Felt Painting – Felted Pictures, Bowls, Pumpkins & Christmas Trees
I have been creating things since childhood; drawing, painting and making things from whatever materials I could get my hands on. Over the years, I explored and taught myself various crafts, including silk painting, macramé, knitting and salt dough modelling. My career as a primary teacher allowed me the opportunity to teach arts and crafts using a range of media and techniques – experimenting and learning alongside my pupils. This was very rewarding for me personally but I was also able to observe and understand the positive impact on children’s emotional well-being when engaging in these activities. When I retired from teaching in 2017, I discovered felt painting. Using wool to paint was a new concept for me, but I have always enjoyed working with yarn and absolutely love the tactile quality of this medium.
I am generally inspired by nature. I especially love flowers, seed heads and trees. I often work from photographs taken in my own garden or walks in the local area and use dyed merino wool in a range of amazing colours to create my pictures. I also like to experiment by mixing the fibres to create new and exciting colour blends. I sometimes add additional fibres for texture such as silk, natural sheep’s wool, and gold or silver leaf. A large painting (20″x16″) will take me approximately 8hrs to complete, not including drying time. A short video showing this process can be found on my Facebook Page: Facebook.com/LouLouCraftsScotland
Elaine Reid
