Gallery 3

I had originally created the background of Gold Moon Path with something else in mind for the detail, but when that didn't work out I left the piece aside for a few weeks and then chose the bare trees instead with a slightly different sky. That's what I love about needle-felting - everything can be edited right to the point of it being framed. It is also in a grey box frame as is Winter Trees. It was another picture that needed time to be set-aside before I was happy where it was going - or where the main tree was going, and then it called for a moon and a stony path to complete it. The gold moon is cut out from a section of Indonesian gold silk cocoon.

Gold Moon Path

Winter Trees

Following a very enjoyable workshop to make a lampshade for our house, I began to make other lightshades, including these which I am selling at the PA Artist & Makers in Castle Douglas, and at The Lime Bothy in Newton Stewart. These nightlight shades are 12cm x 10cm, and come with a battery-operated tealight. They are only for use with these versions of tealights, not candles! I create the shades using either recycled sari silk fabric, cotton fabric, or Angelina film with inclusions (dried leaves, flowers, or sequins in the ones I've made so far).

Angelina film, fibres and sequins	Angelina film and dried leaves	Recycled sari fabric

Recycled sari fabric	Recycled sari fabric	Angelina film and dried leaves	Angelina film and sequins

 

A brighter scenic picture made in July, Shepherd's Cottage in the Glen, and a different layout with Shepherd's Cottage being more portrait style, 21" x 8.5" despite it being of a landscape! I recently bought some small sample packs of fibre colour schemes that included hair from camel and llama, and I've used some of those here to make the cottage, and the rich brown and purples on the hillside.

Shepherd's Cottage in the Glen

Another one in the Woodland series is Woodland Dusk. There is a lot of silk in the trees for this one, and the second woodland picture made using my Babylock needle-felting machine. I'm really pleased with how this works the fibres, it is much more possible to add subtle layers with the Babylock which can't be done by hand alone. It also makes it possible to needle-felt the slightly chunkier trees - silk brick and cocoons - which is impossible by hand and why I have always stitched those in the past. I am enjoying this new direction of felting and I'm aiming to add some stitching for detail to woodland pictures in the future. Woodland Dusk is 25" x 9" in a black box frame.

Woodland Dusk

Dunlin on the Shore is 20" x 16" in a black box frame and uses a lot of non-wool fibres, just to try something different.

Dunlin on the Shore

Sylvan Glade is the next in my series of woodland pictures. I've used different techniques in the making of this one, using my needle-felting machine for the first time in this type of picture and I loved experimenting with the fibres as well as attaching the silk-fabric trees. Unlike using the hand-tools, I can't change anything once it is felted in with the machine, so if I need to alter an area, I have to work over the top of it. That made for some interesting effects in the background particularly.

Sylvan Glade

To show my pictures as works in progress, I've posted Springtime by the Shepherd's Cottage, below, which will end up in a white box frame approximately 8.5" x 21". I'll be working more on this picture in the next week or so, and although it might look finished, there is still some editing to do! It needs a bit more in the way of shadows and some more definition in the mid and foregrounds to indicate depth of the landscape. I like to photograph my pictures as I make them as they always look different to view on a laptop screen and this way you can always see different details that either work, or don't. Seeing the fibres in front of you gives a very different scale! It's important to keep track of how "real" things look before framing because once it is in the frame, it is not so easy to start changing anything. 

And now next to the WIP version is the completed Springtime by the Shepherd's Cottage. The finished picture is slightly smaller than the WIP as it has been trimmed during the framing process.

WIP  Springtime by the Shepherd's Cottage	Springtime by the Shepherd's Cottage

I have a big exhibition organised for the end of this year and into January 2020 which I am collecting ideas and inspiration for - watch this space for my makes through the year heading for this gallery. In the meantime, I've put together a few new greetings cards for the PA Pop Up Shop in Castle Douglas; I am writing this in the shop on the 4th April which is my day this month to be the shop's host. I had time this morning to finish putting the cards together ready for sale, 44 altogether, so that was a big job to complete. Most of the cards are depicting sheep, my favourites to make and they are good sellers for me. Here are a few photos of my current display in the shop, including a few of my watercolour abstract paintings and cards:

 

The first project of the year was to complete the woodland picture that I began in the autumn of 2018, this being the largest of the designs so far that I have made in this style. With that came its own trials with aligning the "trees" and making the whole picture look in perspective especially as it is more of a square picture than the most recent 25" x 8" rectangular forms. The picture itself didn't take me four months to complete; there were many times of working on it, and even more set-aside times which gave me space to consider what comes next. Once I had the confidence to carry out even more work on it with my sewing machine, that was it, it was either going to be a finished piece, or a lesson to learn from! I'm happy to say that the day I decided that was it completed, it was time to frame it. Here is Summer Shade.

Summer Shade

 

A selection of loveheart cards, not just for Valentine's day! All my cards are blank - there is always a good range in the Castle Douglas PA Artist and Maker's shop, including needle-felted landscapes, beachscapes, sheepscapes, abstract watercolours, and mixed media such as the loveheart cards.