Uluru—where the Road to Uluru was heading! Solid and majestic–a commanding, sacred presence in a secular world.
As I was coming to the end of work on Road and my brain was starting to clear, I was stunned to realize that I was finishing my rug about 3 weeks before the Green Mountain Guild’s Summer two day hook-in and I was already reserved for both event and hotel….Yikes!! I had to get another rug going…and quickly.
Fortunately, when planning Road, I had come across several other Australian images that I thought would make great rugs. I went back to my pictures and indeed there were 4 that I thought could be the basis for rugs that would look really good hanging all together. One of these was a spectacular image of Uluru itself and the colors, vegetation and sky were all very similar to Road. This would make planning the new design so much easier and quicker…..and much of the dyed yarn already existed. Sold!! Uluru would be the same size with most of the same colors and finished with the same irregular edge….a continuation of the journey started with Road.
I began Uluru during the final days of Road. The sky remains the most difficult thing I have ever hooked and required much re-hooking. I was exhausted when it was finally competed.
When finishing Road, one of the trickiest bits was getting the hanging sleeve on the back to lie parallel to the design of the rug. I usually measure off the top edge for placement but with the curved top edge, I had no horizontal to refer to and I also had not copied the true center vertical to the back. Fortunately, the center section of sky was hooked “straight”. That was all I had to work from! Before starting Uluru, I made sure that all the info needed for proper sleeve placement was on the back!
An interesting side note for both Road and Uluru. After working on Uluru for a couple of weeks, I was very surprised to discover a small watercolor that I had done of this image in 1997. I also discovered a larger watercolor of the image Road was taken from. I do not remember doing these watercolors but clearly, I have been thinking about both of these images for a long time!
Nancy wrote that she’d really been looking forward to Hooked in the Mountains 2020 where she could see her two rugs displayed side by side. In the virtual world, we can fulfill her wish!
About the Artist:
In the summer of 2007 or 2008 I saw an exhibition of rug hooking at the NY State Fair. I knew nothing of this craft but I was fascinated. This remained a percolating thought until the summer of 2009 when I walked into a camp store in Acadia National Forest and saw the owner hooking with yarn….yarn!! A bell went off in my head. I love yarn. I have knitted all my life.
I had already been drawn to the look of the tree tops circling above my campsite. I left the camp store, went back to the site and took pictures. I started working on my first design once I returned home, taught my self to hook from the internet—thank you Gene Shepherd, Diane Fitzpatrick and Rachelle Leblanc!—purchased yarn at the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival and by Christmas had finished my first rug…a half round 36” x 18”…..executed on a 9” embroidery hoop!
It has been non-stop ever since.