Time to come out of hiding

I am getting back to a place where I care enough about art and felting to feel like I can blog again. It has been rough ever since one of my meds was changed to generic. My cognitive functioning and memory were so bad I decided I would rather be depressed or manic. As a last ditch effort to not do a total med change the good doctor wrote a script for name brand only and I think it is working. (I now spend a third of my income for meds but at least I CAN pay.)
For this post I am just going to share a few things that I have been able to do since I last wrote. Most of all I worked outside. Being outdoors is the best remedy for me when life seems too hard. In March I started building a stick fence around my vegetable garden to keep the chickens out. I got the idea from seeing my friend Cheryl Christner's stick fence last August. I had been pruning the fruit trees and thought the trimmings would work for the fence. It would also keep me from adding to the brush pile which had grown huge since clearing out around the barn and our "Snowtober" storm. I made it my goal to only use materials that were either invasive or needed trimming anyway. It started like this...

using sumac and the fruit tree trimmings (the sumac actually started to sprout as the weather warmed). I only had enough of those materials to do that side of the garden. So I needed to change my design as I turned the corner (I also get bored too fast to do the same design over and over). For the next section I added more curves and hearts, now adding choke cherry that had been damaged in the snow storm (that sprouted too). 

Next I built a gate...with a chicken design in the center. I found a grapevine tendril that was perfect for the eye...

 Then I decided to use up some of the drier brush...kind of like a vertical brush pile. Now when I find sticks on the lawn I can just stick them in the fence!

Then another gate...this time made with old junk wood from in the barn.

By the time I got to the next corner the pussy willows had finished blooming so I went ahead and cut the broken branches. Willow is one of the traditional materials to use for weaving and I can see why. It was such a joy to work with I decided I wanted to tackle making an archway for the next gate.This is the start of it...

Once the garden got growing and the weather got so hot I stopped working on the fence. I hope to finish it in the fall. In the mean time I am enjoying the fruits of my labor (sadly so are the bugs, and I will not use petrochemicals to stop them so not much squash this year).

During this time I had a few things happen which caused me to have a lot of negative feelings about felting, one of which I will go into detail about in my next post. (Hint: it is a common fear of wool lovers). The only other creative thing I did was to play with my pastels, which I had not touched in years. I am pleased that I finished the picture even though I am not all that happy with the results.

Really, to get the results I want would take more colors and a lot more practice with the medium. BUT happily my oldest sister came to visit last month and said something that got me to go back to felting, a medium I feel more confident with. She told me not to stop felting because "there is too much talent here to waste". I had not thought about it in that way before. Thanks again Fran!

Now time to get to work...

Felted Landscape Class at New England Felting Supply

I had a great class at NEFS this past weekend. I had only three students so I was able to relax a bit and really give extra time to each individual. I felt bad for the store since it was probably losing money with the class; which would normally be cancelled with less than four participants, but it was a boon to the participants with lots of room to work and extra attention. It was interesting that though there was a poor turnout for the class I received 3 inquiries that week from folks wanting to take my class. I am working up a cost for students to come here for private lessons to accommodate those who cannot get to the other classes. I think this will be really beneficial to the students as they will have my wools and embellishments to work with plus all that one-on-one time. I may even offer an overnight guest room....we will see.

I have realized that I need to write a better explanation of what I teach since my current class description is a  "just the facts Mam", bare bones blurb. So I thought I would do a write up here that can be pared down for advertising. 

The class is like a mini art class about landscape painting, we just happen to be working in wool creating felt. For me this hybrid felt is very much like the process I was doing when illustrating. The wet felting gives the look of the watercolor under-paintings that I started the illustrations with. I would then further develop and add detail to the piece with colored pencil which in this case is the needle felting. I start the class with a long (I try not to be too long winded) lecture about the basics of rendering a landscape; things that would apply to any colored medium. I teach how our use of color, value, line, and perspective can give a great sense of depth to a painting. I discuss how to look at the inspirational photo and break it down into simplified masses and how to truly see what is there. My greatest wish is for students to leave with a new way of seeing. I then talk about how the use of wool and various fibers and the felting techniques can be used to create something very unique in landscape rendering. The felt itself is more than just a flat canvas; the surface of the felt can be built up much more than if we were just using layers of paint. Students do the wet felting on the first day and then make changes and add details with the felting needle on the second day. Students may not leave with a finished piece but they have the basic knowledge of how to render a landscape.

Here are the pieces created this past weekend. Since there are only three pieces to show I will include shots of the layouts as well. First up is a fall scene done by James.

