Kinship in Color and Wool

Early summer garden

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

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

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

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

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.

ArtPrize + Beerhorst Family = Beerhorst Family Traveling Art Show

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!

for more about ArtPrize click here