felt sculpture

 

yesterday I worked on sculpture

getting some of my artworks to the finishing stage for my next exhibition

the natural vegetation dye and the natural black fleece did not really come out very well in this photo.

they are actually vibrant in colour and strong in form.

 

music and the moonlight

music and the moonlight

the solar power is a little lacking here in winter, and so the electricity and technology is limited at our earth house in the bush.  

the darkness of winter seeps into us and everything we do

we like that we live this way

simply

gently on the earth

with the seasons

right now

we like the short days

the wood fire

we see the fullness of the moon at night

and there is always music

really looking

This morning walking in the bush where I live.

Just looking at that light through the trees.

Its so close to the shortest day solstice here, and great for contemplating the light at each end of the day.

Can you see dog?

Going to open my shop again today, drop by if you like.

Four

I have entered four artworks in the Market Art Winter Exhibition this year.

 Night time sentinels

 Quiet Calm

Moonlight through the trees

Autumn Light

sold

Before the Storm 2

This artwork is about light and movement, there is that elegant bending from the strong wind in the leaves and fine branches and twigs of the Eucalypts before the storm.

Sold at the Buda Contemporary Textiles Exhibition 2014

 

 

highly commended at buda 2014

The Buda Contemporary Textiles Award 2014.



A big congratulations to Joyce Fleming for winning the award with her beautiful artwork  named "Through the Mists of Time".

Congratulations also the Catherine O'Leary, and to Lucy Carroll, and to all the other exhibitors on their incredibly beautiful artwork.

And I was very happy to receive a "highly commended" at the Buda Contemporary Textiles Award Exhibition last week for "Before the Storm 1" shown below.

 

an old friend

I am am back taking a good look at this today.....

felt vessel

Well I'm back here again,
it has been a while, I must admit,
and I apologise for the quietness. 


It's good to be back.

Before the storm 1

Teresa Poletti Glover

felt vessels

Where the sun catches the trees

Teresa Poletti Glover

ripples on the water

Have been watching the ripples on the water
How they form perfect rings
grow
then dissipate 

this photo does not actually capture the ripples growing on still water
the dog was swimming in the water and making other ripples and currents.

the rings of water I have been watching are the ones on glassy water
in still water
on a still day when there is not even a breath of wind.
they are made by a dragonfly dipping into the water
or a fallen leaf

I will try and photograph them next time I am watching them.

ripple in felt inspired by ripples on water.

the dry salt lake

I arrived in darkness
and woke up on the shores of a dry salt lake

a beautiful vista
of cloud filled sky
enormous sky
and sun filtered through distant cloud

a dry waterline marked a ring of darkness
an expanse of salt crusted and cracked surface
shadows in the earth
and shadows in the sky

morning light

looking closely at light

filtered light

the morning sky spoke volumes about light the other day
shining through the gaps
highlighting the edges of the clouds
casting shadow on the low heavy rain clouds.

ah yes, it looked hopeful
but not a drop of rain landed here.

there was reflected light
ripples of light reflected in water
gentle curves of light and dark that elegantly flow outward
then disappear.

light through the trees

 today its the trees

 each day I have been watching the light through the trees as the sun goes down

that very bright white glow that makes you squint, its so bright

seeing detail silhouetted in light

highlights the curves and twists of the tree trunks.

the shinny grass in the foreground

and the rest of the forest dimmed

a few weeks ago - the sky
the clouds
the wind

and then more flow
this time a sort of disconnected flow
broken lines

with just a little random stitch here and there

flow

Have been getting back into the flow of things again  after the holiday season.

Here I am concentrating on one dimensional felt art,
And playing with colour

Using some commercially dyed wool and alpaca fibers again,
Back to the roots of where I was around ten years ago.
and am finding that these colours combine with my hand vegetation dyed fibres
to resemble what is in this landscape.  So vivid in all may art work.

Most of the commercially dyed fibers are bright,
And so the hand vegetation dyed  fibers tone them.

For about four years I was a purist,
only using wool and alpaca that I had hand dyed with plentiful and abundant native vegetation from around where I live. 
Just combining vegetation dyed fibers with natural black coloured sheep and alpaca fleece.
I love the rawness of this combination, and the blended graduation between the two colours. 
And how well it depicted place in my Distinction and Dissimilarity exhibition last year.

