The Season of Change

Today, I collected 3 of my felt paintings which had been on display at the Ucheldre Centre in Holyhead for the past 5 weeks.

I did not win any prizes in the 'Art for All' competition or sell any work, but it feels like a big step forward to actually enter competitions and display work at an exhibition.

My pieces were the only felted items at the exhibition. I'm not really sure how well my work was received as I was unable to attend the opening evening.

There were over 600 entrants to the exhibition and some of the work was outstanding.

Tomorrow is the last day of the summer holidays and I will be preparing my little girl for starting her first day at school. In many ways, we will all be returning to education. Me, P and my granddad will all be learning conversational Welsh at the school in the evenings, and my daughter will be taught entirely in Welsh by the end of the school year.

I have also enrolled on some part time art courses at Bangor University so will have a lot to occupy my time these next few months, and hopefully, a lot more to share with you here than I have had this summer.

My Granddad will be joining me on a short 'writing with intent' course hosted by Bangor University. It will be fun discussing and sharing homework with him. As it will be learning Welsh from my daughter who will inevitably pick up Welsh at a faster pace than us.

September has always felt like a time to renew energy, to stimulate the mind and learn new skills. Who knows what is in store for me on this new adventure!

Face Plant Challenge

Joining in the fun with the Face Plant Challenge over at Artspark Theatre.

Saving the Spinach

We have many beautiful feathered garden friends.
They love my vegetable patch!

The One Love Challenge

 

 

I took  some pictures of my collage responses to Susan's Valentine Challenge today.  I live inbetween two parks.  In one direction I can walk to Warely Woods which joins with Bearwood Park and these woods are patroned by Julie Walters.  I have gone there since I was a little girl . 

In the other direction, the park is in a very deprived area.  The park itself, is better for children, more slides and climbing frames., but I feel very unsafe there.  I don't know why as I do not feel unsafe in the streets around it, and I do the majority of my shopping in this end of town , however there is a very threatening and oppressive feeling here that I always feel everytime I step foot inside this park. 

Today, I decided to visit this park instead of the prettier, safe park.  I thought if I was going to decorate a tree with valentine love and spread goodwill, this park needs it the most.

To visit other responses to the valentine challenge please visit Susan at Artspark Theatre.

Happy Valentine and the One World One Heart Give Away Winners

Susan, of Artspark Theatre has been encouraging folk to share a little valentine love within our communities and plant surprise displays of magical love across the neighourhood.  I'm a little late with mine as I hot footed it down to London to give a little valentine love to my fairy goddaughter, whom I met for the first time yesterday.

Now I am back at home again, I have been glueing and arranging in the best way I know how to in this land of 'One Love' and SKA roots.  Tomorrow I will decorate a tree with these love vibe hangings near the childrens playground to spread the magic of  oneness and love to children, parents and dog walkers alike.  To see other community love offerings, please visit Artspark Theartre.

Now, its time to announce the winners of the One World One Heart give away:

Sandra of Inanna Shamaya

and,

Lisa Atchison of Touch of Glass Designs

I am delighted that Sandra and Lisa have won as both of them have wonderful blogs.  If you have time, please pop over and visit them.

Sandra & Lisa, I will need you to contact me with your postal details.  There is the pictured necklace or a similar necklace that I have been working on in a bright sun kissed colour.  The first  to contact me can choose.

Thank you to all that entered the give away.  I have enjoyed reading all of your comments and visiting your blogs x

New Year for the Trees

The 30th January 2010 is Tu Bishvat, New Year for the Tress. Since reading about this festival in preparation for the Festival of the Trees, I have fallen in love with the notion of a holiday designated to tree planting. What a wonderful tradition. To mark this occasion I wanted to create something that honours the renewal of life, and love of trees.


