This week’s blog is all about the photo…of the dog. Because everyone seems to enjoy his weekly updates of the larger rug I’ve been working on since early January. Here’s this week’s:
Tynan is the new face of High on Hooking. Here he “relaxes” on the current rug. (T-shirts hooked into a traditional pattern gifted to the Adobe Wool Arts Guild here in Albuquerque.)
For those who are wondering, Tynan is an almost 9-year-old Welsh springer spaniel. (His birthday is next month.) Some of you might notice that he’s looking a lot less scruffy in this pic; he got a haircut just yesterday. He’s become fond of demonstrating how much dogs (and even cats) love hand-hooked rugs. In fact, he believes that every dog deserves his or her own rug. Fortunately, High on Hooking can help all you dog parents and grandparents with that. Finally, Tynan will do pretty much anything if he believes that food will be involved. Yes, he did get a treat after his photo shoot.
We’ve got another photo or two. This is a mug rug my niece requested after seeing other mug rug sets on my Facebook pages. In this case, she sent a pic of the mug for me to work from.
“Kendall’s Cupcake mug rug. (T-shirts, beads, pom-pom.)Niece Kendall with her mug and custom-hooked rug. Doesn’t the kid just slay you?
Memory Lane can take you to the best places. In this case, New Hampshire’s Story Land around 1970.
Memory Lane’s got me in her grip, but I managed to come up for air for a few moments. For one thing, this post is due tomorrow. As long as I can get a draft done today…
I’ve been going through hundreds of old family photos that my brother and his wife generously uploaded to Shutterfly from slides my father’s been taking for decades. It’s a huge undertaking and the job’s not done yet. But at least family history – the good and bad of it – won’t be lost, and the collection of pics doesn’t have to be split between the four of us kids.
Why am I going through photos today? And not just my father’s but my own family’s as well? It actually has to do with rug hooking. Really! In less than a month Cheryl Bollenbach is paying a visit to Albuquerque, specifically to the Adobe Wool Arts guild, to facilitate an open class with us. I know, it’s exciting. It’s open, so we’re choosing our own projects. Cheryl will be informed ahead of time, so that she’ll know what we’re looking to learn and what we need help with, then she can prepare accordingly. Actually, she’s waiting to hear from us, um, me right now. I received her email Friday. Still haven’t responded.
Dancing with Grandpa. Maybe I was 13-ish.
See, between creating hopefully saleable small mats and working on the bed-sheet rug (which presented a not-so-small backing challenge this past week) in order to have enough inventory for the Rail Yards Market come June 5, I haven’t been thinking too much about the class. Sure, now and again – usually at 2:00 a.m. in bed – I’d agonize a little over it and what I wanted to accomplish with Cheryl, but I’d comfort myself with “Hey, it’s not till May. You’ve got plenty of time.” This week I realized that May 4th is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!
Deep breath. More thought. One goal I’ve had for 2016 is to hook a sefie. Not something particularly realistic, but one of those whimsical, full-of-color mats I’ve seen some of you put up on Facebook and Pinterest. What fun! I’ll do that. But then I got to thinking, I haven’t done
Tynan, family dog extraordinaire. (We all say that about our dogs, I know.) Love his color, but not interested in hooking that much Welsh springer spaniel red and white.
Tynan. He’s our dog who simply must be immortalized in wool or t-shirt or something. Again, not looking to make him realistic either. Did that with another dog and really didn’t enjoy it. Ripped out a LOT of loops. Hooking’s supposed to be my happy place. And what I want to do in one of these rugs is show that and the joy that Tynan and/or I get from life. That means bright colors, people.
So, I’m looking at pics, and I see my beloved grandmother. And my brother who passed away from cancer at 14. I could hook them! Or pictures my dad took of Nova Scotia during our camping trips! What about the mountains of New Mexico that I’ve fallen in love with? Or my daughter behind a feathered Mardi Gras mask circa 5th grade? Now I’m out of control. Really, I’ve never mined my photographs for ideas given my love of abstract. I guess it’s time.
I know that many of you do use your pics to hook. I’m looking for some advice regarding Photoshop. Looks like it can definitely be a great tool. Thoughts? Ease of use? (I’m Windows based, not Mac.) Happy to hear from everyone. And I’ll let you know sometime soon who’s getting a portrait done.
