New Hooked Wool Drawings

2014 #4, hand dyed wool and egg tempera on linen, 15 x 12 in.

I finished a new group of hooked wool drawings, three out of four of which had a mind of their own. I began by the decision to do two pieces in my all-over format and two with the image centered on the linen. With #4 I had originally planned to hook wool in the right hand side of the circle, using green wool similar to the paint color. But once I had painted it and hooked in the dark line, the piece seemed to be telling me that an additional element wasn't needed, so I left my initial idea behind.

2014 #5, hand dyed wool and egg tempera on linen, 15 x 12 in.

A funny thing happened with this piece; actually two funny things: first of all, the squarish shape at the top was supposed to be a square, but oddly came out more like a trapezoid. Then I made a dumb mistake: I had planned that the pink color surround that squarish shape, but when I had finished the whole thing I realized––amazing that I didn't see it before––that I'd left the top triangle blank. So then my choice was to try to match the pink or repaint it; leave it blank, or paint it a dark color, closer to the color of the hooked rectangle. What started out as a very sedate, classical composition, got a bit shaken up. 

2014 #5 detail

Here's a detail of paint and wool and linen. I'm not sure that this irregular composition is successful, but it was interesting to go off on an unexpected tangent.

2014 #6, hand dyed wool and egg tempera on linen, 14 x 16 in.

I thought I'd try some subtle color in the hooked portion of this piece instead of a more usual intense color. (Blogger is showing this too dark, something that's happened before. #7 is also too dark) This is another instance where I'm not sure that what I've done works because the light wool color may be too close in value and hue to the linen.

2014 #7, hand dyed wool and egg tempera on linen, 14 1/2 x 14 1/2 in. 

Here is another instance of a drawing going its own way: I used a compass to draw the circle, but somehow it ended up squished into an odd shape. The drawing thumbed its nose at me: regular forms? hah! Should I have accepted the drawing's demands or just tossed it? My tendency these days with my work other than paintings on parchment––which do demand a level of perfection––is to accept the irregular and imperfect for the quirky energy they bring.