Someone once asked me whether felting or the desire to produce a particular image came first.  They were looking at a bison titled "King of the Prairie".   It seemed to them that I may have been looking at a bison and thinking that felt would be the perfect medium to create a bison but for me it is actually the opposite.   I will look at a delicate flower and wonder if I can create it in felt and still retain the delicacy.  After all, felt is really considered a delicate material.   On the other had, a beautifully constructed felt picture will behave like water color.   In the felting process the fibers roam, lock together and shrink to produce water color like effects.  Sometimes I can hold a hard edge and sometimes I prefer to let the fibers roam.   You can also decide to felt to hard felt or a softer felt which also produces a different texture.   It is the mastery of the ancient art of felting that intrigues me and using it as a fine art rather than as a craft.  

Working on this landscape.  As with all my felt there is a deckle edge.  The golds/yellows picked up the darker color from the backing so it wasn't as yellow as I thought it would be.  Felting always offers pleasant surprises!

In the midst of creating this week.  Working in more rolling hills and countryside.  I hope to complete some flowers and perhaps some of the scenery from our hikes in the old growth forests of the Northwest.   I always seem stumped until I begin applying to create and then the painting seems to take on a life of it's own.  I do need to find a way to keep my finished product in a rectangular shape.  It is much easier to made reproductions in standard sizes.    Keep an eye out!!!   I will be publishing photos as I go.

Starting to create.  My goal is to complete 35 new pieces at minimum before summer.   It is a stretch! I simply must get more work completed.   I am delivering 1 piece to the University Hospital in January for a Show and two pieces to the Wisconsin Regional Artists show and competition in Prairie du Sac also starting in January.  There is another show in February.   These pieces were completed this fall.  I was able to achieve the detail I wanted in the wool without needle felt.