Posts filed under 'Felting'
I finally started the central figure of my mother art piece.
I had put it off because I hate dolls. They just seem like brainwashing to make girls think they should have babies. Abbey told me to think of it as a figure. That worked for me. Here’s the figure on the womb for scale:
Then came time to open the figure’s womb. As I sat on my bed and cut the stomach open with scissors, I felt movement in my entire body. It was like a weight moving down my face, arms, stomach and thighs. It was intense.
I’ve also been researching images of Endometriosis. Not pretty. But it does translate well to fiber art:
The woven universe piece needs to hibernate for awhile so the Mother piece is going to be in this year’s Beyond The Fringe.
February 20th, 2010
The Green Man is going along great. The Woven Universe…not so much. Here’s some embroidery I later frogged:
It was supposed to be symmetrical then just wasn’t. I tried to accept that but couldn’t let it go.
This spiral of creation is nice though:
And this little star and purple bit of space both worked out well:
My vision for this piece just isn’t matching the reality. SO frustrating! Artist angst…blah blah blah.
February 14th, 2010
I used up all of my green bulky handspun yarn to make these leaves:
Hand felting over sixty leaves is no easy task! I didn’t realize one of my gloves had a small hole. In addition to sore arms I also got a blister on my finger. See, I’m suffering for my art! hehe
When I laid out the leaves to dry I blocked them in various ways. Some curl inwards; others have their tips curling up. I think that makes them look more realistic.
Next up is my interpretation of rhododendron leaves. Thebes and I saw rhododendrons many times when we were hiking the Appalachian Trail and they were by far our favorite flower. Since this is acrylic yarn these won’t be blocked. I went with garter stitch to hold the shape.
I have over twenty of these.
Now I’m working on Juniper leaves. I’m making small lengths of I-cord and them sewing them together randomly. This yarn came from the yarn sale at the Harwood Museum. Abbey blogged about that here. It’s wool of some sort.
When bunched up together they look more like Juniper leaves to me. After they’re done I’ll be making Pinon leaves.
January 20th, 2010
I started the Green Man back in April, full of inspiration from the Beyond The Fringe show. I cut out the felt background and then let it sit while I formed a vision.
This month I picked it up again. So far my art has featured Goddess images. I wanted to shift gears and focus on the Pagan God. The Green Man has long been one of my favorite incarnations. This piece is going to be big.
The first layer is the Earth’s mantle.
The brown and gray represent rocks and dirt.
I’m adding green now which is the forest, leaves and grass.
Prana has inspected my work and approves. He doesn’t sit on it like he does the mother piece though.
The yarn I dyed will be made into leaves for this piece.
This piece is very fun. I’m loving it so far. It’s satisfying because so far it’s turning out exactly as I’m envisioning.
November 13th, 2009
Awhile back Merce gave Abbey and I some dyed fleece to play with. I carded up some of the red fleece and was surprised how pink it became. I felted it onto the womb and got this:
A good background color yes. But it was way too cheerful looking. Meredith gave me some black fleece. I felted some of it onto the womb.
Side note-I’m struck by how many of my female friends have unknowingly donated to this piece. Here I am working on art about my toxic relationship with my mother and so many of my women friends have been helping me process, helping me heal. Thank you!
After adding the black fleece the phrase “toxic relationship” came to mind.
Our relationship has not been a healthy one. The more I work on this piece the more I realize my title is fitting. Through Our Pain We Know Love-that’s my mother and I’s relationship. When one of us was willing to show love, the other responded with indifference, dislike, meanness, harshness, emotional cruelty. We’re both guilty of it. There were happy moments but they were not the majority.
The majority of times my mother and I were symbolically butting heads. The older and more independent I became the worse our relationship got.
Unknowingly, my mother is the one who gave me the idea to move out at 18. I had said something flippant and pissed her off. I stomped off to my room and slammed my door. Shortly after, my mother stormed down the hallway, slammed my door open and started screaming at me. This was her god damned house and if I was going to live there I had to follow her rules. If I didn’t like it I could move the fuck out.
It felt like her anger was a hot tidal wave hitting me. But something occurred to me then-I didn’t like living there. I could move out.
A week after high school ended I moved out. She disowned me later that year.
Putting down the black fleece was not easy. The whole time I felt nauseous. My stomach was churning from start to finish. I had that funny little feeling in my throat that happens right before I throw up. But I didn’t want to stop. I had to work through it.
I was so convinced I was going to hurl that I decided I’d puke on the womb so I wouldn’t have to clean up the floor. How would I clean the womb? Would I just felt over it? I didn’t care at the time. I just had to get the black fleece down.
I lightly carded it and lightly felted it down. The womb now has a bumpy, uneven texture that fits so perfectly.
