A Splash of Colour Karen Walker

When I looked at the various pictures by Friedensreich Hundertwasser I can honestly say they did not float my boat! However, what I did like was his choice of colours and the way he distorted shapes. If you look closely some of his pictures contain houses within squares and this became my inspiration for my rug.

The initial colour choice for my rugs came from the artist and I was lucky enough to have the colours I needed in my stock so I had no need to further dye.

The rug is hooked on hessian and the design was drawn on roughly by hand.   I decided on those measurements to allow for the design I wanted and so that I can eventually hang it over a door, also it was a project small enough I could finish quickly.

The material used is a combination of woollen flannel, plaid, blanket and rug wool. I used only hooking as a technique as the size of the rug is small. In my first attempt at the sky I used flannel, unfortunately, as I could not get the effect I wanted in such a small space, I changed to rug wool. In finishing off I am ashamed to say I yet again whipped the edge! I did consider other finishing techniques but, as the hanging space is limited and I like the whipping finish it won the debate.

I enjoyed the whole project and I do like the finished result .... just need a door now!

A Splash of Colour June Gregory

My interpretation of A Splash of Colour, I have always liked to splash in puddles so this idea came to mind,not straight away though, because I was thinking of something really arty, but I am not a very arty person as drawing doesn't come easy to me but I hope that you like it. It is 10ins x10ins on Monks cloth punch hooked in 100 percent wool yarn.

A Splash of Colour Miranda Auckland

When I looked at Friedensreich Hunderwasser's work I did not like it as I found it naive, unbalanced and odd! but I did like the bright colour.

My design came from a photograph of a child's dress that I took in India. I decided to do a similar pattern but to use much brighter colours.
Originally I intended to use yellow-coloured hessian and leave some of it showing and I also intended to both hook and prod but as I started working I decided just to hook and to use wool.I also ended up covering all the hessian!
I drew the design in my book first, then drew it freehand onto the hessian and worked on it quite erratically doing a bit here and a bit there to see how the colours worked together.
I added some Indian braid that I already had and I made the circles out of felt and embroidered them. I intended to sew mirrors in the middle but I was unable to get any large enough so I got some sequined/beaded flowers for the middle.
The finished piece measures 9" by 13".
I have loved doing this piece of work and did it straight away. It took about a week in all

Wild and Beautiful Heather Woodward

Size 9" worked on monks cloth. Second piece worked on monks cloth.

Punch hooked with hand dyed yarn and needle felted edge with hand dyed sheep fleece.
Inspired by the interest I have in the Green Man I have used his face in other peices of art.

A Splash of Colour Debbie Mairas

Here is my Hundertwasser - again using my 13" by 18" frame. hooked onto hessian using T-shirts and all sorts of patterned cotton fabrics and some sparkly ones. I have decided for my Hundertwasser samples to use different backing material samples and to use some different techniques that I learnt from an experimental workshop with Lynne Stein - watch this space!

Wild and Beautiful Debbie Marais

 Snowdrop
It is hooked from all sorts of fabric, mainly old t-shirts onto hessian. I haven't finished the edging yet as I want to do something different to what I normally do which is an overwrap stitch using fabric. The image is 13" by 18". I did try to do it smaller but I really wanted a more voluptuous snowdrop so it got bigger! I have always loved snowdrops and that was the first thing that popped into mine when i saw the brief in January. I just drew the design onto the hessian and then redrew it when I wanted it to be bigger.
One of the reasons that this is so late is that I had by some bizarre coincidence been working on a piece inspired by Hundertwasser. I will finish it and do some more samples by the end of June otherwise I will have nothing to do!! Looking forward to meeting people at the workshop in July.

Wild and Beautiful Linda Bishop

 This is for the January assignment to hook with different materials with a theme of "Wild and Beautiful."  I used a ball of thick and thin yarn for which I had not yet found a purpose.  The colors aren't very exciting but I decided it would make a nice sunset/mountain/desert hooked mat.  [My husband wants this for his office - probably a resting place for his coffee mug.  I guess these colors would conceal a coffee splash!]  The colors also remind us both of the West Texas high plains, where sunsets can be magnificent and the terrain quite harsh.I drew a few curved lines on the backing and started hooking.  The yarn was easy to hook - it was fluffier than it looked.  I had to roll out the yarn in color-phases so that I could get to the colors I wanted. I used what I think is a linen background which was easy to work with except the fibers split sometimes.  The yarn is 100% wool.  I whip-stitched around the edge of the piece with needlepoint yarn and I plan to sew a backing of wool plaid fabric.  The resulting mat is about 6" X 9".