The layout

after wet felting

 at the end of class

Here is Melinda's. It is a scene of the Italian cliff city of Manarola....a difficult subject for a first landscape, I am hoping to see a photo of it after she does more needling to add straight lines to the buildings and cliffs.

the reference photo

the layout

after wet felting

at the end of class

And here is Marybeth's. A familiar scene for her as it is part of her property.

the layout

after wet felting

at the end of class

Though teaching always makes me want to create a piece of my own I felt I had too many other projects in the works to indulge that desire. However I did FINALLY finish the rug that I had started laying out way back during the end of November. We had a beautiful 70 degree day so I took it outside and danced on it to finish felting it. It is not really felted as hard as can be but it is not going to fall apart either and I want to move on. Here it is in the living room so you can get an idea of the size. I am not sure where it will live yet....maybe in my bedroom where I can get out of bed in the morning and sink my toes in the soft locks. :)

Another Month Gone By

I was surprised to see that it has been a whole month since I last posted on my blog. I wish I could say that that was because I had been having such a good and productive time that the month just flew. Unfortunately it has been a struggle for me with another dip into the pit of depression due in part to a switch in meds from one drug manufacturer to another. Along with the depression was a good dose of apathy so I didn't even care enough to try to fix things. I didn't believe that the switch could really be causing that much trouble but when I took some of the old pills that I had in my travel bag I felt much better. I was even able to tackle some jobs that have been hanging over my head, like figuring out my insurance to pay for those meds. That whole thing is so complicated that I feel like I need a medical adviser, much like a financial adviser who can read AND understand all that paper work and then tell me my best options. It is hard enough to figure out with a mind that is working well. (I hope I don't sound too whiny since I do often think of those who have health problems that are so much worse than mine).
Since it HAS been so long since I posted I am just going to give a brief gloss of the "highlights". (Thank goodness for my photography or I would not remember any of it). First the felt-y things.
My sister Beth wanted to make another landscape so she and I had a nice day of playing felt with her. Here is the piece she made; it is not done yet.

I started this; it is not done either.

 I hosted another Felt-Together for friends but since Joei wanted to make a landscape I kept my invitee list short. Here is the piece that Joei started.

 Robin brought her piece and did a bit more needle felting on it.

Sadly, I didn't get a photo of the project that Cheryl Christner was working on. I just kind of played with a few different things. These little blocks are for a guild project.

And I sampled some new wool, yarns, and fabric.

One of the new wools was from Lisa Merian of Spinner's Hill. This wonderful woman offered to donate the proceeds from the sale of some special wool to a fund created for fellow guild member Linda Van Alstyne. Linda is battling a rare form of cancer; adenoid cystic carcinoma. The wool was dyed in Linda's favorite color and was perfect for making some fall leaves. They will get some beading, and stitching and be turned into pins.

Before I hosted a Felt-Together again I made another improvement to my 'studio' arrangement. I came up with an idea of how to hang my pieces so I could see them without really changing the dining room too much. After seeing my things hanging on the wall of Robin's studio I realized how much more motivated I would be to finish some of my pieces if I could see them hanging instead of packed in a UFO box. I hung a big piece of purchased felt over the china cabinets and can pin the pieces up. It will be easy to take down and store when holiday time comes again. 

One of the pieces was one that I finally finished so maybe this idea will work. I finished the beading on this old piece.

I spent a lot of the last month outside since I find working outdoors to be very healing. Dad calls it my dirt therapy. The barn project is still going on and now that the roof is done it was time to bring in fill for the inside. That meant moving some of the wood that was still in there...a lot of wood. Dad did much of it but gave himself a hernia moving some of it so I called in the family to help and we got it done. Now it decorates the yard.  I think we could build a new shed with all of that.

 The dump truck in the background is actually stuck. So Dad got a change to drive it while it's owner was dragging it with the skid-steer. I think he had fun!

Landscape Class at Luckystone Studio in Glens Falls, NY

Teaching my class at Robin Blakney-Carlson's Luckystone Studio was just as wonderful as I thought it would be. I already knew many of the students, in fact 3 were repeating the class, and Robin is such an easy person to work with. I stayed at Robin's lovely home along with her sister Susan and friends Cher  and June. It is so much fun to relax after class with friends who are also felters. As Robin said wool, wine, and wonderful women made the weekend great. And Robin's studio was a great space to work in. There was plenty of wall space to hang my example pieces. This was the first time I have seen all these unfinished pieces hanging up together...I makes me want to finish some of them.

As usual I have lots of photos of the students work. I use my camera as a tool in class to help students to really 'see' the image in the felt. It helps by making the three dimensional object into one with only two dimensions and really aids in seeing values when I change it to black and white. In my classes I have two main goals. One is to get them to really SEE and the other is for them to have FUN! It is not a project class and most of the pieces are not finished when folks go home but I hope they have the knowledge to continue on their own. I also give them ideas of how I would proceed with the piece. I think one of the biggest challenges for an art teacher is to guide the students to achieving their own vision and imposing mine, especially when our aesthetics may be so different. I was lucky with this class in that I knew some of the students well enough to know their color sense. Here are the pieces, first as it looked at the end of the first day after the wet felting, and then as it looked at the end of the second day after needle felting. I hope that some of the students will send photos of the completed works later.

This is Cher's

Donna's

Diane's

 Stacy's...(I had planned on using the same photo as a reference but her piece came out so well I may not).

Robin's

June's

June got my vote for best use of yarns...I loved the look of this boucle...

and she twisted two yarns with roving to make the trees.

This is Susan's piece.

And last but not least Sonjia's

Now I am wanting to get in the studio and make a new one myself...although I really should finish at least one of the old ones first. Maybe.