I've been tagged! Thanks Teresa. Never been tagged before, so here goes, first the Rules:
The rules of this Tag are:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write seven little known facts about yourself.
4. Tag seven people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted

Teresa lives in the Australian Bush and has some really interesting visuals about this part of the world and some wonderful feltwork to go with it, which is based on her environment. Do go and take a look if you haven't seen her work already.

1. I hate form filling and paperwork.
2. I hate waste, I am always recycling.
3. Yes, that means I also hoard things.
4. I love listening to Music when I am creating artwork.
5. I love ponds, amphibians.
6. I have fallen in a pond more than once in my life, trying to get a better look.
7. Oh goodness this has been hard, erm When I was 16 I was kicked by a horse.

Ok, that's the hard part over. Now I am handing it over to you lucky/unlucky fellow bloggers, depending on whether you like this sort thing. Don't feel obliged if you do not wish to take part.

http://kaylacoo.blogspot.com/
http://dogdaisychains.blogspot.com/
http://everembellished.blogspot.com/
http://jacqcfibers.blogspot.com/
http://joellelg.canalblog.com/
http://shirleyannesherris.wordpress.com/
http://thefabricofmeditation.blogspot.com/

Woodland Watercolours

Ok, now I know why I specialised in Textiles at art college.

Yes, I am quite rusty with the watercolours and I am working from photos, albeit my own. I have never liked working from anything but nature itself but needs must. I am hoping that once I begin to translate some images into felt the pictures will lose some of that stilted look that only working from photos gives you.

The main reason why I am making these studies is to find a formula for working with felt. I am exploring light and layers. I have made this decision in order to discover what is possible.

When I began to look at my woodland photos again today I realised that there are so many different ways I could work. Landscape is a very daunting subject, there is just so much of it. Choice is the hardest thing, when faced with such a subject, it's just so overwhelming.
You wouldn't expect that there could be so many

views in one woodland, I have nearly 100 photos that I took, well, some I probably won't find of use but I need to get a feel for the subject matter before I launch into felt.

Watercolour is the hardest medium of all to master. I have always known this, so why do I choose it. Well, it's a medium that you usually work in layers. In the next view I have taken a photo after the first layer, I waited for this layer to dry. When I work in felt I hope to work in a similar way. To put some abstract colours down as a background and then work on top with more felt. I hope to use all the different aspects of perspective such as those found in watercolours. Intensity of colour, more detail in the foreground, things becoming larger. All of these methods and more can be used in any landscape to provide perspective.

Well, after all this I think I am beginning to loosen up a bit. Here below is the finished work from the one above. I am beginning to really get a feel but it isn't easy. It takes a lot of concentration and I also find that I have to let things happen with watercolour, that's what I mean about loosening up. You need to have control over any medium but with watercolour it is a fine balance between being in control and allowing the medium to do what it needs to do to make the picture natural.

I have some more photos arriving next week but these I believe will offer me something else again. Must keep working. Lots to do. I'll be back soon.

The Weald of Kent In Autumn

It had to be done, all the native trees are turning here in Kent, long behind many non native trees which are already bare. So I had to get out there and take some pictures.

A couple of weeks ago I took many woodland pictures, which I have uploaded on to a new to me picture hosting site (Pixum) Well, I tried out there special offer and found them to be very good value. The pictures were sent pronto and at a very reasonable introductory price. Under £9 for 99 standard prints delivered to my door.
Anyway I went today in what was left of the afternoon sunshine and took nearly another 150 pictures and I placed them into another album, I will get these printed up too, I intend to use all of these photos as inspiration for a body of work on Landscape.

I have only put the first few onto here today, many of those I have taken have focused on the Kent hedgerow. Many close ups included.

Some, like this one above, and the last one below, are views from my rear garden. I am so lucky living in this part of the world.

These are just general scenes but as I say there are more focused ones in the album, like this one below, which are full of texture, light and colour.

I am quite happy to share these images if anyone would like to use them as inspiration for landscape work, all I ask is that I am credited with the source photo from which the work comes. If anyone would like to see the full album or indeed my woodland album, please let me know and I will post you an invitation. Obviously in the Albums you can view them all as a screen show and see much clearer on a larger image. I hope you enjoy them as much as I know I will when I begin to work on my sketches for the work I am planning to do. My idea, is to capture this little part of Kent for posterity.

P.S. here are the sheep from the field at the back of my house, that provide me with all my lovely fleece!!