Sometimes for me, inspiration  is swift and sure, coming like a bolt out of the blue.  But more often, it is a long and convoluted twisting path with many dead ends and blind alleys. I’ve learned to keep searching until I feel that wonderful excitement in knowing that YES! this is what I want to hook

For a long time, I’ve been intending to replace this rug which lies in our upstairs hall.I’ve repaired fraying edges and several splits along the side, but duct tape on the underside can only do so much.

As is usual, my creative process is multi- directional and convoluted, but this time it has transpired over several years. I began using a journal to collect ideas and pictures that inspired me., and although most will not be used for this project, it is a useful tool and a great reminder of what I like. Now that I’m ready to make a decision and begin this rug, I went back to it once again .

So….here’s a record of my ideas, and decisions as I settled on how I would tackle my “upper hall rug”.

I was inspired by these Yellina prints. I liked the flower like motives and the overlapping as they moved out from the centre.….however I discarded the idea of flowers entirely, as being more feminine than  I wanted for this project.

I then turned to the idea of an abstract pattern. (sorry for the fuzzy photos). I immediately thought of Deanne Fitzpatrick’s beautiful monochromatics.

Oh so beautiful, but her wonderful , high, freeform style is not one I can emulate, and for me is much of the charm of these rugs. Mine would just not end up having that depth.This is an antique puzzle rug, and rather like another idea that was floating in my mind…to create the outline of an historical building in my town, and then hide it within multi coloured shapes. While the idea intrigued me , after several sketches, when I tried to picture the result, it just didn’t make me happy.

This latch hook rug made me smile. It would be an easy pattern idea, and would use up lots of existing wool in my stash. 

It was at this point that I realized I was looking for the wow factor, and for me this idea just didn’t have it. I wanted something that took my breath away and would excite me each time I stood back to look at it.

I saw just such a rug being worked on at our rug hooking meeting on Tuesday. It was an overhead view of water and a shore with beautiful blues and greens , in the water, rocks and other various colours. It was wonderful, it was perfect, but it wasn’t my idea. I even went so far as to spend several hours looking through images of rocks in water to see if there was another form of the same idea that I might use to inspire me.

I loved this one…….but the reality is too much like Marg’s idea. I needed my own.

So back to my inspiration journal, and a series of ideas I’d found a long time ago. This multicoloured swirly pattern is created with lights on the floor of a Moroccan Cathedral.

I liked the pattern idea, and it reminded me of oil on water so I looked for just that…images of oil on water.….how beautiful and bold is that…..….or this with basically just the two colours……..but when I revisited this next example…I knew I’d found my answer….

I love the shapes, I love the colour palette (except the expanse of dark on the left). I think I have found my answer. ….one that was in my journal all along. It has the feel of a nebula about it with the excitement of fire, and the serenity of the circles. While I liked it before, now it is speaking to me personally.

Now for the next step.