I couldn’t resist, but as much as I was excited about this project, I was equally apprehensive… all 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… read “symbolically self-identifying”. I was apprehensive for fear of screwing it up and what that might mean “symbolically”. 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. It became neither. Instead, I designed scroll lines around the rooster in off white against a darker off-white background. The contrast is barely noticeable and only in some lights… like a secret embellishment!
In the end, I like it very much. It suits me.
Thank you for reading. This is Ross the Rooster.
nellyglass studio 