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Tag: 2023 3rd Quarter Challenge

Nuno Felt Landscape with Summer Birch Trees on Green Matte Ready to Frame.
Thick with Green

Thick with Green

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I have been busy trying to get pieces ready to go to the framers and I also needed to create my tree piece for the 3rd Quarter challenge, summer trees. Here’s the piece I created called Thick with Green. I am sorry about the quality of most of these photos. Somehow, many are blurry but at least the final few photos came out OK, my apologies.

Sketchbook Page with Painted Birch Trees in Summer

I was thinking about a thicket of birch trees from a distance with green leaves. The sketchbook page above was created in one of my art and design classes. I used this as inspiration.

For the background, I used a piece of nuno felt. The silk is on the back this time. I had some white yarn that I decided to couch down to make distant tree trunks.

Then being inspired by the leaves Ann M. used on her summer tree, I decided to try some variegated green cheesecloth. I tore it into pieces and stretched it to give a more organic feel. Then I hand stitched it in place. The stitching disappears into the cheesecloth.

Nuno Felt Green and Blue Background with Birch Tree Trunks.

Then I added more tree trunks. This time I twisted two pieces of the yarn together and couched them in place.

Nuno Felt Green and Blue Background with Birch Tree Trunks and Stitched Pieces of Cheesecloth for Leaves.

More cheesecloth was stitched down on top of these tree trunks. Now what to do with the ground? I feel like I am always saying that about my landscapes. I never seem to plan the ground very well in advance. I don’t do much needle felting but I decided in this case, it would work the best. I felt like stitching would be too detailed since this was supposed to be a more distant landscape.

Nuno Felt Green and Blue Background with Birch Tree Trunks and Stitched Pieces of Cheesecloth for Leaves, Grass Needle Felted at Base of Trees.

Here’s the grass added with a variety of green roving and needle felted in place.

Nuno Felt Landscape with Summer Birch Trees on Green Matte Ready to Frame.

Then I found I already had some green fabric that would work for the “matte”. I stitched the nuno landscape down and laced it around card. This piece ended up to be 8″ x 12″ and it’s ready to frame. Now to take all the pieces to be framed and then send them off to the gallery. Check, another task off my list.

Summer tree Finished.

Summer tree Finished.

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Thankfully I have friends with grey wool. Jan and Bernadette found me some grey in many shades so I could complete my picture. I explained to both that I only needed a little bit, a handful would be more than was needed. I just needed it for a few rocks on my picture

Picture of wool

picture of me taking a picture
I didn’t take any progress pictures of the rocks. I was busy poking and talking.

And finally the finished picture, or so I thought. when you take a picture, you can see so much more sometimes. I really don’t like the roots over the rock. I had tried putting a rock in front of the tree but that looked worse. So, I will take the roots off and continue from there.

I managed to take the roots off and played with the rock some more and now I think it really is done.

I’ve started my summer tree.

I’ve started my summer tree.

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I was looking through some of the simpler backgrounds I had on hand to jump-start my summer tree. I did this agt our guild social so I was too busy chatting to get you a picture before I started.

I decided to use some more of the pencil roving I have. It is sold as Buffilo roving or Brigs and Little Country Roving. It comes as 5 strands of thin pencil roving wound into a cake. It looks to me like it has been prepared to go through a spinning frame and then be plied into usable yarn. Why else wind 5 strands together? https://briggsandlittle.com/product/country-roving/

This is the brown I am using but not a solid colour so it has more depth. I wound off 2 strands to pop into my felting bag.

When I am not sure of my artistic ability ( most of the time), I tend to go small. If it’s little it is harder to see it’s not very good. However, trying to make a small tree in the distance did not go well. It looks more like some sort of demented scarecrow. You can see it’s quite a nice background though.

So I ripped it off and started a much bigger tree in the foreground.  You can see how using the pencil roving makes it easier to make branches as you lay them in for the trunk.

I tidied that up top and bottom and that is as far as I have made it.

 

 

I like the way the pencil roving forms the tree but I think I need to add a little lighter ( and maybe darker)  colour to help define it more. I am not happy with the blob in the top middle of the trunk. I think I will have to open it into the branches more. I will have to do some searching for pictures of winter trees to see how that part looks. It may not matter once I add the leaves. Isn’t it funny how you know exactly how a tree looks until you come to make one? I also have to work out what I want for the rest of the picture. Maybe some rocks, sheep are always popular, a fence?

 

The only other thing I did this week was to make some felted balls for my goddaughter, for her cats. Again, too much talking and not enough picture taking. they are small styrofoam balls with a bell pushed into them.