Zig Zag Primitive

Dimensions: 35" x 43"
Materials: #7- and #8-cut hand-dyed, mostly vintage wool
Designed and hooked by Jeanne Benjamin, Brookfield, Massachusetts, 2015.
Featured in: Celebration 26

There is nothing like adding some vintage wools to a primitive rug design. They may not be new and perfect, but their addition puts me in that primitive working mode, which is often so hard to get your mind channeled into.

This rug came about--as some of mine do--by putting together a rug from a hodgepodge of notes, bits of photos, and random inspirations. If I see something that intrigues me, I will write it down for possible later use. In this case a "pot shaped like a tooth" was what caught my eye in an antique store: A flower pot needs to be filled. A photo of electric peacock blue with outrageous oranges piqued my interest: What if they were muted a bit? My design was too neat, so I added a quick sketch of a cat and bird beneath the pot. They have no relation to the pot flowers, which adds a naive touch. Since I didn't want more color and clutter, I eliminated leaves, and--wanting a frame--I simply drew a wavy "zig zag" line around the outer edge.
- Jeanne Benjamin, Celebration Hall of Fame 2018
(Note: This rug description was taken as an excerpt from the published Celebration entry.)