What I Did in July, and Happy August!

July was a good month, and I kept fairly busy with creative projects throughout those steamy days.

I created three fictional portraits and one (the last) of my neighbor Carolyn. Each was introduced with a little story attached. I get very involved with my cast of characters. Maybe they need to interact? I enjoy seeing them side by side, although Blogger didn't make it very easy to arrange them like this. Anyway….

I find myself drawing sketches of people all the time now. They seem to develop on their own as my pencil moves along, and sometimes I'm inspired by people I see, or even people I know. These are terrible photos, but you get the idea. Even the inside covers of my crossword book aren't safe!!

Also, I've been taking a class in paper mache, which has been pure fun. The instructor, Amy, is the same teacher our group has had for the last three classes I've taken, and we have more fun than you can imagine. Did I say "fun" twice? Well, it certainly is! This is a little lady I'm working on...

Amy has several birds, and they come along with her (one at a time), which adds to the high spirited atmosphere of the group. Here are good buddies Boncuk and Zaza. Aren't they sweet?

Here is Hapi, who flaunted his beautiful red under-wings for me, but I didn't get a good picture.

And Cairo, who has visited us a few times, with his brilliant green feathers.

Everyone in the class is making something different. AnnMarie opted for a large fish!!

Barbara is doing a pretty cat...

Andrea is making a large sculpture, and these cute little kitties are part of it.

And Rosalie is making, well, a giant eggplant!!

In July, I also had a chance to go to a knit and crochet show in New Hampshire.

I neither knit nor crochet, but I was in search of wool roving and found some beautiful stuff!

I've been both wet felting and needle felting, and these are pieces I'm still working on.

I'm not a gardener, but love flowers, and these were a lovely gift from a friend.

And, finally, I've had some beautiful blossoms on my hydrangea bush and enjoy them so much.

Thanks for stopping by to read my little saga.

I hope that you are having a wonderful summer!!

HAPPY AUGUST!!

Felting, Continued...

On Friday I did some wet felting and came up with this colorful piece!

I thought the felt was very thin, so I decided to build it up a bit today.

I had this skein of felting wool in my stash, so I pulled it out and cut

a few sections of color off. 

 I teased the strands apart and arranged them on top of the original piece.

This was my result after wet felting - soaping, agitating and rinsing. 

When it fully dries, I look forward to cutting it up 

and adding beads and other elements.

This is a very loose process with no rights or wrongs -

a very freeing exercise for me. Love it!!!

Hope you've had a terrific weekend!!

A Bit of Wet Felting

Today was an extremely wet and gloomy day, but I had a project in mind

to lift the gloom! My friend Andrea has been working on some beautiful

wet felting experiments and has inspired me to do the same.

I have a large stash of wool roving in many colors, but have so far

used it only for needle felting. Today I wanted to try wet felting.

I decided to do a small piece, and I started with a shallow tray, lined 

with bubble wrap. I pulled out strands of the roving and arranged and

layered them on the bubble wrap. It felt like I was making lasagna!

I kept my design simple and used only three colors, 

criss-crossing some colors over the others.

I then covered the roving with some lightweight screening material.

Next time I do this I'll use tulle or nylon curtain fabric.

I sprinkled a little soapy water over the screening.

I used a couple of DIY tools to bond the layers. One was a wood 

foot massager I had on hand, the other a disc of wood from the craft

store, with flat-backed glass marbles hot-glued on.

The second tool worked best, and I rubbed it over the surface for about 

ten minutes, checking once in a while to see whether the wool was felting.

Finally, I removed the screening and the bubble wrap, 

rinsed it and laid it out on a towel.

I then made a second, smaller landscape background in the same way

My next felted pieces will probably be thicker, but for now I'm happy.

I'd like to add beading and embroidery to these. We'll see what develops!!

I'll end by saying, to my American friends, 

Happy Independence Day!!

And to all readers who have stopped by today,

Thank You for Visiting!!

Monday Morning

I love a new week, full of promise and the possibility of wonderful things happening!!
I've been visiting my favorite blogs and noticing an upswing in people's sprits as Spring approaches, and I feel it too! Today is bursting with sunshine and we are promised much warmer weather as the week goes on!
This past Friday I had the privilege of being part of a small exhibit during the grand opening of a terrific  gift shop in our town. As I scurried to finish a fabric and felted landscape, but didn't quite make it, I instead settled on two cut paper pieces I had done awhile ago. As it turned out, my work was hung next to some beautiful felted pieces by another artist, so it was good to have work in different media.

It looks a bit confusing, but there are two levels in the store and this wall overhangs the lower level!

These are the pieces I put in the exhibit.

And this coming weekend I'll be doing a demonstration, with my friend Andrea, of different types of collage (Andrea will be demonstrating silk screen printing), so this week I'll be posting some examples of collage as I prepare them for the demonstration.

Hope you have a wonderful week!!

Sunshine Days

What beautiful weather we've been having! Cool, sunny, breezy - to me, perfect!!

It inspired me to felt and embellish this little piece, using beads and trims and some of the wool roving I've been collecting. Fun to do and I feel inspired to do more of this in the future.

Hope everyone has enjoyed a lovely Labor Day weekend!

Warmly,

Judy