PREPARATION FOR STUDIO TOUR, LARGE FIGURATIVE RUG HOOKING STARTED

Quite a bit of preparation work took place in the studio this week.

  We completed painting the floor of the open area in the garage section of the studio.  This will be the room where I hang pieces and set up pedestals and tables for the studio tour.  Doors lead to storage and workshop areas.  This would be a great space to hold classes and work on larger projects also, though it is not air-conditioned or heated.

Here is the other side of the open area.  Doors lead to storage and working studio areas.  I'll have to rig up something to hide the sink during the tour.

The storage area is still awaiting more shelving for organization.  Next week's project.

The work studio will need some cleaning also.  Framing and design work are on the table now.  I love not having to clean the table after each work day.

Large foam board (32 X 40) arrived for mounting some larger works.

These works will be used with the foam board.  I'm finding the rail for hanging works in the finishing process to be a great help as projects can be kept in order and in view.

I did manage to start work on another 30 X 30 figurative work.  Here the linen is being cut to size.

The work was hand drawn onto the linen.  Yes, those are wine bottles you see being used to hold the linen in place.  They are a reminder of my reward when the work day is done.  I will most likely need to dye wool for this piece, though I'll see what is on the shelves.  The design process for this work was discussed in a past post here.

Enjoy preparing for your various projects and events, organize in a way that works for you and have a great day.

RUG HOOKING CONTINUES, PLEIN AIR WEBSITE UP, ORGANIZING

Work continued on "Blue Collar" this week:

"Blue Collar" in progress,  Lori LaBerge  2013

So far, the blues in my stash bin have been enough to work with.  I decided on a 4-cut instead of 6-cut for this piece to contrast with the roughness of the pulley that will be placed on top, so the hooking is taking a little longer than planned. 

The lighter stripe on the right will need to be changed as the break between the blues within it is too abrupt.  I'm going to try staggering the lighter blue down further into the medium blue to see if that will work.  The piece as a whole will come together better once the aqua color is added to the bottom section.      

In a previous blog I had talked about thoughts on finishing this piece with pulley attached and am still contemplating what type and size of wood to use on top, the type of adhesive for placing the time cards on the wood, how it will hang and other matters. 

    
The Plein Air Hooking Artists website is up and running at www.pleinairhooking.com. We have a wonderful group of artists who are interested in the study of light, color and nature.  Susan Feller, Patricia Winans, Michele Phillips and Laura Pierce are kicking off this group working in the plein air tradition.  We would love to have you become a part of this, so please check out our Join Us page on the site.  I know winter is headed our way, but we have special winter rules for the group so no one freezes out there.

Working outside with a scrap bin has led me to becoming a bit more organized for plein air work. 

My messy scrap bin is quite pretty to look at, but needs some organizing.

My new organized bin.

I recently purchased a tool bin for screws and am using it to hold a variety of shades of green needed to hook nature.  Drawers were filled according to shade with olives, pure greens, yellow greens, etc. separated out.  The bottom drawers hold dark spotted greens needed for shadows, emphasis and background.  Another bin will be purchased later to hold various sky colors.

Heading out into the field to hook this morning I had the chance to enjoy a bright sunny day with a few clouds.  The piece still needs to be cleaned up and steamed, but I took a quick photo of it.  

 "Birch Memories"  Lori LaBerge  2013

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather before winter arrives and have a great day.