Cleaning out the Cobwebs...

One of my goals for the new year has been to tie up as many lose ends in my life, as possible. To that end, I was going through an old file cabinet, today, and found this colored-pencil drawing I did of my daughter, Sarah, when she was a little (a very little) girl. I thought I might have lost it, or it was still in storage in Florida, but to my surprise and delight, there it was...tucked neatly away in my files.

Maybe...I should draw more. I am a bit spoiled by the computer. Not that drawing skill is not necessary in a computer. In fact, basic drawing and painting skills are a big plus, if you do digital work.

Here is a pic some of you may have seen before. This is a digital painting, taken from a photo of Lance's daughter, when she was younger. All that's left of the original photo is the face. Everything else was digitally "painted" using various brush tools. I clipped the wings from a black and white line drawing of a butterfly. They were cut apart and painted, individually, then repositioned behind Rachel's back to make her into a fairy.

I'm always turning people into fairies. I guess I've been doing it for quite a while. Here's one of my earlier attempts using the computer and a photo of my sister, Ruthanne, in a long-ago Easter dress that my Mother made. This one was more photos and filters, than drawing, but I did have to draw and paint the wings and the mushroom.

Well...there's more fairy art in my files, but it will have to wait for another blog. I really just wanted to post that early drawing of Sarah. I was so happy to find it. :)

Happy New Year, everyone!

Bettina

© 2008 Bettina Makley

Needle Felted "Horizon"

At least...I think it's finished. I'll mull it over for a day or two before I add it to my Etsy store. It is an ACEO, which is always 2.5" x 3.5". It is 100% wool fiber, hand needle felted, including the base or "canvas".

This, like most of my work, just started creating itself. I had no idea where it was going, when I started, but I think it's there.

I think.

Thanksgiving was quiet...but filled with love...and good food. I have so much to be thankful for that if I began to list it all here, I would never get off this machine, so I will only say that I am very grateful for the many gifts in my life...family, love, creativity, wool...lol...oops! Oh no! I've started the list!! I simply must stop here, because I'm sure you get the idea and I have to go enjoy the gifts I've been given. :)

Altered Clothespin Doll

I haven't stopped needle felting. I just wanted to add a blog about a doll I made, a while back, for a swap. I couldn't post her, as I did not want to spoil the surprise for my "swapper".

This is "Primal Singer". She is altered on a clothespin using hand-painted fabric, hand made beads and embellishments and one of my hand-sculpted, high fired faces. She is my first doll in this format, though I have made dolls for most of my life.

Not your grandmother's clothespin doll...though I love those, too!

I have several other dolls, like this, on my work table...which I have not seen since I started needle felting in the "Satellite Lab" (the bed *wink*). I am really feeling the itch, though, to start combining all my skills, again, so more of these may be forthcoming...with a little needle felting worked in!

I'm also going to include a pic of my latest flat felted piece, a dragon and "The Green Man's Cat", though I'm not really liking the scans I'm getting of him. Also, he might need some whiskers. I'm still thinking about it.

Well, I'd better get back to The Lab!

Needle Felting Abstracts

Well...my computer went down for a bit, so I was inspired to work more on "real-time" art. These scans are of my latest, needle felted "paintings".

I recently acquired some new wool from my new friend Doxie, at The Special Tea Shop on EBay. These fibers are unlike anything I have purchased, so far and are very fine and short. Unexpectedly wonderful for shading! Lots of new, intuitive art is showing up, so look for more, very soon!

In the mean time, I hope you will enjoy these little works. The one on top was fun to do, but I haven't thought of a title for it, yet. It is an ACEO (2.5" x 3.5") and will be listed soon.

The other one is an abstract that just showed up, called "Bird Watching". It's 2.5" x 4.5". Birds show up, a lot, in my work, especially in the abstracts.

Look for a new needle felted character, soon! He's finished. He just has to be photographed, so the next blog will showcase "The Green Man's Cat".

Tootles!

Needle Felting: "Farmer Jack"

It's that time of year, again.

Here is my offering for Halloween. "Farmer Jack" is needle felted over a wire armature. I like doing these characters, but they are so time consuming. I know I say that, a lot, but it can't be expressed, enough, in my opinion.

I've read where some people think needle felting is easy...and it can be, depending on what you want to achieve. The hardest part, to me, is making hands and feet...the same size. You have to get a feel for how much wool will needle down into the size you want. This character had entirely different hands, before I ripped them off, because I had used too much wool and just couldn't get them down to the size I wanted. That was a three hour lesson. Now, I know that less is better, to start with, as you can always add more, but taking away is extremely difficult.

I know I am getting a little faster, at this, all the time, but it takes the time that it takes and rushing only causes...well...three hour lessons. Also, I like my work to be firmly felted. This takes hours of additional time. Add to that my obsession with details ( I really had to reign that in, with Jack, as I wanted him to be more accessible, price wise) and you can get work that must be compensated by hundreds of dollars, if one needed to make a living from their art, as I do.

I guess what I'm hoping, here, is that anyone reading this will understand the monetary value of time. If "Farmer Jack" sells for the minimum amount I listed him for, I will have made around two dollars an hour for labor and then there are all the listing fees, final value fees and other overhead. If I didn't love doing it, this could be very discouraging.

Well...fortunately...I do love doing it, so I'm not complaining...just educating, a little, I hope. At any rate, in the future you may see work that is priced according to the amount of time and love I put in. I always like to have pieces that are accessible to everyone who wants to invite my work into their homes...which I consider an honor, by the way, but some of it may be out or reach for some. I can't let that stop me from putting all I am into my work.

I'd love some comments on this. Should artists expect, at least, minimum wage for the time they put into their work?

Needle Felted: "Devotion"

Here's another quick update with pics of my latest. I've become fascinated with miniature, needle felted pictures. My latest is a two inch oval called "Devotion".

See my other tiny "paintings", as my friend Melanie calls them, in my EBay listings. There is so much love and passion in my work, lately. I just can't get enough wool! This will be a great art form to curl up with, this winter!

I'm also adding a pic of "Fishies".

I still haven't listed "Harvey and His Pooka". It's so hard to detach, sometimes.

Many blessings of creativity!!

Needle Felting: Harvey

Well, I was looking at my needle felted cat (seen in a previous blog) when it occurred to me that I had the perfect colors for a new experiment. Not too original, but I couldn't resist trying it. When I had finished (hours of poking and several, painful finger-sticks later) I placed my new creation next to Harvey and a new and everlasting friendship was born.



"Harvey and His Pooka" is a OOAK creation, inspired in part, by the movie with Jimmy Stewart and also by my love for sock monkeys. I had a sock monkey, when I was little, made by my grandmother. Her name was Luisa (the sock monkey, not my grandmother) and was named after an organ grinder's monkey in a Shirley Temple movie.


In case you didn't know, the Harvey in the story was Elwood P. Dowd's pooka. In Irish Folklore a pooka is a mischievous spirit, like a fairy or goblin, with the power to be seen as an animal. In my world, Harvey has his own pooka in the form of a sock monkey!



This work evolved, over time to become what it is...an artist's interpretation...a tribute to a classic movie...and a classic toy. In no way, have I intended to infringe on any copyrights, and I hope this will not be seen, as such.



If you haven't seen the movie...it's well worth the rental fee...and if you want to make a real sock monkey, you can still purchase Rockford Red Heel Socks on the net.


Happy Creating!