Finished felt landscape for the Granby Land Trust show.

I am going to write another quick post before I forget what I have done the past two weeks. I finished both the drawing and the felt landscape I had been making to submit to the Granby Land Trust art show. I even got them there with about 20 minutes to spare. I also found out that I am not alone in cutting these things to the wire. One artist brought in a painting that had wet paint! At least wet felt does not make a mess. ;) Here is the finished felt...

 I really don't enjoy the process of needle felting, but I love what it can do. By combining both wet felting and needle felting I can achieve looks that I could not get by wet felting alone. The barn would have been far less detailed without using the needle.

One of the things that I love about Autumn is the color of the haze-less sky. In this piece I wanted to emphasize that deep blue field.
This is one of the inspiration photos. I like to have several shots from which to work as each has a different view or exposure and I then have more information to base my decisions on. When I teach I explain that the photo is just a reference for the creation. I teach how to simplify and accentuate the things that attract us, and how to be able to see what is actually happening with the color in each landscape. Since this changes for each piece I have to give each student personal attention and that is why I don't want to teach large classes. I am going to the Washington, DC area to teach on Monday and I think that my doing a landscape right before the class helps me to take notice of and remember all the little things that I do just instinctively.

The other piece I was working on was a colored pencil drawing. It is based on a photo I took in which the light coming through the leaves forming shadows was the thing that I loved about the shot. It was fun drawing again, I think I got burnt out doing it for a job.

I was a bit more rush than I would have been because I answered a Facebook friend's plea for help with her booth at Rhinebeck, also known as the New York Sheep and Wool Festival. It was pretty brave of me and out of character to jump into the unknown like that. But one of the life lessons that comes from experience is knowing that doing something out of my comfort zone can bring benefits beyond the obvious. I made new friends AND got invited by Susan to possibly teach at the Midwest Felting Symposium (I hope I don't get in trouble for saying that before any plans are formal like I did for the fling. I have such a talent for saying things I shouldn't have).
It was an intense weekend with long hours...40 hours long. I have never worked that long at anything I don't think. I am not good with stress (though I should be since I seem to create my own from nothing) and many parts of the weekend were stressful for me. I hate having anything to do with money and math and sales (I don't even do it for my own booth!) and when I needed to assume that responsibility due to unforeseen events I kind of had a mini melt down. But working with Susan and Jamie and getting to know them was a treat. They are very fun and kind people and Susan is an absolutely amazing person for multitasking. I have never seen anything like it. I wish I have just a pinch of her energy and ability to think and act on so many things at once. Here are a couple of pictures of the booth set up to give a sense of what it entails.

 It was really nice to have a very tall and strong guy to do the lifting and reaching. And Jamie was very entertaining. Notice that there is no photo of Susan's face since she was always in motion!

My drive to and from Rhinebeck was nice and relaxing and the scenery was so lovely with the fall colors. I took many photos, stopping a few times on the way home...in part just to wake up a bit since I was so exhausted.
On the way there on Friday morning....

 And home on Monday morning...

I loved the shadows created by this fence.

I am thinking that some of these could be reference photos for my classes or for my own work.