Painting with Wool... Part II

Man, I love needle felting. This time I put down the main colors with roving and then came back and doodled with yarn. It is like paint, but dry. Virtually no mess. And so satisfying! Wool is truly amazing.
Better view of the right side...


Left side.... I take this chicken hat to its new owner this weekend. Its about time. Took me close to 3 weeks to finish it... keep in mind, that is not 3 straight weeks. I wait until the little man goes to sleep before whipping out those super sharp needles. He is like a little ninja. He is everywhere at once. And into everything... at once. A thousand fingers on two pudgy little hands...

dot dot dot.

Do you see the red canvas in the upper left hand corner of the last picture? (I'm so excited!) I picked up a couple 16x20 inch canvases and painted them red. The Archival brand red I got the other day turned out to be a fantastic paint for a base. I initially didn't like it because it dried so stinking fast. Now I love it because it dries so stinking fast. Both of those canvases are set and ready to go, I have a new batch of reference photos hanging all over the walls and my first subject is picked out, and I am so ready to begin I can hardly stand it!

But, unfortunately, it will have to wait until I get back from Texas next week. I still have some packing and repacking to do tomorrow..... maybe I can squeeze in some painting time and get the basic structure drawn in. Ooooo! The anticipation is killing me!

Those canvases became instantly alluring as soon as they were painted red. Somehow just having things set up and ready to start is inspiring. I like to leave paint on my palette all the time because just seeing those colorful globs of potential there makes me want to paint.

Kind of like how cake just calls out to be eaten. Especially a big fat fluffy moist piece of double layered goodness with whipped icing and fresh strawberries....

Mmmmmm!

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.

The obsession returns...

So, here is what I have been doing lately. Not painting. Knitting.

It all started with the chill in the air. Brad and I were lamenting the fact that Soren does not have an earflap hat. I made one for Brad many many moons ago, and it keeps his noggin toasty warm. I was commissioned by the hubby to knit an earflap hat for the baby. How could I say no? I have been treating knitting like a guilty pleasure in the middle of all the ever pressing homework, housework, wifework, mommywork, and the "higher" art of painting. I love knitting. Its an addiction, I swear!

I finished the first hat in a jif. It was more of a skullcap for Soren than an earflap hat, so I tried again. I took measurements and everything... well, I took one measurement. I needed two more, but didn't realize it until after I lined it and everything.
A little pink stitched into the skullcap and voila! we have a teeny girl hat fit for a gift to the new baby in the family... coming soon to a hospital near you... December, I think.

Soren has been needing another hand-knit, super fantastic mommy sweater for this winter as well, and after starting over three times with the perfect hand-spun, hand-dyed, super- yummy-soft cotton yarn from Manos Del Uruguay (that I found in a yarn store sale bin five years ago) I am happy to say his sweater is coming along nicely.

I'm actually using a pattern this time.If you squint at it sideways with your tongue sticking out, you can just about make out the bottom edge of a sweater... (That big hole in the middle is where his torso will go.)

Luckily, the little man is just that- little. The sweater will go fast.