But what about your blog? Part Two

After the week at the Huyck (see part one of this post) I had a few shows to get pieces ready for. One was for the only craft show that I normally do, Suffield on the Green. Here is a photo of my booth there.

I also submitted work to the '80 Days of Art' show at the West Hartford Art League,

 The 22nd Annual Juried Art Show at the Piedmont Hall in Somers,

 an exhibit put on by the Northeast Feltmakers Guild (which I am a proud member of), 

and the Tobacco Valley Artists Association's 2014 Fall Members Show.

It was really hard to keep track of all the dates for applying, drop off, opening, and pick up for each show. I messed up a few times but not too badly.

I also was busy getting a new felt piece ready for the Granby Land Trust art show. This year the theme was Celebrating Preserved Lands so the choices of where we were to find our inspiration was much broader than usual. I submitted the pastel painting above that was inspired by the Cape Cod National Sea Shore, and a felt piece based on a photo I took at the Parker River Wildlife Refuge. Here is the inspiration photo...

and here is the felt.

My pastel did not get in to the show but the felt did...and it sold to a local art collector. 

After that I had to get some pieces ready to bring to the Wesleyan Potters' Annual Show and Sale. 

Some of the pieces I already had done but some still needed framing. Some of them I thought we all set I found needed attention, especially those that had been in previous shows. It was stressful getting them there in time but I did it. Here is one of the new felt pieces, which was inspired by one of the photos I took out in Wisconsin while at the Midwest Felting Symposium.

I had also started a pastel rendition of the same photo...but it is still unfinished.  I am really determined to get good at using the pastels for when my hands to get too weak to felt, since pastel benefits from a gentle touch...not to mention that I get tired of using just one medium. I know I am not there yet...

I was invited to do a one day, one table, show and sale by the City of Waterbury public arts council. I asked my daughter if she wanted to do it with me and she agreed. It turned out to be one of the best shows we have ever done and was a whole new market. 

I sold TWO hats! I have only sold one before. I was so glad to have them find an owner...it is sad to have things just sit in a box for years. Sometimes I believe that the things I create really are just waiting for the right person to come along.

During this period I was also able to take a workshop with Cristina Pacciani of CriCri Felt. I only knew of Cristina through Facebook. Through her posts I saw such a talented artist and even more so, a beautiful soul. I really wanted to meet her and when I found out she was going to come over from Amsterdam to teach a workshop in New Hampshire I signed right up. I am so glad I did, and Cristina was exactly as I thought she would be. Unfortunately, I was recovering from a cold and was not really up to doing as much felting as I wanted to. I did not really use a lot of the techniques that she showed in the scarf/wrap that I made in the workshop but I did learn some new things and best of all got to spend time with Cristina and many friends old and new. I did not take any great photos at the workshop. Here is a photo of the scarf; which you can also see on me in the photo above.

I also gave a workshop up at the Adirondack Folk School in Lake Luzerne NY. I taught my 'Scape-scarf' class. I only had three students so it was a lot of fun. They really enjoyed it and did good work.

I stayed at my friend Robin's house and on Sunday I helped her with her booth at the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival. I was a good girl there and did not really buy anything except for food. However,
in the beginning of November I got to go to the New England Fiber Festival with my friend Joei. Neither of us was going to buy a fleece...we were not even going to look! HA! We each bought one and split another one. Here is the one we split...and Icelandic that had black tips fading to white at the base.

I will also admit that I bought a skein of yarn...another thing I pledged not to buy more of. BUT I did not buy any beads! 

I took some time later that month to make another thing for me. Another wrap. I wanted it to be large enough to be yardage so I could cut and sew a top or something. THAT did not happen. I was using the pine needle technique that I learned from Leiko Uchiyama back in May. I love the look that can be achieved with this technique but I don't have enough patience to do enough of it to make a large piece. Here is part of the layout.

And here is the finished shawl.

It is made with 15.5 micron wool and is so soft and light.

And now that Thanksgiving is over I am working on what I hope will be yardage for a light weight jacket. I am finally using some of those naturally dyed silks that I have been making for years. I love how they look in this photo.

I know they will change a lot once they get socked with some soap and water and agitation when I felt them. Some of these pieces have never even been rinsed. It is all going to be a surprise. But the nice thing about natural dyes is that they seem to always look good together no matter how much they change. And I can always over-dye it if I don't like it!

The End

Back to Fiber Art....after a few more Pastels.

I was reminded today about needing to write a blog post. It has been in the back of my mind but there were a lot of things that seemed more important. I have done a lot of different things since I last wrote.
First I did finish the landscape/sky scape that I showed the beginning of in my last post. Here is the finished piece, titled "Time to Head Home". It really went through some big changes from the last photo posted.

Here it is framed.

I submitted that piece and my morning glory drawing, and my pastel of the wave to a juried show in Vernon and all three pieces were accepted. 

Here I am looking tired and talking with the incredibly talented, and really nice, Jane Penfield. If you go to her web page and look at her work you will see what a novice I am with the pastels.

And her is a photo of two women looking at my painting. I wish I knew what they were saying. Though it is nice just to see someone linger when they get to my work.

I did several more pastels after that.

Myrtle Beach Sunset

Bluebells in the Woods

Field at Sunset

On Cape Cod

I also finished this piece that I started a while ago.

I also did a little quick painting to try to loosen up my strokes and not muddy my colors. I used it as a 'give away' on my Facebook page.

And this painting I did as a timed painting to try to not get too stuck on the details.

In May I put aside the pastels and got back to felting when I took a workshop with Leiko Uchiyama. We learned how to do here Pine Needle technique of felt making. She is a very good teacher who has an aura of peace about her. 

The whole process was very Zen-like, and needs to be done in a kind of quiet meditative state. I find it hard to get to that place in a workshop, especially when there are time limits. I discovered that I am not good with tools. I did not like needing to hold the scissors in my hand. Leiko has so much practice it was just like an extension of her fingers....Leiko Scissorhands. 

After we learned the basic Pine Needle technique with just wool we learned how to incorporate it with silk fabric. Here is my little sample.

We then learned how to make a mosaic scarf. Here is one of the other student's layout. I of course loved her colors.

I chose to work with naturally dyed wool and silk. I used some silk chiffon that I had eco-printed and some wool that I dyed with Jewel weed. Here is it with my sample of just the Pine Needle technique in wool. That was my favorite and the wool I used was 15.5 micron and so soft and light. I want to do more of that for a garment....when I feel patient enough.

I also got together with a couple of friends, Joei and Cheryl, for a weekend of dyeing. They came here and I set up the tent so we could be outside enjoying the sun....when it did shine.

Not content to do just one type of dyeing we did several. After all if you are going to get set up and all messy you might as well go all the way. Speaking of messy, one of us, and I am not naming names, did not remember to wear her gloves. 

We did some resist and over dyeing as taught to us by Chad Alice Hagen...well at least the parts we could remember from the workshop.

Some discharge dyeing.

I love the back of the blue velvet silk.

We even did a bit of natural dyeing...madder in my iron caldron.

I loved the look of the dyed things hanging on the line. Joei did a bunch of ribbon and threads for her embroidery work.

And I dyed yards and yards of a really inyourface bright blue silk chiffon that I have had for a long time. I split it into three pieces and treated each differently.

This piece came out the best and the pattern is evenly uneven through the whole piece. Winner!

And that catches me up only to the end of May...and it is June 11th! I will try hard not to wait so long to do June.