A FULL WEEK: HOOKING, DESIGNING AND DYEING

"Curve Ahead"  in progress on studio wall,  49" X 14"  Lori LaBerge  2016

The final hooked section on "Curve Ahead" was completed this week. I lined them up on the wall to see how they will look together. The pieces will be lined up straight across on the bottom for final display, not the top' and there will be metal rods across the top section. The rods are being drilled, cleaned, sanded and painted.

The smallest section has been flipped so the arrow points back into the work.  This forces the eye back into the artwork instead of sending the viewer's eye completely off to the right.

Close-up of blue section. Five different shades of blue were used including a variegated yarn.

As yet untitled work being drawn out,  40" X 22 ",  Lori LaBerge  2016

Work on a large abstract figural piece has started. This design continues with the theme of roads. Curves of overpasses run throughout the work. A contrast of curves against the horizontal and verticals of the background was used. I am searching out hubcaps to use for the head section.

The start of color planning for figural work. The drawn out design can be seen tacked to the back wall.

Design for second of cone series.

I always love the magic of the dye process. Here I am dyeing yellows and golds for the curves in the figural work. Notice how dull and beige looking the wool in the front jar looks and then...

Wow! Vinegar is added and a beautiful gold appears as the yellow dye is absorbed.

Art exercise--

Discover the use of line in paintings and see where it leads your eye.  Are lines vertical, horizontal, diagonal or a combination of any of these? Are they wavy or jagged? Do they lead your eye from one area to another? Do they bring your eye around the perimeter or to the center? Are there multiple uses of line to guide the eye or just one?

MIXED-MEDIA "WHITE COLLAR" COMPLETED, GEOMETRIC ABSTRACT STARTED

"White Collar"  18 3/4" X 21 1/2" X 1 1/2", Lori LaBerge  2014

This was a really great piece to work on.  I enjoyed the collage and may add the technique to future works.  The tie had to be cut and pieced back together on the backside to be the right length for the work.  The original plan was for the tie to be higher up, but I really like it hanging a bit over the edge.  The piece has the business look I was going for.

"White Collar"  close-up, Lori LaBerge  2014

I tore out the stock market pages from a few newspapers to use for the collage, purposefully placing the NYSE lettering toward the middle of the piece.  The collage work is more polished than the rough work done on the "Blue Collar" piece completed earlier. The two pieces have different feelings and I wanted to communicate that.  All that is left is to place D-Rings for hanging and label the back.

Here is a photo of the works side by side:  I added washers and screws to the top collaged section of "Blue Collar" this week.

"White Collar" and "Blue Collar", Lori LaBerge  2014

I have worked on quite a few 16 X 16 and smaller pieces.  After working on the 30 X 30 hooking challenge, I have decided to push myself and, while still working on a few smaller pieces, focus on larger pieces this year.  A new work in the "Road Series" was started this week.

"Red Light in the City"  in progress,  27" X 36", Lori LaBerge  2014

Dyeing was needed for the project.

and here's the palette of colors ready to go.

Try switching up your work (work larger or smaller, work with colors you wouldn't normally use, work with materials you wouldn't normally use, etc.) and have a great day. 

BACK TO RUG HOOKING, RECYCLING JOURNAL ACTIVITY AND STUDIO UPDATE

"Through the Cherry Blossoms", 18" X 60" in progress,  Lori LaBerge  2013

It felt good to get back to having wool and a hook in my hands.  "Through the Cherry Blossoms" is coming along nicely and will make a beautiful wall hanging. The only thing bothering me right now is the white line at the top as it appears to be too close to the top of the dark center vertical line.  I'll wait until the piece is done to see if I should change this or not.

I did run out of one of the grays I was using and spent some time at the dye pot. This is one of my favorite grays.  Green, brown and gray dyes were spotted over natural wool.  It has a rich suede look to it.  I will continue hooking the section with this color on Monday.

The journal activity this week turned into a larger project.  I have been wanting to do a project with recycling ever since eyeing some wood pallets that were used in building the new studio. After sitting down and staring at one of the pallets for a while, an idea finally began. 

Since it was a recycling project I pulled an old copy of "The Sun Also Rises" off the bookshelf and headed to the studio to search through my bins of leftover wool.  The idea was to collage  pages of the book onto the pallet then place strips of wool in yellow and red to depict the idea of a sunrise.

Here is the pallet with painting in progress.  I knew I wanted a white striped area in between the red slats.  If you know me or have been reading the blog for a while, you know there had to be a stripe in this somewhere.  On the top of the pallet you can see the beginning of tacking wool strips to the pallet itself.

