Painting with Wool... Octohat and Contemplating the Cosmos

Someone said that needle felting is like painting with wool.

I gave it a shot and it is! I absolutely love it! Functional, wearable, warm, cozy art. It is just brilliant.

The whole idea is to put wool on top of other wool and stab it a billion times with a very small, very sharp, barbed needle, entangling the two wools together forever. Sounds tedious but it really is fun. No, really!


And here is another not so wearable form of needle felting. He is called Contemplating the Cosmos...


The hair was the most difficult bit. I was originally trying for a "cleaner," funky sort of coiffure but it got wilder with every jab. So I decided to just go with it. Now he has a mess that lies somewhere between Hobo and Dirty Hippie. It really is soft though. He must wash it, but never used a brush in his life...

He weighs 10 whole grams and sits about 5 inches tall from his bottom to the tippity-top of his messy hair. He will be on Etsy before long.

I had so much fun with this one that I started another and am itching to get another going at the same time.

Chequered Chicken... or Go-Fish

Chequered Chicken
8" x 10" Oil on canvas board

I love this one!
I love the colors. I love the contrast. I love the subject matter. I love the feeling left behind after expelling it onto the canvas.

I had fun. Can you tell?

This one started a lot like the Sea Chicken. Doodling with dark purple to give me that oh-so-luscious coloring book feeling. Except this time the canvas was plain old white. Red is fun, but it takes so long to dry.

Realism is very difficult for me, but painting like this is just plain fun! Brad said, "Forget realism. That is why we have cameras."

This does not feel like so much of a struggle. I can just play and really get into a groove. But then, I wonder if it seems easier just because my hands and fingers and eyes are starting to wake up and remember how to manipulate the paint.

My Imagination is certainly waking up a bit. Last night it kept me up for a couple of extra hours daydreaming about a fat bug-eyed goldfish floating in front of purple striped wallpaper.

I think there are rainy seasons and droughts for ideas. Sometimes they flow and scramble over one another just to be heard, and other times they are scraggly and indifferent.

I love Monsoon season!

WIP- Socks on a Chicken and Etsy!

Work In Progress- Socks on a Chicken

I have made some changes!

I started by outlining everything in a deep deep purple and then giving it all a fresh wash of color and detail. I think it takes some of the stuffy seriousness out of it... If you can call that serious.

Oh! I opened up my very own little shop on Etsy.com today! It is called SaraWinters. The Sea Chicken is there, and the Grand Opening will be whenever you pop in to take a look. Have some cybercookies...

I am looking for an Etsy gadget to put on this blog, so if anybody knows anything about that I would be very grateful for the info.

In the meantime, here is the address: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6469172

I hope it works.