Jack Pine Continued.....

Back to the Jack Pine project! I shaped the 'leaves' with my fingers to resemble flat discs with a pointed end. I needle felted it on to the branches pointy end in and then needle felted the upper side to the craft felt, leaving the rest of the leaf sticking out.
I positioned the leaves up and down the branches to create the illusion of limbs of the tree.I then added reflections in the water and needle felted black fibre around almost everything...I really like to outline my works..black makes everything else really stand out. I added some pale gray and white to create the 'sunny' side of the rocks and voila! It's done!

The Princess and the Frog

This trailer was just released this morning. This is the film I'm working on!

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/princessandthefrog/

Jack Pine Continued.....

Now that I have a drawing or pattern to go by, I can use it as a reference only or I can trace it on to the craft felt I'm using for the back ground.
I used a varigated corriedale pencil roving...ranging from shades of pale blue to navy to teal....needle felting it on to a white piece of craft felt. This piece is 5" by 7". I made sure some of the darker bits of fibre showed in the sky and some of the more turquoise is down below where the jack pine will be. I left the edges clear so that when I frame the piece I won't be losing any needle felted detail around the edges. I then created a horizon of small hills using a teal fibre made of 30%Mohair and 70% merino...(this is an excellent fibre for needle felting...it's very 'flubby' and chunky..not combed out as much as the corriedale I use). Never create the horizon line in the centre of the piece..locating it below centre creates more drama.

I anchored the hills by needle felting a bit of black where the hills meet the water. I added rocks...needle felting them on only around the edges so they remain 3 dimensional and 'rock like'! I've established that the 'sun' is coming from the left so I put darker grey and black on the right sides of the rocks to give them depth.

I placed the tree off centre to add interest to the piece.

More next time....

Jack Pine

I've been thinking about Algonquin Park lately...I'm heading up near there this weekend and SO looking forward to it!!http://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/index.html
It's a huge wilderness area with canoeing and camping and abundant wildlife and TREES. I love trees. I have favourite trees all over the world. The tree that most evokes Ontario for me is the Jack Pine. Tom Thompson has explored Algonquin park and the Jack Pine with enormous success; creating priceless paintings as one of the Group of Seven.

http://www.crossstitchpatterngall.com/tom_thompson.htm

I would like to present my humble attempt at a Jack Pine in needle felting. I will take you step by step through my process from my first inkling of an idea to the finished product. Today I'm starting with the rough idea and sketch.

First I do a very rough drawing of what I would like to do.

Then I simplify, simplify simplify.

stay tuned.......