Southern felting group

This group doesn't actually have a name, but the members come from various parts of Southland.  Today there were 6 of us, with a couple of others who popped in but didn't stay.  It was held at the home of Dawn Molloy from Felt 4 U, and she was demonstrating how to make felted baby booties.   Here's some photos from the day:

 Because booties are 3 dimensional, a template that acts as a resist is used.  This will be removed later. Here's one of the other ladies adding carded wool to her template.  Both sides are covered in wool so that both booties are made at once, then they're cut apart and the template is removed.

This is the wool I used for my second pair, laid out in thin layers on the template.

A completed pair.  These had a different colour on the inside.

Bex Pilley from Fanny Blott Designs was doing other stuff, including finishing off this hat.  I'm going to do a hat making class with Bex next month. Yippee!  There are still spaces if you want to come along.

 Sue showed off the fabulous and complex scarf she had made with Shona Schofield....

..while Rhonda modelled the scarf she designed herself.

Altogether a great day.  Can't wait for the next one!  Below are the 2 pairs of booties I made - the turquoise ones are slightly larger.  They've been rinsed and are now drying.

Stepping into ancient footprints

I have become excited by felt, that centuries-old material traditionally used in cold climates for dwellings, coats, boots, blankets and so on. I am seriously considering working with felt for my major project next year - in the final year of my Arts degree, we have to come up with a project that will absorb 3 of our 8 papers.  This project will be lived and breathed throughout that year.  Having discovered that I can do anything I want for this project, I'm researching felt artists to get some idea of what is being done in contemporary felt sculpture.

The above sculptures are the work of Marjolein Dallinga of Bloomfelt.com.  She is a Dutch-born artist who now lives in Canada.  She submitted a prize-winning entry in last year's World of wearable Art here in New Zealand (no photo sorry) and has worked for Cirque du Soleil.

What I love about felting, and wool of any kind, is that there is minimal processing required before use, it is organic and renewable, and nothing is wasted.  Wool takes dyes beautifully, and there's nothing I love more than myriads of colour.

Watch this space to see what happens next.  Shortly, I'm off to join a felting group for a day of hands-on creativity.  I'll take the camera.

Thank you..

..dear readers, for leaping to your keyboards and restoring my faith in blogging.

I've been out and about over the past 24 hours - firstly to the Bluff Oyster Festival.  As well as being NZ's southernmost town and on e that was settled by Europeans very early on in NZ's history, Bluff is most famous for its oysters.

 This was the lineup on stage for the sea-themed fashion show. Some very imaginative costumes.

 On the docks afterwards....

 ...a nice little fishing boat.

 I liked the reflection of the rope in the water...

 ...and of this boat too.

 This morning, I went out to Oreti Beach to take some moody in-the-rain photos but as soon as I decided to do that, the weather improved.

 There had been quite a bit of rain during the night, and even a touch of snow on the hills.

I always like seascapes with a bird in them.  Click on photos to enlarge them.

What to do?

Dear Blog Readers,

I have a problem.

The only comments I am getting on my blog are standard responses coming from unrelated websites.

According to the blog, I have 47 people following my blog, and have had 122 visits this week.  So where are you all?

Perhaps I am not doing anything of interest to you any longer?  If that is the case, perhaps there is no point in continuing with this blog.  Your feedback would be appreciated.

Meanwhile, here's some photos taken at Riverton last week.

Things I learned this week

I'd like to think I learn something every week.  I hope so.  Over the weekend, I've been at a painting class run by Riverton artist, Dawn Barry.  Turns out she's a friend of my old school friend, Astrid (who lives in Auckland but has a wee place at Riverton and comes here in the holidays), and so was one of the women I was sitting next to.  Small world.    Here's some photos from the class:

 There were 11 of us - 1 man and 10 women.  The others were all more experienced that I am, even Rose (left)  who is only 16.  Some had held exhibitions.  I was slightly daunted by this, especially as I've only painted a handful of pieces so far.

 First, we painted something we knew, in a technique that left a black outline.  This worked better on some subjects that others.  Not so well on my portrait, but it was either that or a still life as that's all I've done.

 The second technique was a segmented style, with each segment blending from light to dark, or dark to light.  I quite enjoyed this, but would use less white next time.

 Thirdly, we painted something in flat colours, then added visual texture with oil pastels.  I also painted with my fingers.  Not a great landscape but it's my first.

Lastly, we did a seascape using plaster, sand and so on, applied with a palette knife for texture.  When it dried, we added layer after layer of thin washes.  Mine wasn't very good so I'm just showing some that others did.  Dawn's sample is top left.  All in all, we had a great time.

 I do know you're not supposed to allow lens flare in photos - however, sometimes, I like it.  This was a really interesting afternoon sky recently.

 And while I know how to weave fabric, I had to relearn it as it's ages since I've done it.  This is 2 completely different versions of my Blended Fabric - above, being woven on the ironing board, and a close-up below.  I've stitched it, but want to add some stamping to pull the colours together.  It's a cover for my new creative journal.

A bit of this, a smidgeon of that.....

While I haven't been blogging lately, I've been busy.  My life at present is not quilting related, however.

 My daughter Sophie and boyfriend Mark came to visit, and we all went to Riverton to see Sophie's school friend, Rachel.  Above is Rachel's pet piglet, Bernie, who is a redhead like her.  Below are Sophie and Rachel at the farm.  The weather was just beautiful that weekend.

 Yesterday, I was in Queen's Park with my friend and her boys.  The roses are still blooming..

...and the Colchicums, because it's autumn....

 Here's some of the big rose gardens in the park..

 We came across a man with a pet galah....

 ...and walked around the band rotunda....

I turned this skein of merino.....

 ...into this, and combined it with another ball that I had hand-dyed another time in a darker red.....

 ...to make this for my son's girlfriend Cat for her 30th birthday.  No peeking, Cat!

 Drawing and painting might not seem like work, but they are.  I'm learning painting this year, and am practising by copying other artists' styles.  Below is a partly completed copy of "Matisse" by Derain.

 I really like the work by this artist, Francoise Nielly.  She paints in oils on large canvases using a palette knife.  I'm using acrylics on paper with a brush, so the results aren't going to be the same.  It's fun to do, though.

Would you believe....

...that I own a JMW Turner watercolour landscape?

How about a landscape by Cubist painter Juan Gris?

No?  They are some of my "in the style of" paintings that I'm doing for Painting class.  Here are the originals:

 I haven't painted with watercolours before, so I think my Turner is nowhere near like the original.

My Juan Gris was not a direct copy of the original.  I rather like his style.

Nothing much else happening due to pressure of school work.  Two weeks left of this term.  Roll on, Easter!

Weekend at Wanaka

This weekend was the 75th A&P Show (that's short for Agricultural & Pastoral) held at Wanaka.  Last year, over 15,000 people attended and there were probably more this year.  Quite an achievement, since only around 7000 people live in the area.

 Wanaka town lies at the southern end of Lake Wanaka in Central Otago.  It is surrounded by mountains.

 This stall had delicious doggy treats.

 These sideshow clowns have been around for at least 50 years - I remember them from wen I was a child.

 I loved this sign - and bought some of their delicious sheep cheese.

 There were a few alpaca....

 ...plenty of sheep....

 ..preserves.....

 ...children with Angry Birds hats......

 ...the guy on stilts who was blowing bubbles.....

 ...man's best friend, of course.....

 ....lots of horses.......

...and this champion bull was just enormous.   I also caught up with my friend Donald, who lives in Wanaka, and you can see more photos on his blog here.