Zentangles

Zentangles, 2011
Faber Castell pen and graphite on Strathmore paper

Here are some new zentangles. Creating these repetitive patterns is relaxing.

Patriotic Rug

Tribute to Liberty Rug, 2011

15" x 15", wool strips (3-6) on linen

Our Atha organization has a challenge for it's members each year. If we choose to participate, we have until our June meeting to complete the mat that meets the challenge. This year's challenge was a patriotic piece. I wanted to do something a little different, and I chose a picture from the cover of the 1934 July edition of The Saturday Evening Post. The cover has the painting, Statue of Liberty, by Joseph Christian Leyendecker. This is my interpretation of this magazine cover. Because my piece is the adaptation of another artist's work I needed permission to do this rug image. I received permission from The Saturday Evening Post to do this one rug.

Cat's Paw Rug

Cat's Paw, 2011

I was reading Gene Shepherd's rug hooking blog and he had several articles on cat's paw rugs. The cat's paw design is made of concentric circles or near circles. My design uses circles and my own dyed wool. I used his technique for hooking circles by starting with a tail at 12 o'clock, then a loop at 4:30, followed by a loop at 8 o'clock, and then the final tail in with the first tail at 12 o'clock.

Scrolls

Scrolls, 2010

This mat was done during a class with Betty McClentic, a certified McGown teacher, from Rhode Island. She taught us the fine shading of these motifs using swatches of wool. This was the first time I tried shading.
The swatches are wool pieces that were dyed to have gradations of color (light to dark). There are 2 sets of swatches in this mat. The upper right scroll and lower left scroll use the same color swatches. The upper left scroll and lower right scroll use the same swatches. Betty provided the swatches. The strip width is a #3 (3/32 of an inch) and the backing is Monks cloth.
The background was hooked after the class with a spot-dyed wool piece dyed by Beverly Mulcahy.

Rug Hooking

Just as with anything else I find interesting, I try to find whatever I can to read or watch to learn more. These are some of the books that I found helpful: Pictorial Hooked Rugs by Jane Halliwell Green, The Rug Hooker's Bible: The Best from 30 Years of Jane Olson's Rugger's Roundtable by Gene Shepherd and Jane Olson, Shading Flowers: The Complete Guide for Rug Hookers by Jeanne Field, Prodded Hooking for a Three-Dimensional Effect by Gene Shepherd and Virginia Stimmel, Hooked Rug Landscapes by Anne-Marie Littenberg, Hooked on the Wild Side: Everything You Need to Know to Hook Realistic Animals by Elizabeth Black, Rug Hooking Magazine, and Rug Hooker's News & Views (this is no longer published, but issues can be found at tag sales and on sites like Ebay).

Cat Rug

Cat Mat, 2010

I've been learning to rug hook over the last 2 years. I inherited my mother-in-law's rug hooking frame and wanted to try this art. I like the idea of making utilitarian objects that can be beautiful and last for generations. I've only recently been putting on a date and my initials, and I'm still working on the "beautiful" part. I've started dyeing my own wool and designing my mats.
I purchased this cat as a kit on line. This small mat was my first hooked rug. It was hooked on a linen backing with #8 strips of wool (1/4" wide). I chose this pattern because we have a gray tiger cat.

I now belong to the Wachusett Mountain ATHA rug hooking chapter. (ATHA stands for The Association of Traditional Hooking Artists.) The ATHA organization offers workshops and publishes a news letter that is printed six times a year.
Our chapter meets once a month and we share ideas that foster learning in this and other fiber arts. The group is made of caring individuals who are very willing to help and teach. I've met some very talented women, and I've already learned a lot from them.
A good introduction to rug hooking is this video by Gene Shepherd on You Tube. or this one by Deanne Fitzpatrick.

Prismacolor waterlilies

before solvent

after solvent

Here's the painting's progress to date. I've continued with the same colors as in the previous post.
I'm reading Colored Pencil Painting Bible by Alyona Nickelsen, and she recommends using a solvent to blend colored pencil. She compares colored pencil pieces of today with those of 20 years ago, and she says that today's artwork appears more painterly with "paper surfaces...now completely saturated with rich and vibrant color". This she attributes greatly to the use of solvents to blend colors. She lists Best Klean, odorless mineral spirits, turpenoid, Weber turpenoid, and Zest-it. She recommends Gamsol, an odorless mineral spirit, saying it leaves no yellow residue and does not permeate healthy skin (this is the only solvent she uses). The only solvent that I had on hand from her list was turpenoid which she says has a "light yellow color, but doesn't stain the paper." A couple artists on the Wet Canvas blog also suggested isopropyl alcohol, so this is what I used and applied it with a brush and a rubbing motion. An artist on Wet Canvas uses a Q-tip to blend colors, but my piece is only 5" by 7 1/2" and I was afraid I would lose some detail.
There is a difference between the top photo (before solvent) and the bottom photo (after solvent). If you click on the photos to enlarge them, it is somewhat easier to see the pencil strokes are blended. In the demonstrations in her book, Alyona may use the solvent wash more than once on a painting, and she also burnishes with white or a colorless blender (which she calls " a required tool in the colored pencil painting technique"). I've used the colorless blender on many colored pencil paintings.
I found that the pencil color coat lost its sheen after using the alcohol to blend strokes. Now I will go back to adding more layers.