Birthday cake
Originally uploaded by bbmarie {studiobeerhorst}.
Today is my 48th Birthday! Chocolate cake made from scratch by my daughter Pearl. One of the benefits of growing older is children who bake you cakes! The day is bright and beautiful and Rick is making homemade pizza. Shepherd my 11 year old son (and only boy) even straightened up the house on his own and has been extra nice to me.... I kinda like being treated extra nice!
Hooked flower pins
Originally uploaded by bbmarie {studiobeerhorst}.
Slowly I have been finishing these flower pins. I think I will bring them to Rug Camp. I am going to Camp! This will be the first Rug Hooking Camp I have ever been to. I am looking forward to it! Many a day I have longed for a Mommy get-a-way... 6 kids and one husband all together all the time... (Rick and I work at home and we also unschool our 6 kids)... You can imagine the desperate thoughts that pass my mind on occasion. :) All that said, the weather is cooler this week and my mood has sweetened!
So - we have an opportunity at Camp to sell some rug hooking stuff on consignment - I am thinking of selling these and some other things for more spending money. I think I will want to buy wool!
I am attending Heirlooms Rug Hooking School in Holland Michigan, July 12 17. It is put on by Tomorrow's Heirlooms - a rug hooking Shop run in Allendale, Michigan owned by Fred and Nancy Blair. They are some good people! I will be taking a class by Susan Feller we will be designing rugs inspired by Frakturs and other folk art. Yea!
Early summer garden
Originally uploaded by bbmarie {studiobeerhorst}.
We are having a heat wave...... There are not enough fans to cool this mama down.
Rug Hooking
Originally uploaded by bbmarie {studiobeerhorst}.
This is slow-going! I almost always get stalled in the beginning of a rug. There are usually too many options and I am really picky. So-- I am ambivilent about these two flowers. It's not that I hate them..... it's just that I don't love them --- But I am not sure why or what the heck? So I have been avoiding working on it. I am waiting on that mental "click" that happens when I know what and why I should do something to this rug. But in the meantime I am making hooked flower pins. I know I should work on the background or finish the vase. I will. Maybe if I try a third flower it will all "click". Even when I am not working on it my subconscious is hashing it out. At least I am hoping it is :)
rose red and rose white
Originally uploaded by roses&pearls.
These two dolls are a collaboration between my husband Rick and our oldest daughter Rose. Rick carved and painted the heads and Rose hand sewed the bodies and refit some old doll clothes to fit them. I think they are mysteriously stunning.
Flower pins in progress
Originally uploaded by bbmarie {studiobeerhorst}.
I love hooking with wool... but every once and awhile I make some bright flower pins. I use mostly recycled t-shirts. My daughter Pearl uses the same t-shirts to make her own loops for her pot-holder loom. My other daughter Rose; -I have 5 daughters :) puts some of the hooked flowers on her "sock monsters". I still think it would be fun to do a whole rug with t-shirt strips, but I just haven't done it yet.
Digital art tools and Rug Hooking
Originally uploaded by bbmarie {studiobeerhorst}.
Here I am in my own little corner, in my own little world....{remember that Cinderella song?} I always go through a rough patch when I start a new rug, that has to do with picking colors that sing to me. Here I am looking at the screen on the digital camera in the Black and White setting - looking for value contrast. It is amazing how different things look without color! You can easily lose all sense of contour and line, especially on the inside of a motif in the Black and White setting. When I am stuck on which way to go in choosing wools for say a flower -- sometimes a digital tool is a good thing to get unstuck with.
Originally uploaded by ArtPrize.
ArtPrize: The world's largest Art Prize decided by Public Vote was announced in Grand Rapids, Michigan 4/23/09. And our Family is going to participate! All of us are collaborating with Rachel and Cameron VanDyke to build a Gypsy-style wagon and fill it with art and set up downtown Grand Rapids Sept. 23 to 30th 2009. We hope to have Music, Poetry and Art-making events at our "Gypsy Wagon Camp"! Vote - Beerhorst Family at ArtPrize 09!
Rug-Hooking Progress, "Everyday Joy"
Originally uploaded by bbmarie {studiobeerhorst}.
Here's a little peek at my new rug. The colors are: Blue-green, orange, red-violet, yellow-orange and red. It is a Double-Split Complimentary color combo from the color wheel. The background is a med- taupe color. This will be a tricky rug to do. I am excited for the challenge!
Everyday joy
Originally uploaded by bbmarie {studiobeerhorst}.
I drew this rug a few months ago and I finally started hooking it last week. This is a big rug! 29 in. x 53 1/2 in. I designed it with lots of big flowers because I had so much fun hooking the flowers in "Antique Basket" I named it Everyday Joy because I think flowers, birds and squirrels represent the simple joy in nature everyday. I love spring, it seems so fleeting, maybe more than the other seasons. All those lovely flowing trees blooming for such a short time, and the tulips and daffodils. It is good to pause and breath deep when you see a flowering tree in the peak of bloom.