Thankfully, I didn’t puke. I finished with the black and felt exhausted. My whole body was tired, like I had been out hiking all day.
Prana was with me the whole time, lending his support. He laid across the womb and made it clear he would not me moved. I’d shift him around as I worked the fleece into the womb. Cats are amazing spiritual creatures.
October 24th, 2009
Abbey and I both have mother issues. We decided to do an “art along” to work out our feelings.
I’m going to journal the progression of my mother art piece. In addition I’m going to journal my emotional journey with this piece. My Mother entries likely won’t be upbeat or fun. But at least there will be art in progress pics!
I have Endometriosis. So does my Mother. I’ve known I’ve had Endo for a few years now. It’s a weird condition. You could say it’s a disease. I don’t. I prefer thinking of it as a condition, like asthma. It’s not known what causes Endo and treatments are all over the place.
What is it? Here’s how I understand Endo. Basically, bits of the uterus lining back up through the fallopian tubes, leave the womb and enter into the body. These bits then attach themselves to other parts of the body. Somehow they’re still affected by the woman’s hormonal cycle. When the rest of the lining is shedding itself during the menstrual cycle these stray bits swell up and cause pain because they’re not in the right place.
My Mother apparently had the worst case of Endo her doctor had ever seen. She had a hysterectomy when she was 33. I’m 33 now. This year my period has changed. I’m now spotting for a week after my normal period stops. The matching ages feels important. I’ve done therapy about my issues before but this feels deeper. It’s as if I’m healing the little girl Twi instead of just dealing with the situation.
Currently I’m getting acupuncture to treat my Endo. It’s helping. I’m also doing energy work. That’s why Abbey made me the meditation mat. And now I’m making art about me, my Mother and Endometriosis.
I’m going to try to use as much recycled material as I can. As I told Abbey-we’re working with the materials we have just like we’re working with the mothers we have. I sewed a bunch of felt scrap pieces together to create raw canvas.
My art piece will be a womb. The Endo is one of the few things that still connects me to my Mother. She disowned me when I was 18.
The seams look like scars to me. They seem so fitting. Eventually they’ll be covered up with several layers. I want to recreate them in some fashion on the top layer.
My Mother and I’s relationship is so centered around pain. When one of us was ready to give love the other one gave back pain. Both of us are guilty of it.
It is hard to write about my Mother. It’s hard to make this art. When I was assembling this piece I felt things moving around in my womb area. I will find healing through this but it likely will be a rough ride along the way.
My working title for the piece is “Through Our Pain We Find Love”.
May 28th, 2009
I’ve been doing some energy work. Abbey made me a meditation mat for my woo woo. I love it!
Merce helped with it too. It’s made of felt and knitting and is so comfortable to sit on.
Prana absolutely loves it. He regularly sleeps there and we play with his mousie on it. The last time Abbey was over he rubbed up against her to say thanks.
Sometimes when I do my energy work I have to work around him because Prana won’t budge. He’s so cute though so I don’t mind.
May 28th, 2009
Thebes took this nice close up of my Mother Moon from Lunar Life. It shows off the texture well.
Prana helped with my art. I feel kitty help is a form of Muse. Here he is impersonating a butterfly:
April 29th, 2009
I was honored when I was asked to participate in the Beyond The Fringe show. I created two original pieces for the event.
Lunar Life
32″ X 18″
Maiden
Mother
Crone
An Arrangement Of Elements
58″ X 58″
Earth
Air
Fire
Water
Spirit
A bit from my artist statement:
“Creating her art involves elements of spinning, knitting and needle felting. Twilight is particularly interested in working with colors and fibers to create evocative images. Nature is an endless source of inspiration for her. She identifies with pre-Judeo-Christian religions and expresses this spirituality in Goddess, Pagan and nature imagery throughout her “woolen paintings”.
Her piece An Arrangement of Elements explores the five elements and the connection to Source each one represents. The tryptic Lunar Life represents the Pagan concept of the Goddess’ three phases-Maiden, Mother, Crone. Twilight takes this concept and shows how a woman’s life is spiritual in all these stages.”
You can contact me at twilly23atgmaildotcom
March 30th, 2009
I’m getting really close to being finished with my Elements piece. The reception for Beyond The Fringe is less than two weeks away!
Here’s a close up of the Air Moon:
A close up of the Water Moon is below. I had a lot of fun making the seaweed.
The Air and Water Goddesses are moving in opposite directions which makes a nice effect when all the Elements are put together.
Sieben was recently given a deer leg. It had some meat and hair but he stripped it bare the first night he had it. He’s a happy doggie.
March 21st, 2009
Previous Posts
