While making little bags I also made a small picture. i suppose it would count for the first quarter challenge. happy-new-year-prepare-to-be-challenged/ I hope to do somthing a little more challenging before the quarter is over. I like little pasture scenes. I started with a piece of black prefelt and then laid the blue sky and pasture. I thought I took more pictures but it seems I didn’t.
This what the back looks like. I wrapped the coloured fibers around the prefelt . I use black prefelt because it will intensify the colours. If I used white it would take the colours towards pastel.
This is the front side felted. I made the contours of the meadow by using a multicoloured roving I had. I think it lets you give the meadow some texture and shape without painstakingly adding tiny bits of colour. I added some clouds to the sky and some flowers to the meadow with some soft silk and little white blobs of sheep as place markers for the next part.
I added the sheep using some embroidery floss and french knots.
Then added the heads and ears. I used a grey for the sheep that are farther away. I think it worked.
At this point it could have been done but I needed something else. Your eye goes to the middle and it is empty. I discussed it over on the Felting and Fiber Studio Forum and I decided some trees were needed. I only know how to do one kind of tree that looks half decent so ever greens were next. I did them in a medium green and then when back with fewer strands and added some darker stitches to give them more depth.
Here it is finished. I had to trim the top off so it would fit in the frame. I always seem to make to much sky anyway so that worked out well enough.
I looks quite nice in the frame. The frame seems to pop it out. I didn’t realise how many scratches it had until I took a picture. I will have to paint it. It is not a great picture, ther was so much reflection. this was the best compromise between the light reflecting or having a clear shot of me in the glass.
I need to learn to embroider more then far away evergreens and sheep. A little cabin or a nice oak tree would have been a nice addition to the picture. I am thinking of buying Moy MacKays book. Do you have a favourite art felt or how to hand stitch pictures or art books?
