I couldn’t resist. I had an 11″ x 14″ piece of monk’s cloth left over from previous projects. It was too small for my new hooking frame so I used my two rings; 9″ and 12″.
I was both excited and apprehensive about this project because of the subject matter. My childhood nickname was “Ross” (you’d have to ask my father where he came up with that). Also, as a boy I had red hair usually sticking up on top like a rooster’s tail. There’s the connection. Plus, if you’ve seen some of my poetry, you’ll get a sense that the rooster is my spirit animal. I was excited because it was so personal and symbolically self-identifying. I was apprehensive for fear of screwing it up. That wouldn’t stop me though.
I found a silhouette image online that I liked and transposed it onto the monk’s cloth. Being so small, I knew it would be impossible to render it realistically. So, impressionism would be my goal.
Online research of rooster images (both real live and artistic interpretations) informed me I would need some more shades of the colors I already had… you know, to do proper homage to the beautiful feathers.
So, that meant a quick trip to the Dollar Store where I found some of the colors I thought would work… and so the yarn stash grows.
I was still missing a couple of color shades to complete my pallet. Michael’s did not have exactly what I wanted so I stopped there. It was time to start hooking with the pallet as it is.
I admit it was more difficult than I expected. I struggled to define the feathers so they wouldn’t look like a big blob of wool. I also struggled with what to do for the background, flip-flopping between a pastoral scene or something abstract. In the end, it became off-white scroll lines around the rooster against a darker off-white background. The contrast is barely noticeable and only in some lights. Sort of like a secret embellishment.
In the end, despite all my fussing and fretting, it turned out great. Thank you for reading. This is Ross the Rooster.
nellyglass studio 