A close-up of the wool strips which were glued and tacked to red section of pallet.

Close-up of passages of book cut out and glued to white section of pallet.

"Sunrise",  39 1/2"  X  48", Lori LaBerge  2013

Here is the finished project hanging on the wall.  The only problem with the pallet use is you can see through it, so you have to be careful of the color wall it is hung on.  I learned quite a bit through this project:

I need to study up on types of glue for collage work on wood and get better at having the paper sit completely flat with no wrinkles.  I like a rough look and did not sand the pallet first.  If I had done so I may have had better luck with the paper being flat.

It is difficult to cut wool into a perfect rectangular shape.  I am used to tearing wool for rug hooking and did so with this project.  The wool seemed to stretch slightly as it was glued to the wood.  I tended to like the not so perfect look.

It takes time to come up with a concept.  I wanted to work with more than color and the book was something that gave the piece a theme to work with leading to the sunrise look for the wool sections.

I would like to work on this concept in hooked wool.  Though I enjoyed laying down the strips of wool cloth, I missed the hooking process.

Find what you have around to recycle, veer from your chosen art field to explore others, see how those other fields can be applied to your field and have a great day.

STUDIO UPDATE --

With the wind and rain letting up, some progress was made on the new studio this week.  Below is the work done on the front porch entry area.  If you look closely, you can see my husband working on the roofing.

START ON NEW NOMADIC WORK

This week I started on a new piece in the nomadic series. This series explores nomadic travels and nomadic textile patterns. The finishing work on last week's piece will be completed at the same time I finish this piece.  That way I only have to get out the tools to cut and drill the metal being used once.

In progress, as yet untitled,  Lori LaBerge, 2012

Yarn was used around the center medallion to add texture. If you are interested in hooking with yarn, you can check out "The Joy of Hooking with Yarn" by Judy Taylor.

In progress, close-up of yarn combined with wool hooking

The shape for the work came from viewing various textiles nomads have created or used in the past, specifically an Anatolian medallion.

Photo above from book "Tribal and Village Rugs" published by Thames and Hudson. My favorite book for reference on motifs.  Common in these designs is a central motif surrounded by four other motifs. I used the two designs to the left for ideas.  In my design I have used the idea of four full-size diamonds up front and center, but used one of the four as the main focus, thus varying from the basics of the Anatolian design.  A flat-edge bottom with the point only at the top were placed into the design.

Gold at upper left dyed this week with extras from scrap box added for variety.  The bottom left colors are more rose than show up in this photo.  I like to add one color that is a little mismatched when I combine various shades.  The same idea is done with the blues below.

Colors based on, but not the same as the palette of Anatolian village rugs were used. I dyed a gold veering toward orange, a bright blue (dark blue would be more typically used) and the light blue seen in the first photo on this post (more pastel than would be used by Anatolian rug makers). My work tends to use quite a lot of bright colors and I did not want to veer away from that.

On the other end of things, studio construction is coming along nicely. The gravel was poured this week, drainage put in and outer cement blocks placed for the base of the building. Lower walls are due in next week, then framing can begin!

This coming weekend seems to be the time for Christmas and holiday parties and we will be heading to the coast to visit with some dear friends, thus the early posting.  I hope you all enjoy your time with friends and family and have a great day. 

RUG HOOKING AND SALVAGE: THE WEEK IN PICTURES

A new project was started this week from an original drawing done when the idea of working with abstract figures began.

Monday:  Colors to be dyed were decided upon.  I went with analogous groupings.

  This is the same wool after dyeing.  A marbleized method was used.

Tuesday:  The idea behind this piece is to be yourself and show your individuality.  The figures are completed and some background has started.

 Wednesday:  Background is completed on the blue figure and washers have been stitched into the circle areas.

Thursday:  Background has been started on another figure.  The rest of the background will be a dark brown and green mix so the blue figure with a light ivory pastel background will stand out.

Friday:  We stopped at Architectural Salvage of Greensboro as I was running out of salvaged pieces to work with and need some for this piece.  This is a great place to find all kinds of pieces to fit into artwork and the people there are really friendly.

Here is a box full of old locks.  I love the variety of colors.  Rust, white peeling paint, silver, brown etc.  

This wall of old door plates is one of my favorites.  There are a large variety of styles to fit all sorts of projects.

So often we feel as if we have not accomplished enough.  Take photos of your daily efforts, surprise yourself while viewing all you have done in one simple week and have a great day.