In today's class, she shared with the class her streamlined approach to sketching the design for a recent rug....and we were also able to see the finished piece: Tall Trees and Hollyhocks.
Doris also shared a wonderful work that was designed and created by her daughter, Mary Vaughan. This picture gives some idea of the size - it is massive! Originally designed to be a stair runner, she later opted to hang it on the wall so that the design wasn't broken up. It is stunning.
We also had a special visitor in class: Mama Mansour! Are you familiar with Mama's video? Deanne and Donny will be offering a class together next year during the Fibre Arts Festival.
One of the things we did in class today was a little challenge piece. Everyone was provided with a little bag of wool - including small amounts of cut and uncut fabric, yarns, ribbons, fleece, etc. - and we were challenged to hook a little landscape using only the contents of our bag -- in just an hour! What amazed me the most about the exercise is that by limiting my choices, I hooked much faster than usual. I didn't have a lot to choose from, so I didn't spend (waste?) a lot of time selecting each strip or color.
The following picture shows what I hooked, as well as the remaining contents of my scrap bag. I will admit that I had a particularly good bag....
At lunchtime, we went for a quick walk over to Bella's Cafe, where there is little show of Doris' work on display. Since people were eating their lunch at the time, we didn't feel comfortable taking pictures.....but we will have that luxury tomorrow night, when there is a special dinner at Bella's as part of the Fibre Arts Festival.
I love these hockey rugs - even though I'm not really a hockey fan...unless it's the Olympics!
It is so interesting to see all of the different colours, values, textures and fibres that were used in this piece (this is a close-up of the above mat)....
We had a quick trip to Heidi's after class - where decision making is always difficult, because there are so many lovely things. Then it was off to Duncan's (again!) for supper. So far I've been able to keep to my "eat seafood every day" diet... ;-)
In the evening, we had the fortunate opportunity to be introduced to Newfoundland author, Donna Morrissey, at her book reading. There is nothing quite like hearing an author read sections of her book aloud -- it makes me wish that all books could talk. I picked up an autographed copy of Kit's Law....and can't wait to read it (as soon as I finish An Echo in the Bone, of course!)
I cannot wait to see what we do in our second day of class....
