About Me
Born as a triplet in Dallas, Oregon, I have been passionate about art since I was a little girl. I have explored many mediums including drawing, watercolor, oils, acrylic, ceramics, photography and jewelry. I started sharing my passion at craft bazaars when I was sixteen and began selling jewelry online in 2005 through Etsy. In 2009, my husband and I were deep into our sailing adventure, living aboard and cruising a sailboat along the Southern United States, when I discovered the fiber arts world. I bought a traveling spinning wheel and began spinning natural fiber art yarns and added the yarn to my Etsy shop to continue feeding our “cruising kitty”.
After returning to Oregon in 2010, I stumbled across the art of needle felting wool and fell madly in love with being able to create paintings with wool and needles. My earlier painting skills transitioned easily to this new medium as I layered and sculpted the wool into wall art. I began sharing my felted wool art at various local fiber art shows and soon expanded to fine art juried shows and online through my website, Daily Paint Works, Fine Art America and Etsy. I started teaching in 2017 and found a new and rewarding avenue to share my passion. My felt art has won several awards over the last decade, and I continue to challenge the medium into refined, new pieces.
Wildlife and nature are the focus in my felted wool paintings. I have always been drawn to nature and animals and was excited that the texture and warmth of wool was portraying the wildlife so beautifully. Each new piece brings about a learning experience and discovery for what the wool can do and how I can layer the colored wools to accomplish new ways of portraying the color in the eyes, fur and movement of animals and the dance and depth of clouds and water. The most rewarding experience of the felted wool paintings is when someone discovers felted wool for the first time through my art. I love to watch the wonder develop and the excitement rise when people fall in love with a piece that calls to them.
Needle Felted Wool
I have been felting wool since 2011 and love the texture it creates.
Needle felting is a hand-crafted process using specially hooked needles to fuse the locking fibers together as they are pushed in and out of the wool thousands of times. The needle tools are my "brushes" of the art. I use various dyed and natural wool fibers along with other locking fibers of silk, Mohair and alpaca as my "paints". I sculpt the wool as I am fusing it together to the pre-felted wool sheeting that I use for my "canvas". Needle felting is very therapeutic and meditative as the needles fuse the fibers together with a distinctive scooping sound. I generally use Merino wool for my paintings which, although can be harder to work with due to their finer fibers, has the ability to create a very colorful and detailed scene, resembling a painterly fine art painting. Many people have related my felted wool paintings to pastel or watercolor art.
Some wool paintings look best behind glass, but others lose texture if they are put behind glass. It is always best to frame the needle felted art behind glass but with space between the glass and the wool so it can breathe, and the texture of the painting is retained. Shadow boxes and custom framing work beautifully for this type of wall art.
Wet Felted Wool
Wet felting is another technique where I lay out all of the wool into the picture and then use a process to felt the fibers together using hot water, olive oil soap and a lot of elbow grease. This process involves a lot of physicality to keep the picture from distorting while the fibers shrink as they lock together. It creates bold and beautiful paintings as well as sculptured vessels and adornments.
Care Instructions
Although wool is generally dyed with color-fast acid dyes, many of them are also naturally dyed. Wool art should be hung out of direct sunlight, similar to oil paintings, so that it does not eventually fade from UV rays. If a piece is hung without glass and starts to collect dust, a special technique can be used to vacuum the dust without pulling the fibers. First, put a nylon sock over a vacuum nozzle, using a rubber band to secure. Then splay your fingers over the nylon and you can safely vacuum the dust without pulling the wool from the art.
My pieces are created in a smoke-free, pet friendly home.
Framing
Without Glass:
Pros:
You can really see the texture of the wool.
Easier to frame.
Cons:
May get dusty, loosened, or fuzzy over time. May require extra cleaning care (see above). Vulnerable to damage..
With Glass
Pros:
Protects fiber.
Looks professional.
Cons:
Harder to frame. (Needs thicker frame/double matte to give space between glass and fiber to minimize potential humidity problems.)
Can have a flat look to it, it loses some of the texture effect.
Oils
In addition to my watercolor and felting artwork, I began to paint in oils. I stumbled my way through clumsy still lifes and abstracts in a daily painting challenge and soon tried my first painting out of doors. I joined my first plein air paint-out for the Willamette Valley Lavender Paint Out and fell in love with painting outdoors with fellow artists.. I now participate in several events throughout Oregon every year. I prefer to work with palette knife due to the texture, movement, and vibrancy it offers my oil painting. I have since dabbled in encaustic mixed media and soft pastels as well and greatly enjoy the unique textures of each medium.
