Wednesday, December 19, 2012

MOUNTAIN PINE NEEDLES

While I'm trying to find inspiration for the tiny 'Circle' quilt that has me stumped.....my attention got turned to another project.
                                     
On our 90 minute daily mandatory 'forced march' up and down our mountain roads, there's lots of time to view nature.  Last year, small piles of pine needles caught my attention and were ultimately used to embellish one of my hand dyed thick felted wool fabrics. 

I was very happy with the results and even more delighted to find more needles this year.  To keep them from drying out and becoming too brittle, I sprayed them generously with polyurethane.
I had another thick piece of felted wool that would show off the pine needles, yet help to keep the overall design clean and simple.
I'm auditioning the layout of the needles with a piece of rusted cording.
The wool has been stablized with Pellon non-fusible interfacing and the hand stitching has begun.  This is fairly tedious work done with a light hand because the needles are still a bit fragile.

   MOUNTAIN PINE NEEDLES  
 14" x 8"

Artist hand-dyed and felted wool, embellished with pine needles, rusted cotton cording and hand embroidery.
This piece would benefit from framing to protect from dust.  Artist will frame on request for buyer or ship as is if preferred.


7 comments:

The Idaho Beauty said...

Really lovely. Inspired choice for background - totally unexpected backdrop for these needles, thus makes the whole thing more dramatic and interesting.

Robbie said...

Really cool! Waste not, want not, right!

MulticoloredPieces said...

Lovely background and interesting combination with the pine needles.
best, nadia

Anonymous said...

Love this! Who could think a simple thing like a pine needle could look so beautiful in a work of art. Come see me on Off the Wall too. Merry Christmas!

Nanette S. Zeller said...

Really like this. it makes a very interesting landscape.
your are inspiring

Judy Ferguson said...

Wow, how inventive is that? beautiful.

Unknown said...

Interesting, Mari! It reminds me of the photos of a wonderful photographer I just discovered, Eiko Jones...this reminds me of her cloud of tadpoles shot...just because of the verticality.