After finishing my embroidered tree, I needed a new idea for my next gallery piece. I took a look through my pile of sketchbooks and found a few options that might work for a wool “painting”.

I decided to use this watercolor painting for inspiration. Now to find the right colors to create this idea in wool.

Here’s my work table with my wool choices ready to mix. I used the hand carders to mix up some “variegated” colors. I find that using a dyed wool that is solid really doesn’t look much like nature, especially the greens. The solid colors look really flat. Most of the wool I am using here is short fiber merino and it mixes very easily. I don’t card it completely so I have a mix of two to three colors in each little batt.

Here’s the colors I mixed up. I was thinking of using some orange locks on the tree but ended up not using them. The brown is pre yarn that I will use for the tree trunk. The plan is to do the majority of the scene with the wool and then add a few free motion machine stitched details.

Here’s the scene after laying out the wool. I can see why some people like to just cover this with glass and be done. It has such a wonderful texture and looks like real foliage.

Here is the piece after wet felting. The felting definitely flattens the scene. Now to decide where to add the stitch details. And not to over-do it. I always feel like I do a bit too much stitching on pieces. I’m planning on just adding some branches to the tree and a few light and dark highlights. But that’s for my next post.