One of my favorite moments on the farm was calling the goats back into the barn for evening milking. Often they were far out to pasture, and I'd walk through the maze of electronet to fetch them. They knew it was time to come in, but wanted to grab as many mouthfuls of green spring grass before I got to them. I would round them up like a very slow and daydreamy border collie, and we would amble back to the barn. Beyond the dairy barn the Cork Elms towered into the sky, and the clouds put on a show.
The largest wool painting I'd made up till this point was about 12x16 inches. The backgrounds would take forever to needle felt. But now that I was getting the hang of wet-felting maybe I could take on a larger format. I decided it was time to give it a try. I sketched out the design, adding a pathway and a barn in the distance, and then with the size and design in mind, began the canvas.
I began with white roving as a base. After that i criss-crossed dyed roving in the general idea of what I was aiming for, trying not to get bound up in being exact.
I was feeling pretty pleased with how it was looking, so took the plunge and brought in the soap and water. I had some new wet-felting tools, and dove in.... and...... DISASTER! I'd been working through netting, and when I pullet it back to check my progress, this is what I found:
The roving was uneven and chunky, all my layering went super wonky and it was clearly a bust. However, I had used SO MUCH roving for this large format I couldn't fathom wasting it all. I figured worst case scenario I could tear it apart and use it all for dryer balls -- but I just didn't want to give up yet. But I won't lie -- tears were shed. All that careful layering and color blending -- what happened???
In the end I got it to mostly felt, but it was an uneven mess. There was water everywhere and one of the dyes bled out over everything. I tell you, it wasn't great.
But I'd already learned that even when the result wasn't what I wanted, I could salvage the background by just needle felting it into submission. I was pretty discouraged, though, and hung up the piece of misshapen felt to dry and then left it.... for months.
This first attempt took place in May. Come January, I decided I was ready to try again (note this was over half a year of procrastination!). I had done a number of smaller wet-felted pieces and was feeling a lot more confident. I set up a table in my tiny kitchen (it just fit wedged between the drawers and the sink) put the kettle on for a steady source of hot water, and gave it another shot. This time, things worked not perfectly, but were most definitely serviceable.
I finally got to where I figured I was as far as I could get with wet-felting. It was time to start in with the needles, with which I am much more confident. In short order I was feeling pretty good about the direction things were going.
Now that the landscape was well underway, I was ready to start bringing some goats into the picture. Way back in May I'd transferred a drawing onto some cotton interfacing in my experimentation of how to transfer a drawing onto felt which is just too fuzzy to draw on. Using pins, I attached the drawing....
This method is not working perfectly either. The idea is to put roving under the interfacing and then poke the needle through the drawing to felt the roving down to the background in the correct shape. It mostly works, but is not exact in the least bit.
You can see how I get the relative shape of the goat. I freehand the shading and details. I of course had different goats in mind as I was working. The dark one in the back is Minnie. She's been at the farm longer than I have.
As I worked I realized I was modeling the coloring of the goats after some of my favorite dairy ladies. The ones that are a little older and maybe moving towards retirement. I felt wistful and grateful for them as I felted.
I moved my felting set-up to my house (rather than my studio down the street) so I could work on it in the evenings. It was so sweet to spend the wee hours with the woodstove crackling, the dog crashed on the couch, an audio book for company (shout out to Merle Streep reading "Tom Lake" by Anne Patchett!).
In this cozy (and cluttered) studio nest I reached the obsession point of the work and grabbed all the bits and pieces of time as I could. Happily, I finished the piece in plenty of time for my self imposed deadline of a community fiber art show at the Orcas Center (opening Feb. 14). I even have time to get it scanned for reproductions and my friend George will make a one-of-a-kind frame...
A friend said to me "This one MUST be for you, yes?" But this piece not only is groundbreaking for me in its larger format, but also in the fact that it's the first piece I've finished after cutting my hours at the farm to have more time to do art. I'm working half-time at the farm now and half-time with this new art hustle. As a result, these pieces are by necessity for sale to allow me to continue to create under this new schedule. Let me know if you're interested in this piece, or in a commission for the future! I promise I won't show you any of the disastrous in process photos until you have a gorgeous final piece in hand!
"Back to the Barn" is my simple title, though I joked that I might also call it "Udders Asway", which has an "Anchors Away!" kind of ring to it. I feel very proud, and ready for the next challenge. And, if you're a felting comrade and have tips for any of the trial and error you witnessed in this post, drop me a comment!
I love this piece! I especially love that you have taken artistic license to add so much more colour where you see fit. I haven't really seen your work before but if I had to guess I'd say you are/were a painter as you have applied those principles here. It is lovely and giving me the needed to push to put my illustrative skills to wool! So far I've mostly felted 3d but a bit of flat work