A couple of weeks ago, my dear blog friend Yvette of Felting your Soul sent me a wonderful piece of hand dyed silk. The silk had been dyed with a huge chestnut leaf imprinting its colours into the centre of the piece and had oak leave painted around the edges with natural dyes. I've been so keen to work with silk, yet hesitant to do anything that may detract from the beautiful piece it already is.


So, when my Vicuna wool arrived, I decided it was so special it would be the perfect compliment to Yvette's piece. Vicuna is known as the fibre of the gods, one of the most luxurious fibres in the world. You have to touch it to believe it, softer than silk, just beautiful. The chestnut brown fibre you see in the picture above is the Vicuna.

According to my wool supplier, Vicuna is a relative of the Llama and Alpaca, two animals already well known for their soft wools. Living in Peru the Vicuna isn't farmed or domesticated as most fleece giving animals are, being allowed to roam free through the Andes mountain range.

To honour Yvette's piece, and in attempt to add to it without spoiling it, I laid out a small amount of viscuna oak leaves, and some oak leaves in white merino too. I then laid out spines to the leaves in silk tussah. But that is all i will show of this piece for now. i want to savour it and work on it some more.

Inspired by this piece, I decided to create another nuno felt to submit for January's monthly design challenge. January's theme is 'Japanese'. Nuno felt is a Japanese technique of laying down wool and silk together and driving the fibres of the wool through the silk until they bond and become one.

I am still familiarising myself with this Japanese technique but it is very addictive and the end results are so satisfying.

(silk side up)

(Wool side up)

All of the colours are natural and undyed. There is a real sense of satisfaction about working with the natural palate of nature. This is the kind of work I would like to focus on for 2010.

Thank you for the inspiration Yvette.

** IMPORTANT EDIT NOTE**

I have had a question about how the Vicuna wool is gathered. They are not farmed and the Vicuna is not killed to collect the wool as I have been advised was the process many years ago. My wool supplier advises that:

The reason the animals aren't farmed is because they have an amazing skill for being able to escape! Instead the regions in which the herds graze organise a "Chaccu" every year. Locals form a long line over the hillside and drive the animals into a funnel of coloured ropes which in turn lead into a corral. Once caught each animal is checked over and sheared, with just 200gms being taken from each.

Tu Bishvat - The New Year for the Trees and the Celebration of Nature

I recently discovered 'The Festival of Trees' and am so glad that I did. Looking back over the last 6 months of my creative development I begin to see just how much trees and nature influence me and how they are at the forefront of my mind and my art.

January's edition of Festival of the Trees is focusing on Tu Bishvat. Tu Bishvat is the Jewish New Year for the trees. I'm not Jewish, but do have enough respect for other faiths and cultures to embrace the common ground that we share in hope that we can build upon it and live in a harmonious peace filled world.

Tu Bishvat appeals to me for so many reasons. One reason is that my own spirituality is nature based and any tradition of planting trees suits me well. When I first learned of Tu Bishvat I wondered if this tradition had come about due to sages of older days observing nature and linking trees with water and the lack of trees with desertification (in warmer climates). After researching this line of thought it appears that the tradition came to be out of an acknowledgment that human kind can not keep taking from nature without giving something back. To do so would be to bring an end to the resource that accommodates and sustains our lives and lifestyles. This tradition is founded on wisdom and a respect for the resources human kind depends upon.

I found an article which explains Jewish festivals and traditions and explains that many of the customs are based around the agricultural calender and, similar to Paganism, honour the solstices and equinoxes as times of great significance marked by festivals and holidays. Tu Bishvat does not appear to have been included in the original Jewish scriptures instead being borne from the necessity of paying taxes in the form of fruits and nuts and with foresight that many trees would be felled in springtime. Tu Bishvat is an attempt to replace trees before they are depleted.

Another aspect of Tu Bishvat is the importance of knowing the exact age of a tree. One should not eat fruits of the tree in the first four years of the trees life and the day of the shevat that the tree was planted on determines the age of the tree in years, not the actual age of the tree in calendar years.