In the last five years I have I hand dyed all my own threads with native vegetation as well
and completed some unique stitched works
I have one on the go now, but its very slow to progress.

I also hand dyed many old cream blankets
and hand stitched the holes in them in a random way with my hand dyed threads
to celebrate their history

I have weaving local native vegetation fibres to complete a number of beautiful baskets, I love the quietness of weaving and often find myself being pulled toward it.

Although for about the last four years I have mainly concentrated on felt sculpted vessels using bush sticks and grass, and am still developing these sculptures further, and have some interesting sketches evolving.

Some of my native vegetation hand dyed wool is not very sun fast, and the fading is acceptable in some cases, and in some circumstances it adds to the art work. 
However, in some other art works it detracts from them greatly. 

To be pulled in so many directions, felt art, felt sculpture, weave, stitch.
Diverse and yet all textile and fibre art.
Mostly contemporary

I do work most of my art in felt.

And I like to have strong colour in my felt art work.  And graduations of colour.
The surprise of seeing the felt art finally on the floor finished
after days of laying out dry fibres.

And so I am playing with colour and texture.
Just using whatever I have
Seeing what evolves and where it leads.

You could say I am having fun.

Here is the last large felt art that I made just a couple of weeks back.
I am thinking about energy and flow.
It is about 2 meters x 1.3 meters.

It is still wet on the floor in this photo and so it looks a bit darker than now, I must set it up and take a good picture of it.

Textiles - Mary Schoeser

 Well it has finally arrived in Australia "Textiles - Mary Schoeser"  and what a fantastic book.  It is just overflowing with incredible textile art.  What a book, I just want to keep looking at the beautiful images and read it.

"The definitive volume celebrating the richness, subtlety and endless creativity of the textile arts" from the cover slip of the book.

Over 1000 images, six chapters of world textiles.  It is a very impressive 568 pages.

And it you turn to the chapters on "Added Dimensions" there is a reference to my artwork o page 547.  And then in the chapter on "Imagery" there is a reference to my work "Frogs View", and then a colour plate of that work on pages 576.

I'm Smiling from ear to ear.  Thanks Mary Schoeser.

clearing

clearing

large alpaca/wool felt with blended colours  using both hand dyed and commercially dyed wool, alpaca, silk, and threads.

growing wings

ten days old and getting ready to fly

co parenting

yesterday they hatched, they are so tiny, and extremely cute.

 I had two hens sitting in separate nests for the past three weeks
Had set them about three weeks ago

I had been away for a day or so helping a friend milk goats
and went to let the chickens out when I got home, to hear the chirping of new chicks coming from the other pen.
It was a surprise to see the two hens had moved in together
And I think I counted seven new chicks.

They are still have several eggs to hatch and so they are dedicated to staying on their nests at the moment.  I had this happen last year as well, two hens with chicks hatched around the same time co-parenting together, and it seems to work well, until the chicks are bigger and then one of the parents dominates the other one and takes on the full parenting roll.  I just let them sort it out and think its best not to interfere.  They know whats best.

It was a cold night last night and so the nest was transported up into  a makeshift pen in our main room. 

Have come home with lots and lots of garden cuttings and plants from my friends garden and so today will be spent planting artichoke, celery, horseradish, and more.

In between all of this I managed to do a little stitch here and there, but not that much.

today I have a good friend coming to collect some dye plants,  and we are also going to cook bread, looking forward to an enjoyable day in the sunshine followed by a fresh home grown dinner.

the stitching will progress tomorrow.

colour in the bush

 this week I have been looking closely at new colours.  the landscape is greening up with the onset of Spring,  this tiny yellow fungi is so bright and delicate.

the early morning reflection of the blue sky in the water and the faint wave of blur coming across the clarity.

the wattles are in full bloom with pea flowers and the first native orchids are appearing.  after the grey of winter it is very refreshing.

An early morning view

Traveling in the sun.

Watching the sunrise and the magic of the colour as it changes on the landscape,  and the shadows as they slowly creep along the ground.