Latest Finished Felt Landscape

I am happy that I was able to finish the landscape that I was doing for the Granby Land Trust art show. This is the third year I have submitted a piece of felt. I got juried in both years. I am hoping this will be the third. Here is the photo I was using for inspiration.

This was the start of the piece just before I did the wet felting.

Below is what it looked like  a few days ago after a lot of needle felting.

The piece finished...

and framed.

There are still things I would change but I am not unhappy with it and having it be done is wonderful.

Looking for the bright side

Such a fight it has been the last week or so, and I am tired of fighting. It has been a very difficult day; following on the heels of several other difficult days. It happens every fall but I never know how bad things will be. I have been trying to 'think positive' and use the skills I have learned after 30+ years of fighting the enemy within. I walked this afternoon to try to get some exercise and boost my spirits. I also wanted to get a photo of a pair of barn doors at the nearby farm. The colors when the sun hits them is gorgeous and I knew the light was going to be wonderful today. The weather outside was such a reflection of what I was feeling inside; clouds, sun, wind, and rain all within hours and sometimes occurring together. The shots came out wonderful (I made them smaller than I usually post so they will not be appropriated without permission). I often feel that I am at my most creative when I have tipped to one side or the other of center.

The doors

I had written a poem many years ago during another depression in which I spoke about understanding that without pain we do not fully appreciate pleasure, just as we can not have a rainbow without the rain. I can not remember the exact words right now but I thought how fitting it was to see this rainbow on my walk.

My spirits were lifted,at least for a while, as I listened to the sounds of the resident hawks and eagles crying as they soared in the sky. It seemed as though all the birds were rejoicing that the storm had passed.

I savored the changing light as the sun slid lower in the sky...

...giving way to the night.

The rise of the moon reminded me of how much things can seem to change depending on your perspective. 

I will continue to try to keep things in perspective and look for the beauty of life.

Another late blog

 I started this blog to help me remember things that I have been doing. Apparently I am not posting often enough since I am having trouble remembering what has happened since I wrote about my landscape class and Felt United. I know that there was some extra stuff thrown at me. My son needed help with moving and while moving is always difficult it was made more so by the fact that his dog Brandy had been hit and killed by a car the day before. They were out in the yard at the time and while accidents happen and dogs should not go in the road, I think it is awful that the driver did not even stop to say "I am sorry".

  

But then again we just had an accident in our state where a woman hit and killed two men who were changing a tire and even though her airbag went off she kept driving. It is a crazy world out there so it is no wonder I want to hide here in my own crazy world...at least that world I understand.

I also spent some time the last two weeks doing fall chores like cleaning up the garden and helping Dad to wash windows. And since I have been starting to feel the grip of that black beast known as depression I have been trying to be sure to go outside in the sun and get some exercise as much as possible. It is a fight and all I want to do is go to bed and hibernate like a bear, till spring comes again.

I have also been trying to do some business type work; submitting photos to Felt United, filling out inventory sheets for the Wesleyan Potters Annual Exhibit and Sale, and making arrangements for another landscape class. I did start another head that I don't like because it reminds me of my grandfather Wilcox.

There were many good things that happened that I am trying to keep in the fore front of my mind. I have been wanting a felt coat since I started felting four years ago. I attempted one last year which came out pretty well. I made yardage and got the coat all sewn. I don't remember why but I did a bit more felting after the sewing was done. When I put it in the washing machine to spin out the water I accidentally put the machine on agitate. The result was a coat that no longer fit me. I have more confidence in my ability to felt a large piece after doing the large piece for Felt United so I again made yardage.

I really liked the yardage but thought that it would be a bit much for my conservative nature to wear. I decided to over-dye it with a pale grey to minimise the color change from top to bottom. I dyed some silk for the sleeves at the same time since there was not enough of the patterned fabric.

Here is the finished coat.

I was happy to have finished it in time to wear it to the New York Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck on Saturday. I went with my friend Joei  and we had lots of fun and I bought (what for me is a lot of) wool. We also bought a small Icelandic lamb's fleece that went home with Joei. I am hoping we can do the processing together....or maybe I will just try felting it 'in the grease'. 

 Joei came over on Friday and after dinner we made more more flowers for the guild vine that we volunteered to take charge of. 

After Joei left on Sunday my sister Beth came over to help with washing some of the curtains and the inside of the windows. After lunch Dad said it was such a nice day out that we HAD to stop working and go for a walk with him.

It was a wonderful way to end a great weekend.

What happened to September Continued.

