Artful Color: Get Some Perspective!

Dearly Beloved, various wools, fabrics, techniques and cuts on monk’s cloth. Designed and hooked by Wanda Kerr, Wiarton, Ontario, 1999.

When we make a rug, several design aspects converge. Our pattern, no matter the source, is made of lines and shapes that need color. In my experience it seems we can usually overcome a poor-quality design with some fancy footwork and exceptional color use. And I’ve seen even the greatest design defeated by poor color choices.

AN EXCEPTION
One of my long-held beliefs was that color could solve everything. When I made Dearly Beloved, I learned color can’t conquer all. I hooked my cat in a garden. I’m viewing him as though I’m slightly above him, as if kneeling. I felt very sure I was drawing everything as it should look, drawing it correctly.

I’m a lot better at coloring than I am at drawing and I made this a long time ago, in the spring of 2000. My artistic ability with a pencil was in its infancy.

I began to hook my drawing in a class about prodding led by Yvonne Wood. No matter what I did, the paving stones in the garden would not “lay down.” The first one on the right is okay, the cat makes the second one lay, but the third one looks like an outcropping, possibly even a headstone.