It is customary to eat nuts (almonds) and raisins during the festival of Tu Bishvat and to plant almond trees. I wanted to create a piece of fibre art to honour this festival and was very inspired by almond blossoms and the mythology of the almond tree. I stated to make a shawl. The shawl is of epic proportions (3.5 metres x 1 metre) and has yet to be completed but the design incorporates almond bowers laiden with blossoms. Lets hope I get it finished in time for the actual Tu Bishvat!

Greek mythology tells of the beautiful princess Phyllis, who was left waiting at the altar on her wedding day by her intended, Demophon. Phyllis waited for years for him to return, but finally died of a broken heart. In sympathy, the gods transformed Phyllis into an almond tree, which became a symbol of hope. When the errant, remorseful Demonphon returned to find Phyllis as a leafless, flowerless tree, he embraced the tree. The tree suddenly burst into bloom, a demonstration of love not conquered by death. Below you can see a painting painted in 1907 by John William Waterhouse which was inspired by Demophon and Phyllis.

T - Thankfulness - be thankful for vegetation
R - Recycle - Help our trees
E - Environment
E - Eco-Friendly
S - Save The Trees

Obsession

This year, I was very organised about my Christmas wish list ,making it clear that I really didn't mind what I received as long as I can make felt with it. I even (rather naughtily) kept slipping the name of my wool supplier into conversations.

What can I say, Santa was extremely generous and sent half the contents of Wingham Woolworks my way. I thankfully received a couple of kilo's of wool, some of it pre-dyed and blended with silk, a hat block, an amazing book full of felt hat designs, a tussah silk brick, silk gauze for nuno felting, a wash board (yet to be tried), an Ashford felting board, a felters rolling pin (a must have), India's magical book, olive soap, bubble wrap, and so much more.

Lets just say that I am very happy and have enough goodies to fuel my woolly obsession for a long time to come. Thank you Santa!

Felted Lovelies Laced with Silk

This year I am making as many Christmas presents as I can. Its a bigger task than I thought. We will be spending Christmas in Anglesey with my grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and maybe more... I'm really looking forward to it. I've counted at least 12 people that I will see on he day that I don't usually exchange gifts with ,but I have this self made rule. If I'm lucky enough to spend Christmas day with someone, I like to give them a gift.

Here are 7 of the necklaces I have made. They are all felted wool beads with pale pink silken detail. Its a look that I had tried to achieve in earlier pieces of jewelry where I used alpaca wool. Alpaca wool doesn't get the same satisfying result as silk for this effect. Its too hairy.

The felted wool and silk beads feel very warm and luxurious, almost like a hug.

If you haven't already put your name down for my give away there is still time. Just click HERE and leave a comment. The draw will be made on 21st December. Good luck.

Sand Storm

Birth Chart Mandala

Mixed Media - Pencils, coloured pencils, water colour, acrylics, oil pastels, extracts of proverbs (negativity removed), PVA glue

For the past 9 days I've been taking part in a pilot for Patricia Ariel's new online workshop 'Creative Astrology'. I've been quite blown away by the revelations of my birthchart. So much has been explained and makes sense now. There has been some really great group discussions. I think i'll feel at a loose end when the course closes tomorrow.

A couple of days ago Ariel circulated a message to the group titled 'One or two things I know about art'. It was such a sweet nurturing email telling us to cast aside all doubts about our abilities as artists. Art is instinctive and often, the doubts we have about our creative expressions are simply echoes of the things that were said to us in childhood. They are not true.

What I have discovered about myself during this course is that I really LOVE painting, drawing, collage, mixed media. Its such great fun. I learned that I assumed I was not any good at this aspect of creativity. But if I think about it, I can't remember trying this style of art since my early teens.

When did you last pick up a paint rush, or try the artistic form of expression that you tell yourself that you simply cannot do? Give it a go, you might surprise yourself.


