letter "much easier" than the first. I was quite taken with how relaxed and peaceful he seemed, hooking on the deck as everyone else was reading. A total natural, for sure.

He headed home last night with a work sheet to suggest a hooking order, baggies of cut strips, my small gripper frame and a couple of hooks. I bet he will finish this little project in a couple of weeks.  He has promised to send me updates of his progress. The tough part will be trying to explain the finishing process from a distance. Oh well, we'll figure it out when we get there.

How exciting to have started him on this journey. I feel very lucky to have been able to share my love of 'hookery' with him. 

Have fun, Ian. 

Pillow #4 and the G20

Thanks to the miserable weather this weekend, and the G8 and G20, I got quite a bit done on pillow 4. Here is a progress shot.

I have really enjoyed hooking this one - not sure why - I guess the motifs are smaller and you change colours more frequently, but this one truly makes you keep going so you can see what the next "plus sign" will look like with the others.

I took my hooking upstairs this weekend and watched the coverage on CBC and shook my head in disbelief at all of it. It was kind of like a train wreck unfolding and you couldn't look away. But the media kept playing the most sensational clips over and over, so putting my head down to hook didn't make me miss a thing.

The fact that the more militant protesters were still at it after everything was over said it all to me. I felt extremely sorry for the peaceful folks who were there to truly support what they believed in.

Rick and I took a trip to Toronto last Thursday for Rick's cracked filling and then had dinner with the kids, so we got to see the downtown core without anyone in it. Thought we would be caught in the motorcades heading to Huntsville on our way back north, but we must have been behind them, because our trip was even a bit faster than usual.

Another big event last week -  Fedex delivered the pillow forms that I ordered online, which I guess I hadn't noticed in the shipping info. Rick nearly fell over from shock that they would come all the way out here. LOL

So this week, I'll finish hooking this last one and begin the assembly of all 4. I hope to have them finished before the kids arrive on Friday for the long weekend. I'll share a picture of them all as soon as they are.

A Lesson from Pillow #3

I finished my third pillow yesterday and when I was done, took a picture to send to Jenn. She's always so excited to see other people's work, or as she calls it MP by OP (my patterns by other people). 

This one is called "Simple", but ironically, I found it the toughest thus far - with one more to go.

I think it's because of the size, it's only 12 x 20, and the small number of squares within squares. Colour planning was very tough. Unlike a bigger piece, you don't have the real estate to balance it all later. Oh well, by the time I had used the colour pencils to do a few grids, and hooked the last square, I was happy.

As soon as I took the picture, I could see a couple of things that needed fine tuning. Not big things, just individual strips that were blurring the lines between the outer squares and the inner squares. Jenn saw a couple of others. Once again, this reinforces the value of moving back from your work, with either a reducing glass (peep hole) or a picture on your computer screen. 

It astounds me that such a small "just a loop here and there" change would have such a big impact. But see for yourself. As soon as I changed the questionable strips, the inner squares became crisper - no more blurry lines.

I put little red ovals around the areas I changed and you can definitely see the difference it made. I zoomed in a bit so you can see.

Now I'm off to grid pillow #4, which will have smaller motifs and more of them within the pillow-sized area. Hopefully, it won't present the same colour challenges. 

Happy First Day of Summer

It's hard to believe, after the incredible May and parts of June we've been having so far, that this is in fact the first day of summer. Summer here in my new "hood" is amazing! For those of you who know this area, you know what I mean. For those who don't, here's a taste.

Friends were visiting last week, and just like everywhere else you live, when friends visit you tend to do the things you wouldn't on your own. So we did two of the local features last week. First was the 30,000 Islands Cruise. We were so spontaneous, no one had a camera with them, but luckily their website had some great shots.

This is the Island Queen, which is the cruise boat. Because it's not high season yet, there weren't too many people aboard and we had no trouble getting upper deck seats. The weather was perfect and the whole 3-hour trip a wonderful experience. Here are some of the things you cruise by:

As you can see, the scenery is spectacular. You go through some very narrow channels and other places are vast and, as far as the eye can see, filled with islands. We learned that there really are 30,000. They are all numbered and to get a number, must be at least an acre. So they don't count the little ones that fill the in-between spaces. The guide said that the islands start at over $1,000,000, so that explains some of the spectacular places we saw. All water access only.

You can see what inspired the members of the Group of Seven and this beauty rolls by the entire time you are out there. We think that there could be Georgian Bay cable channel (like the fireplace channel) and you could just watch the scenery go by for as long as you liked if you couldn't get here to see the real McCoy.