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Born as a triplet in Dallas, Oregon, I have been passionate about art since I was a little girl. I have explored many mediums including drawing, watercolor, oils, acrylic, ceramics, photography and jewelry. I started sharing my passion at craft bazaars when I was sixteen and began selling jewelry online in 2005 through Etsy. In 2009, my husband and I were deep into our sailing adventure, living aboard and cruising a sailboat along the Southern United States, when I discovered the fiber arts world. I bought a traveling spinning wheel and began spinning natural fiber art yarns and added the yarn to my Etsy shop to continue feeding our “cruising kitty”.
After returning to Oregon in 2010, I stumbled across the art of needle felting wool and fell madly in love with being able to create paintings with wool and needles. My earlier painting skills transitioned easily to this new medium as I layered and sculpted the wool into wall art. I began sharing my felted wool art at various local fiber art shows and soon expanded to fine art juried shows and online through my website, Daily Paint Works, Fine Art America and Etsy. I started teaching in 2017 and found a new and rewarding avenue to share my passion. My felt art has won several awards over the last decade, and I continue to challenge the medium into refined, new pieces.
Wildlife and nature are the focus in my felted wool paintings. I have always been drawn to nature and animals and was excited that the texture and warmth of wool was portraying the wildlife so beautifully. Each new piece brings about a learning experience and discovery for what the wool can do and how I can layer the colored wools to accomplish new ways of portraying the color in the eyes, fur and movement of animals and the dance and depth of clouds and water. The most rewarding experience of the felted wool paintings is when someone discovers felted wool for the first time through my art. I love to watch the wonder develop and the excitement rise when people fall in love with a piece that calls to them.
Needle Felted Wool
I have been felting wool since 2011 and love the texture it creates.
Needle felting is a hand-crafted process using specially hooked needles to fuse the locking fibers together as they are pushed in and out of the wool thousands of times. The needle tools are my "brushes" of the art. I use various dyed and natural wool fibers along with other locking fibers of silk, Mohair and alpaca as my "paints". I sculpt the wool as I am fusing it together to the pre-felted wool sheeting that I use for my "canvas". Needle felting is very therapeutic and meditative as the needles fuse the fibers together with a distinctive scooping sound. I generally use Merino wool for my paintings which, although can be harder to work with due to their finer fibers, has the ability to create a very colorful and detailed scene, resembling a painterly fine art painting. Many people have related my felted wool paintings to pastel or watercolor art.
Some wool paintings look best behind glass, but others lose texture if they are put behind glass. It is always best to frame the needle felted art behind glass but with space between the glass and the wool so it can breathe, and the texture of the painting is retained. Shadow boxes and custom framing work beautifully for this type of wall art.
Wet Felted Wool
Wet felting is another technique where I lay out all of the wool into the picture and then use a process to felt the fibers together using hot water, olive oil soap and a lot of elbow grease. This process involves a lot of physicality to keep the picture from distorting while the fibers shrink as they lock together. It creates bold and beautiful paintings as well as sculptured vessels and adornments.
Care Instructions
Although wool is generally dyed with color-fast acid dyes, many of them are also naturally dyed. Wool art should be hung out of direct sunlight, similar to oil paintings, so that it does not eventually fade from UV rays. If a piece is hung without glass and starts to collect dust, a special technique can be used to vacuum the dust without pulling the fibers. First, put a nylon sock over a vacuum nozzle, using a rubber band to secure. Then splay your fingers over the nylon and you can safely vacuum the dust without pulling the wool from the art.
My pieces are created in a smoke-free, pet friendly home.
Framing
Without Glass:
Pros:
You can really see the texture of the wool.
Easier to frame.
Cons:
May get dusty, loosened, or fuzzy over time. May require extra cleaning care (see above). Vulnerable to damage..
With Glass
Pros:
Protects fiber.
Looks professional.
Cons:
Harder to frame. (Needs thicker frame/double matte to give space between glass and fiber to minimize potential humidity problems.)
Can have a flat look to it, it loses some of the texture effect.
Oils
In addition to my watercolor and felting artwork, I began to paint in oils. I stumbled my way through clumsy still lifes and abstracts in a daily painting challenge and soon tried my first painting out of doors. I joined my first plein air paint-out for the Willamette Valley Lavender Paint Out and fell in love with painting outdoors with fellow artists.. I now participate in several events throughout Oregon every year. I prefer to work with palette knife due to the texture, movement, and vibrancy it offers my oil painting. I have since dabbled in encaustic mixed media and soft pastels as well and greatly enjoy the unique textures of each medium.
***