Below are some pictures showing the artwork of Patricia Ariel. Please click on the pictures to visit Ariel's websites. Thank you Ariel.

The Astrology of the Birth Chart and the Castle of the Psyche

Theme Thursday is all about castles this week. Castles can be historical, metophorical, psychological, mythalogical and even astrological.

This week I began an online 'Creative Astrology' workshop hosted by the amaizing artist Patricia Ariel of 'Mesmorized by the Sirens'. The workshop is based around our birthcharts and by the end of the 10 day course we should be able to produce our own personal mandala's which tap into our creative energies using the ancient art of astrology.

So far we have discussed the historic and psychological connections to astrology. I have learned that Jung and other psychologists incorporated astrology in helping clients understand the positive aspects of their personalities and to build on them. I have learned how astrology is used as a tool in assisting self actualisation.

Coming from the helping professions and having studied counselling I was fascinated to hear psychological and counselling terminology being used in reference to astrology. I had never considered astrology in this way before. Eager to find out more, I searched the web and came across an essay 'The Astrology of the Birth Chart and The Castle of the Psyche'. In brief, this essay discusses the theories of Jung and Hamaker-Zondag by metophirically likening the midheaven position of the birth chart to a castle standard. It discusses how the standard (flag) helps those apoproaching the castle decide whether you are friend or foe and if they should proceed or turn back. The essay discusses how judgements have already been made and opinions formed before the oncomer ever reaches the castle (self) and this influences relationships. The castle standard represents the Jungian concept of the 'social persona', the reputation. The social persona protects the inner 'psyche' showing the world what we want it to see.

It is interesting to see how well this is acheived. Do others regard us in the same light that we regard ourselves? Does the way that we regard ourselves reflect the true self?

Yesterday, I was presented with my birth chart. I don't really understand it so will spend some time this evening coming to terms with it and learning what the symbols and positions relate to. Before I understand these symbols, I thought it would be intersting to create a pseudo mandala incorporating symbols that I connect with myself and that astrology has given me to see how it compares to my birth chart.


If your home is your castle and home is where the heart is, my home and castle is under the canopy of an ancient tree in a wildflower meadow. Below is a painting I began in the summer while my friend was visiting from Seattle. Painting and drawing have never been strengths of mine but I have enjoyed making this painting and the mandala above.

To see some beautiful Goddess and fantasy artwork please visit Patricia Ariel at 'mesmorized by the sirens'. Thank you.

Peacock Scarf - Work in progress

I received my wool order yesterday. Lots of predyed alpaca wool, Wenslydale scoured wool, Norwegian scoured wool, hemp, cotton, bamboo and olive soap. I read somewhere recently that olive soap is best because it produces less suds.

So this is my first attempt at wet felting with alpaca wool. Linda of Fiber Fabrications kindly explained to me that:-

Sheep's wool is comprised of fibers made up of many, many scales that have barbs on the ends. (This is microscopically) Those barbs are what make wool prickly to many people. Alpaca fiber has much bigger scales that are smoother and do not have barbs.

The piece photographed above consists of 5 shades of alpaca wool, 2x green, 2x blue and apricot. I have scattered some bamboo fibres in between the layers and have also layered some cotton circles. My energy levels were flagging after a while so I hung the piece out to dry.

Its interesting seeing how different fibres behave. I found that the alpaca wool seems to take a lot more time to felt than merino wool and doesn't seem to have much shrinkage, but it looks incredibly silky when wet and is wonderfully soft.

The above piece will need a second wet felting session to make it functional as a scarf but I enjoyed taking time out to study it and the directions the fibres seem to be moving in. I think this transitional stage is very pretty.


If you are interested in learning more about alpaca's and alpaca wool crafts please visit Linda at Fiber Fabrications. Click HERE to see Linda's wonderful felt soap tutorial.

Myharen fynydd Gymreig

Welsh Mountain Ram