Will & Kirby

Dimensions: 20" x 16"
Materials: #8-cut wool on linen
Designed and hooked by Laura Pierce, Petaluma, California, 2008.
Featured in: Celebration XIX

"Will and Kirby is another portrait rug based on one of my photographs" my husband, Kirby, and our son, Will, from a vacation in Terrace, BC. It was a happy trip; my family was very impressed with the big wild Pacific Northwest where I lived in my youth. This portrait is hooked with #8-cut hand-dyed wool, textures and scraps. I’d been seeing quite a few scrap portraits on the internet and a few wide-cut ones too. I really liked the impressionistic look and hooked a few of my own. This is another favourite photograph but doesn’t have great portrait lighting. The sunlight is bright and quite high in the sky, so the shadows blotted out much of the details. Will has blue eyes, and I fussed with them several times but finally hooked dark shadows as indicated in the visual.  

The portrait rugs aren’t so accurate that they resemble the person, but they do take on a life of their own… and remind us of happy times. I have a few more to do.

Will and Kirby hang in the Portrait Gallery with several other family portrait rugs and portrait photographs!"
- Laura Pierce, Celebration Hall of Fame 2018