I thought I would get right back to writing about my landscape class but it has been almost a week. (I get distracted so easily.) One of the wonderful things about teaching is that I learn so much from my students and I always get inspired and a refreshed excitement about felting. I actually did some needling on my last landscape and was finding it less of a chore. I think I went so overboard needling on the barn painting that I did last year that I kind of burned out on that part of doing my landscapes. Needle felting is not my favorite...but I like what I am able to do with the needle.
There were 7 students and since I would only take a maximum of 8 that was a good sign that folks might want me to teach again. In fact plans are already in the works for a class in NY state for a class in November and another class at NEFS in the new year. One of my students had to drive 7 hours to get to the class. I can't tell you what those things mean to me. How my self esteem has been elevated by doing this class. Not least of all was concurring my own fear of taking the class to this new venue. I knew that the fact that I was so nervous about it meant that I really NEEDED to do it.
The best parts of teaching are when you see a student 'get it'. The moments when you see an expression of confusion change to the light of understanding. Or when you see a student's opinion of their work change because of a suggestion you have made. Since taking the two workshops last year and teaching my classes I realize just how special the sharing of knowledge and excitement that is fueled in a class setting can be. Teaching and taking classes is about so much more than technique and projects. But enough of my musings.

Here are some photos of the students and their work. Many of these photos are taken by the students because my batteries were rendered ineffective by NEFS's resident ghost ;) They worked when I got home:)

Here are the women working on there lay outs.

This is Janet, a very new felter, working hard on her lay out. 

This is Lori, well her hands at least, adding some locks to her lay out. Poor Lori. I knew her from the guild an yet somehow I got it in my head that her name was Dawn. I called her that the entire class...except when I called her Dawnlori.

This is Pat's lay out in progress. It turned out that Pat knew my father and mother from church so I felt a special bond with her. She also understood my humor and took my teasing in stride:)

I did manage to get photos of most of the pieces st the end of the day, after they were wet felted.

The next day we did the needle felting.

Pat enjoyed this part so much she planned on working more the following day while on vacation.

Jean was very excited about the way her piece developed with the needling.

Thea had fun adding yarns and though her piece came out more abstract than she originally intended I think she was pleased with the end result.

A tired but happy group.

A closer photo of Janet's piece that is hidden in the group photo.

My interest in landscapes was so renewed that I spent the last few days working on one for Felt United. I was not going to participate this year since I have been so busy but since the theme was the blue to yellow slice of the color wheel which includes my favorite colors I just had to do it. This is the largest landscape? I have done to date. At 37 x 80 inches I had to roll up some of the top to hang it on the trellis that I used to display it out by the road.

The audience.

The critic.

A detail.

The piece.

Now I have to figure out a way to hang it!



What happened to September? Part One

I feel like I can finally take a breath now that I am finished with both shows and teaching my class. I learned something about myself as I was trying to get ready to teach. I had two weeks to devote to doing the things that were necessary in order to be prepared such as; editing my booklet, cutting pieces of plastic for rolling in, going over my notes, etc.. I could have done everything I needed to do in just one week but since I had two weeks I felt I had to do more. In fact I realized that I felt guilty every time I was doing something else unless it was a 'have to do'. I don't think it is possible to be over-prepared but I do learn to balance things better.

So what did happen to September? 

Preparing and manning a booth twice (a lot of work!) but also very satisfying, especially to see and hear people reacting to my work.

To get ready to teach at New England Felting Supply I wanted to learn more about the color pallet the students would be working with since my own collection from NEFS has changed through the years. So I made this.

I spent hours making it and could have been even more obsessive with getting the colors where they should be in the color wheel. That is the kind of thing where I can 'waste' so much time being exacting when 'good enough' would serve the purpose. I am glad to have the wheel though and the named bits of wool for my own reference so it will have use beyond the class.

I also wanted to make a landscape using just these colors and the locks etc. that would be available to the students. That way I would know what could be done with that pallet since I am used to having my own specially dyed wool to use as well. Here is the lay out.

It was also helpful to do this because it has been a long time since I have done a felted landscape this way. It also reminded me of what I enjoy about this process. And I learned some things from teaching the class so I was inspired to do some needling last night on the wet felted piece.

I also did quite a bit of editing on a companion booklet that I made for this class. Because there is so much information to remember even I find it helpful to have the tips written out.

I have to admit that I did give myself sometime in the evenings to do some fun felt. I have wanted to experiment with using black as a ground for a painting. I think Rembrandt used a black ground to help achieve the chiaroscuro effect in some of his paintings. I first wanted to see how the black would effect the colors as the fibers blended. I was doing this just on impulse laying down the black base and then just grabbing some color. It turned into an evening on the ocean scene that I could probably improve with some needling but I don't like it enough to spend the time on it. I did however learn what I wanted from the experiment. 

Most of my 'free' time was spent making more of my silly heads though. I am loving having a face develop as  I sculpt the felt and the fact that I can complete one in an evening is a bonus to a person who feels guilty having so many unfinished projects.

Here are the newest members of the gang.

The last guy was inspired by Halloween.

I was going to write about my class in this post but it has gotten too long and I can only stand to be sitting at this machine for so long so I will continue my September story later.