Fall is in the air

...and the pumpkin harvest has begun

Orange Octopus

I was inspired to create the orange octopus using some of the pod workshop techniques combined with felting over wire armature for the legs... love his eyes!

More worms are popping up

Having fun creating these little creatures -need an ample supply to start online sales.

Anglin for a bookworm...

Wanted to create a whimsical worm for both anglers and book readers...

 

and these fun creatures emerged. Both wet and needle-felted over a wire armature.

Feels like a Van Gogh'ish day

We're now on day 5 and counting of cloudy skies, rainy days and nights. I wanted to felt something sunny and bright and thought of sunflowers. I "googled" sunflower images and was immediately drawn to Van Gogh - however, I already created a Van Gogh'ish sunflower wall hanging in 2008...

...so back to the drawing board - perhaps it's a good day to start "Starry Night" - stay tuned!

Not Fiberart - hopefully inspirational!

Haven't spent any time in the studio to felt lately, however my cherry tree is in full bloom and will hopefully inspire me to get some felting started...

PODS Workshop

Just finished a 2-day felting workshop with the talented Andrea Graham at New England Felting Supply in Easthampton, MA.

I've been waiting over a year for this workshop to be offered and it was well worth the wait.

My first pod (based on a lotus flower pod) taught me the basic structural techniques along with learning that I need to concentrate more on color contrasts. It was pretty good for my first pod (the seeds "look like froggy eggs")

I tried to incorporate many of the techniques and decided to create a "sampler". This pod is ~14" long

The workshop was just what I needed to get back into the studio and create some fun sculptures.

One Heart, Many Interpretations

Bolton Artisans Guild
currently on display through  March 6, 2011 at
Nashoba Valley Winery in Bolton, MA

This year the Guild's heart themed display features jewelry, photography, paintings,

needle felting, polymer clay collage, monoprints, and paper collage.

New "Blue" in town..

The Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America...

New bird in town

I'm back in the studio working on my new "Bird" collection.  Flamingoes are flocking together and the old pelican needed some friends, so in flew a new neighbor!

"Sitting Pretty"

The "Sitting Pretty" flamingoes are multiplying and  enjoying each other's company.  These needle-felted beauties ~6" tall are semi posable and will help brighten your day.

 

The story behind the flamingoes....

Several members of the Bolton Artisans Guild chose to participate in a “color “ challenge in which we randomly chose a “not so popular” paint chip color.  We were challenged to take the color and create something based on the sample chip.   Luckily, I chose what I’d call “flamingo pink”.  Being a felt artist, I decided to create a flock of flamingoes as part of my new “Bird” sculpture collection.  Louie Girl’s other bird sculptures include - Pelicans (inspired by the poor gulf oil soaked pelicans),  Humming birds (as seen in my gardens), the new Flamingo collection and more birds will be flying in!

The color chip is below the flamingoes in this picture..

Flamingo and Pelicans @the Winery

I had so much fun making this flamingo and pelican - they are for sale at the Nashoba Valley Winery in Bolton.

"Ningyo" Japanese Doll Notecards

Another of my "fiber" loves is working with origami paper. Here are a couple of my "Ningyo" note cards...

Pelican

Needle felted Pelican ~6" tall

Peace Felt 2010

I'm participating in the Peace Felt 2010 Initiative where felt artists "Create a work of art using handmade felt which symbolizes peace or unconditional love to give to & receive from your peace partners somewhere else in the world!"

Here's a peek at my first project...

Sea Turtles - "Will we survive?"

Wet felted background, needle felt dimensional sea turtle and plants
~10"x12" wall hanging

The Pelican

The images of the oil drenched pelicans from the BP disaster lead me to creating wall hangings of how these precious animals should look. This pelican is the first in my series.


(~11"x 12")

Nubble Light on Display at Nashoba Valley Winery

The Bolton Artisans Guild "Summer Dreams" exhibit showcases varied works inspired by the theme. I finished "Nubble Light" just in time for this months display at the Nashoba Valley Winery in Bolton, MA

Nubble Light - York Beach, ME

Needlefelted Nubble detail and beginning of rock formation

Nubble background - wet felted

I took advantage of the perfect weather outdoors and wet felted the background for another dimensional landscape. I had some pictures from our visit last summer and am pretty happy with the felted background. This took a bit of work due to its larger size (~24" x 22"). I want to get as many backgrounds done while the weather is nice since I really don't have an area where I can wet felt indoors.

Back to the fruits and vegies (I think I'll take my husband's advice and add bread, cheese and wine!)

Fruit & Vegies - Finished

Day 3...

~13" x 12"

While waiting for the pod to dry and wondering what to fill it with, I worked on my fruit stand which has now turned into fruits & vegies and who knows what else (David just suggested loaves of bread a wheel of cheese, and of course a bottle of wine.. great idea!!)

Stay tuned for progress reports...