Simple Hooked Portraits

Simple Hooked Portraits

Instructor: Wendie Scott Davis

Course Description:

In this class students will choose a favourite photo of a person or pet and learn how to turn it into a painterly sketch, which will be their hooking map. There are a number of skills that students will acquire in the class including:

  • How to use Technology to create an edited image – perfect for hooking. Students will also learn to do a colour plan with their computer.
  • How to see values more clearly Students will learn how to identify – and hook – light, medium and dark values in their image.
  • How directional hooking affects a portrait: Whether it is bones in a face, hair on a head, fur on a dog or cat, or feathers on a bird, students will discover the way to hook it to make it look best.

    Since there is not enough time to do the actual photo preparation in class, I will do it ahead of class. Students will email me a photo they would like to hook, I will create a couple of options for them, and they will choose one. From their choice, I will also provide a colour plan for them to select their wool/yarn. I will also create a “sketch” from which they will prepare their pattern, on their own backing. (I will demonstrate all the things I have done to prepare their photos. And I will email tutorials for all the technology used.)

    I do not provide kits, as each photo is completely different. However, I will email step-by-step tutorials for each of the technology lessons I share. (There is a fee of $5 for each tutorial – there are 5 in total, so a fee of $25.00.) I will also need students to let me know if they are a Mac user, PC or iPad for one of the tutorials.

    From past classes, I have learned that skin tones can be an issue. Once students have chosen their portrait, I will offer to bring swatches for them, in either wool or yarn, and will pass through the charges that I have paid, since I am not a dyer. (The wool swatches are $12.00 for 6 values from 2 formulas. The yarn swatches are 10 g. Mini skeins, which are $2.50 each – and we can decide whether you are good with four or need five – so either $10. Or $12.50 for a set.) I will also bring extras in case students need more.

    Please note: this is not a good class for someone who does not have basic hooking skills.


    About the Instructor – Wendie Scott Davis

    Something about rug hooking captured my soul in my very first loop, and continues to romance me some 20 years later. It’s the community. It’s the creativity. It’s the artistic expression. It’s the joy. Since becoming a certified Ontario Hooking Craft Guild teacher in 2006, teaching has become a favourite part of my hooking life: right up there with designing my own patterns. I love working with rug hookers who are eager to come along with me on my various explorations and classes. I incorporate lots of tips and tricks to use technology in virtually every step of my mat making and I love sharing that knowledge with people who are curious to learn.