As if that were not enough, we decided to do another local favourite - Henry's Fish Restaurant, which is near Sans Souci. It is accessible only by boat, water taxi or float plane. And since we don't have a boat on the bay, or a float plane, the water taxi it was. Not an inexpensive choice, since we were the only passengers, but another wonderful trip on the Bay, albeit a lot faster.

Henry's has been a destination for as long as we have had our cottage - we just never got there before, so this was all new to us. And definitely worth the trip. Here are some pictures that I found online.

Again, since we were ahead of the season, there were not nearly this many boats tied up. And we didn't have to line up to get in. They serve simple, delicious food. And we had pickerel and chips, since the perch wasn't available yet. The prices were more than reasonable, which helped offset the heft price tag for the taxi. All in all, it was definitely worth the trip. And we would do it again.

It's easy to see why the population here goes from 6,500 to 35,000 in the summer. It truly is one of the most beautiful places in the world. And it's the perfect place to be this time of year. We think it is in the winter too, but we've yet to be here for an entire one. Stay tuned for that post in February or March.

Pillow Talk

I am in the process of hooking four pillows for the brown leather sofa and love seat in the great room.

Thanks to Jennifer's fabulous Matrix Mats, I am able to do four coordinating pillows that are all based on her 1" grid. And, just as she promises, they go quickly. I have nearly finished two and the second one I will have finished in a week (with only a bit of hooking each day versus dedicated stretches of time).

I will finish the second one today and then grid off the third and fourth, for which the colour planning is already done. These are mostly hooked from leftover wool from other projects and I have bags of #8 cut worms in my studio. 

If you check Jennifer's blog (if you're not following it already), you can see the fruits of her design at work in a room-size rug. Wow, what an undertaking. But, as she promises, you can't wait to see what the next motif will look like - not unlike the stair staining. There's gratification at every step in this process.

Although you can't tell from these pictures, my pillows will be 12 x 20 and will sit at the arms of the furniture versus the backs. When my friend Elaine helped me stage the house in Toronto, she loaned me rectangular pillows and I LOVED how they looked. I think it means I will have to create my own forms, but I haven't looked online to make sure yet.

When I am done, I will work on some more studies for my sketches series, which will be at the totally other side of the hooking spectrum. And isn't the variety what it's all about? But in the meantime, two more to go.

Hopefully, I will have the third finished in time for next week's post. 

Another Before and After

In anticipation of my first northern hook in this past weekend in Powassen (which was fabulous), I made some revisions to my giant 6-foot x 2-foot project "Maximilian Moose". For those of you who have been following along, this strangely-shaped mat is being hooked to cover the side of my stacked washer/dryer in my main floor powder room. It is probably 90% complete.

Max has been rolled up and put away for quite some time now, interrupted by more time-sensitive projects as well as the move. When I unrolled him for the first time in ages - to show Jennifer Manuell the progress - she made some constructive comments, which I incorporated this week. The biggest change was to his snout. Jennifer suggested that he looked like a platypus (a tad harsh in my opinion LOL), but she was right that it needed a little change. So I changed the shape and rounded it out a bit.

I also realized that the light value outline was totally out of keeping with the other elements in the rug. So I changed that to black. Amazing how a single row of hooking - changed to what it should be - can affect an entire piece.

Here is the before:

And here is the after:

I am much happier with the change. 

And the entire experience reminded me of something a very smart art teacher said to be a long time ago. When I was unhappy with progress in a painting, he said to put it away for a while and then take it out again with "fresh eyes". It always works - I had just forgotten.

Now that the nose is better, I have realized a couple of other things. Since you only see half of Max, he obviously only has one leg - but boy, is it close to the centre! I will move it over a bit to the left although I am restricted by the little chipmunk who is just out of frame. Now that I'm in the moose renovation business, why not?

And as I posted this, I had another eureka moment. Poor Max has no ear!!!! How did that happen? Yikes. Another correction required for sure.

Anyway, I am always intrigued by how much each rug teaches us. Whether it's about perspective, our own hooking, or our own habits - it's always enlightening.

I came to the conclusion this weekend that if I were to describe what kind of hooker I am, my answer would be "curious". I'm still very much at the "what if" stage of my hooking - hungry to try anything and everything. And my head is filled with a very long list of what I want to try next. Hence many notebooks laying around to capture all the crazy notions.

I will try to devote some time this week to finishing Max, but I think this is going to be a busy work week. grrrr. But I'll update the progress for sure.