A Bevy of Bison: the Challenge of Animal Portraiture

My Baby, 20″ x 24″, #3-cut wool on rug warp. Wall hanging designed and hooked by Sibyl Osicka, Parma, Ohio, 2010.

My Baby is a composition picturing portraits of five bison, from a very large adult to a very small baby. The smaller bison emerge out of the neck of the large center animal, from the hump on its back, and from the body. What I was trying to achieve is to have the smaller bison fade into the background and slowly become visible to the viewer while not detracting from the large bison.

How To

1. I began with the largest bison. When I hook a face—either a person or an animal—I always start with the eyes.
2. After completing the eyes, I proceeded to the nose. I used the dark brown values of the swatches that were overdyed gray wool and morning glory blue. I combined these with a dark gray swatch. This whole area was hooked as I normally would to the height of a #3 cut. (Detail A)
3. Once the nose was complete, I proceeded to hook the head. I had to choose what swatch I was going to use and how I was going to progress up the head of the bison. I decided to hook one tuft at a time. Starting with value one against the nose, I hooked value one with a ½” loop.  The loop with value 2 was a little shorter. I continued that way, progressively smaller, until I got to value eight, which was the normal height of a #3 cut. Every tuft was hooked in this fashion. To vary the color, I changed swatches as I progressed up the head. Toward the top of the head, the swatches got a little redder.
4. The horns were hooked with a light gray swatch, SO 311 from Soft is Beautiful. The areas behind the horns were hooked with the dark values of the swatches to make them stand out. I hooked the enlarged tufts up the forehead and down the side of the face only. The large bison becomes the focal point of this piece. (Detail B)
   

   My Baby (Detail A), 20″ x 24″, #3-cut wool on rug warp. Wall hanging designed and hooked by Sibyl Osicka, Parma, Ohio, 2010. 

   

   My Baby (Detail B), 20″ x 24″, #3-cut wool on rug warp. Wall hanging designed and hooked by Sibyl Osicka, Parma, Ohio, 2010.

5. I hooked the smaller bison on the lower left-hand side next. I came down the neck of the large bison into the neck of the small one. At that point, I found that I wanted to change swatches. There is a trick to this: look at the last value you hooked of swatch A. Choose a value in swatch B that is very close in shade. This only works if the intensity of the swatches is the same. Once you make the transition from swatch A to swatch B, proceed with swatch B and hook to the dark value (or to the light value, whichever progression you need for the piece). Each one of the smaller bison was hooked this way.
6. Next I hooked the baby bison (Detail C). The youngster was hooked with light values to match the colors of a newborn.
7. Next came the background (Detail D). I started on the background only after all the bison were completed. I have used many different styles of backgrounds—dip dyes, spots, and abrashed, etc.—but for this piece I wanted to use an eight-value swatch for the background too. I chose Chroma Craft #13 for the background. This swatch proceeds from soft gray apricot to taupe. Many of the bison faces were hooked with Chroma Craft #14, which goes from taupe to spice brown: that would be very similar to the background, so I had to plan carefully. I placed the value eight under the bison’s eye where I needed a shadow. Remember, you must have contrast so that the motifs do not get lost. I hooked the background horizontally and fingered in the values. The outer edges of the background end with the first value, soft apricot. 

    

   

   My Baby (Detail C), 20″ x 24″, #3-cut wool on rug warp. Wall hanging designed and hooked by Sibyl Osicka, Parma, Ohio, 2010.

SWATCHES FOR BISON

• Background: Chroma Craft #13 over Dorr natural wool. Salmon to taupe.
• Bison faces: Chroma Craft #14 over Dorr natural wool. Taupe to spice brown.
• Horns: SO 311 from Soft is Beautiful.

Chroma Craft is by Anne Ashworth

Soft is Beautiful is by Sibyl Osicka

DYE RECIPES FOR BISON SWATCHES

Use Cushing dyes for these formulas for the bison. I like using very closely related formulas to make sure that the colors go together well.

Recipe #1:

• 1 1/4 cups boiling water
• 1/2 t medium brown
• 1/4 t crimson
• 1/8 t butterscotch yellow

Dye over Dorr gray wool, using the measurement chart of 1/4 t, 3/4 t, 11/2 t, 1 T, 2 T, 3 T, 41/2 T, 6 T, and remainder of the dye in the jar (usually about 10–12 T). Use the same formula to dye over Dorr morning glory blue.

Recipe #2:

• 1 1/4 cups boiling water
• 1/2 t medium brown
• 1/4 t butterscotch yellow
• 1/8 t crimson

Dye over Dorr gray wool, using the same measurement chart as above.

HELPFUL HINTS

You must have a contrast between motifs. Place your hooking down and walk across the room: if you can see a contrast leave it as you hooked it. If one of the motifs disappears, lighten or darken that section of the motif. Remember that all your work is viewed from a distance.

Begin a portrait, either animal or human, by hooking the eyes.

When progressing from one swatch to another, find a value close in color on the second swatch. Remember that they must be the same intensity. For example, if your swatch A ends with value 5, then progressing to swatch B value 4, 5, or 6 could work nicely for the transition. But if the two swatches are complements like red and green, this won’t work. You would have to lower the intensity of the red to a soft pale red/peach and the green to a light grayed green. Then the progression would work nicely.