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It is easy to recognize a van Gogh by his use of yellow and gold—and also by his depiction of sunflowers. I adapted Four Cut Sunflowers from one of van Gogh’s lesser-known sunflower paintings by the same name. My hand-dyed yellows and golds gave me the values to distinguish all the sunflower petals. The as-is wool gave me the texture I needed for the sunflower centers. The values in the blue give movement to the still life and make the branches come forward.
I like how one sunflower has its head turned away; it was quite different hooking the underside. I also enjoyed trying to capture the dryness of the flowers and the surface irregularities. I found hooking all the petals of the sunflowers challenging, however. I used light and dark values to get the movement and separation that I needed.
To finish the rug, I turned back the linen, then hand stitched black cotton twill tape to cover the linen on the back. This piece taught me how to imitate brushstrokes in the background—and how values can highlight and turn a piece around.
From the Judges:
Thoughtfully layered colors in the sunflowers and contrasting blues in the background. Beautiful impressionistic adaptation. Captures the essence of nature.
Four Cut Sunflowers, 24″ x 15″, #4-cut hand-dyed and as-is wool on linen. Adapted from a painting by Vincent van Gogh and hooked by Val Flannigan, Kelowna, British Columbia, 2024.
Val Flannigan
KELOWNA, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Val has been hooking for about 25 years and takes classes whenever she can. She is a lifelong learner. She likes doing realistic and paint erly designs. She is a member of many groups and participates in the rug-hooking community.