Collies, Cardinals, and Mutts Oh My!

For Christmas I made a series of animals, and gave them as gifts. Each creature was packaged in a small paper box that I folded, and was wrapped in tissue paper. I selected animals that lived near the person's home, or created a custom portrait of their pet.

"Sam & Ball"
3" x 2"
wool roving, glass beads

Felted wool portrait of a Border Collie.

"Clover"
2" x 2"
wool roving, glass beads

Felted wool portrait of a Westie.




"Red Fox"

This playful fox is pictured in one of the boxes.



"Hummingbird in Flight"
3" x 1.5"
wool roving, glass beads, embroidery thread

A small ruby-throated hummingbird ornament.



"Cardinal in Flight"
2.5" x 1.5"
wool roving, glass beads, embroidery thread

A red cardnial to sit in the Christmas tree, or hang in a window year-round.

Avian Small Works

"Chickadee and nest"
1.5"x3"
wool roving, vegetable dye, glass beads

A needle felted wool sculpture of a chickadee, sitting in a nest of wire and twigs.

Needle Felted Pet Portrait

"Scout"
1"x3"
raw wool roving, glass beads, pink organic cotton thread

This is a needle felted version of our West Highland White Terrier, Scout.

Felted Wool Sculpture

"Fantastic Miss Fox"
3.25" x 1.5"
wool roving, colored dye, glass beads

It's been far too long since I've added images to this site. Lately I've been getting back into small works. This fox is a sculpture made of felted wool. The wool is shaped and molded, then a barbed felting needle is used to felt the wool, densely packing it and giving form and posture to the creatures. I am currently working on a couple of sculptures that are portraits of dogs I know. I'll post them soon!

a peek at the sketchbook

Stuck in the house, perhaps inspired by Harold and his purple crayon? Doodle of an owl and birch trees with a purple pencil. Thinking of expanding this into a pen and ink pointillist piece... we'll see.

Illustration Friday: Canned

"Chasing Fireflies"
8.5 x 11"
watercolor, pen and ink


My first submission for Illustration Friday (IF), a weekly online art exhibit. This week's topic was "canned." As I am currently on vacation and enjoying lazy summer days with my dog, this was my take on the subject. (Click on image to enlarge)

Photography

Sometimes I take photographs. Here are a few favorites:

"Shoe tree from beneath"

A photograph from one of our road trips. This tree is alongside a lonely highway and full of shoes... hundreds of pairs. I was so intrigued that I crawled under a barbed wire fence to take a picture. I can only speculate as to what the shoes symbolize or what their purpose is. They were all different sizes, and some of them looked really old. There was a funeral parlor business card nailed into the bottom of one leather boot.

"Agriturismo Castro"

A farmhouse I visited in northern Italy

"Il Capo del mercato all'aperto"
or
"The boss of the outdoor market"

I promise I didn't pose this guy. I did accidentally wake him up from his nap to take this picture though. He and his human run a flower stand in Roma's Campo dei Fiori, (translates to Field of Flowers), an Italian square, formerly the site of public torture and punishment, which is now a lovely outdoor market. I lived with 12 other artists in an apartment above Il Campo when studying art in Rome.