PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST: Mark Rayner with his winning work, Self Portrait, a hand-hooked woollen rug.PHOTO/STUART MUNRO
A portrait in a rather unusual medium was the winner of this year's Whanganui Arts Review.
Mark Rayner's Self Portrait - a hand-hooked woollen rug - won the open award and a prize of $2000. Mr Rayner, who has made his name as a ceramicist, told the Wanganui Chronicle he's
been making the portraits for about two years.
It's an involved process. Mr Rayner begins with, in the case of Self Portrait, a photo that he photoshopped. "I converted the photo into a pattern and then I chose the colours, which is the exciting bit."
It took him around 40 hours to make the portrait, painstakingly pulling wool through a canvas with a special hooking tool.
"I love the process of it. When you're making the rug it's quite repetitive but also quite calming."
