Five minutes

I recently exchanged emails with needle felting artist Marie Jones and when I commented that kits help me get over "artist block", she shared some great advice.  She wrote:

 "A wonderful artist told me to create something every day even when I don't feel like doing it- nothing complicated, even if it's just a five minute doodle. It is definitely a pressure free way of getting past the creative block."

Since she shared this with me, I have aimed to needle felt for at least 5 minutes every day even if it's just before going to bed.  It's very helpful that I have a coo-coo clock in the studio so I have to enter the room twice a day to wind it!  And so in the late evening I take at minimum five minutes to poke.  Five minutes.

The result?  Instead of being an aside that I rarely get around to, now whatever I'm working on is always in my peripheral vision, it's not forgotten.  It's exciting to see progress even in tiny increments and my fingers twitch to pick up and continue the work.  The studio is an active place, not stagnant.  In my mind, the lights are never turned off.  

(Since then, I made this snowman!  The core is cotton and polyfil, the "snow" is from Fibrecraft.) 

To focus for even 5 minutes seems to wake up that part of the brain so it doesn't go dormant.

(I also made Arrow; he stands 5 1/2 inches tall and is my largest dog so far.  Wired so he's poseable, he was a lot of fun to make!  I wasn't concerned about his breeding, but I'd guess he's a German Shepherd mix.)

I invite you to give it a try.  If it's something that's important to you, find the time.  Start with 5 minutes.

Thank you, Marie!

  (And if you haven't seen her work, check out https://mariejonesfibre.art/ !)

One hour and twenty minute beach

Regarding my post of July 20, once again what I hoped to do got pushed to the bottom of the list and didn't get done.  So today I'm following my own advice and doing it first!  And what I want to do is write about the second workshop we did:  the "twenty minute beach".

While my sister was here, she took the reins and guided us through the creation of a 2D needlefelted beach scene. 

This was inspired by a piece she gifted me for my birthday, a 3 3/4 x 6 1/2 inch beach image (along with a luscious fibre "Paradise Island" Living Felt sampler for making beach projects).  She said it was just a quickie, something she did in a twenty minute session.  Wow!  Just twenty minutes?  So she said we could all try it and see for ourselves!

The first thing we needed to do was choose an image for inspiration.  We easily found lovely examples online.

Sadly Mom backed out at the last minute (but after seeing the results she said she'd be willing to try if we do it again).

  

With pieces of backing felt cut to size (Kunin Felt made from recycled plastic bottles from String Theory) and fibre covering the table (from Fibrecraft, My Butterfly Green, Heidi Feathers and Dimensions Crafts), we jumped right in, the timer started!  

Choosing a dark color, we placed our horizon lines, then outlined other major features.  Doris advised that the sky should be dealt with next, and then the water.  This is where she showed the super easy way to blend fibres together, creating beautiful, unique two-tone lengths.  Lovely!  

This is where it also became obvious our session was going to be a one hour and twenty minute beach workshop!  With instruction and guidance, of course this was entirely expected but I think we were both surprised at our finished pieces.  Doris' little seagull and boat were a challenge and my stairs gave me a bit of trouble.  

 

Ta da!  

As you can see, my beach is very fluffy and loose, while Doris' is smooth, sleek and tight.  It's a very individualistic craft and allows for a lot of personalization.  

It was a really worthwhile workshop and I learned a lot of techniques and it's very different from doing a 3D object.  I think my fluffy image is me struggling to do something flat, I really want to try it again and pay more attention to my sister's technique.  But for a first try (and also a timed effort!), I'm very happy with my piece.  The goal for me is to get good enough to create "the" perfect beach with our dogs running on it, Willow's favorite place of all.  So next time we get together we'll hone our skills!