Tag Archives: mixed media

Bee Now And Mini Later.

This week I turned my attention to some smaller “mini” pieces. I think that I mentioned before that HGA will be having another Pop-Up event in May on the Saturday (11th) before Mother’s Day. Though it would be wonderful for visitors to all want to give their moms one of my larger sculpture creations, I am realistic about Mother’s Day gifts. Most mother’s day gifting is in the form of smaller remembrances, flowers, cards, etc. Much like my one-of-a-kind ornaments for the holidays, I sketched up a few smaller sculpture ideas. So far, I have settled on a few anthropomorphic botanicals. I wanted to strike a balance of sweet for mom, but not too “cutesy.”

Meet the Mini Sculpts

From my work table are some small sculptures that would be at home on a book shelf, or desk corner. Meet mini Mush, Morel, and Thistle. They will make their debut at HGA for the Mother’s Day Pop-up. It may be hard to wait for their arrival, but May will be here before you know it. I will be creating a few more of these in the coming weeks, so check back to see them too.

anthropomorphic mushroom figure sculpture , needle felted wool over wire and quilt batting, glass bead eyes, and accents

anthropomorphic morel mushroom figure sculpture, needle felted wool over wire and quilt batting, iridecent bead eyes

Anthropomorphic thistle flower sculpture designed to sit on shelf edge. needle felted wool over wire, glass bead eyes.

Speaking of Gallery Debutants

You met Coronation, my queen bee, a couple of weeks ago. She came into the gallery with me today. She seems to already be making friends. I think that she makes a sunny addition to this front pedestal grouping. There is nothing mini about her presence.

Coronation of Queen Bee (anthropomorphic bee sculpture) at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts — Coronation at HGA

Reminder:

This Sunday at 4pm, HGA will be hosting a performance by Mary Rocap, the singer songwriter who served as a muse for our yearly “It’s All About the Story” show. Me and many of my fellow HGA artists will also be in attendance and can guide you through our inspiration for the visual component of the show.

Update: My piece for the “It’s All About The Story” show, Venus Dances For Herself”, has already sold and gone to her new home. Normally, works in a feature show stay with a red dot until the end, but this was a special birthday purchase, so we let the piece go home with the customer. So, just in case you missed her…

Venus Dances For Herself - anthropomorphic dancing rabbit sculpyure with celestial designs. needle felted wool — Venus Dances For Herself

Queen Bee.

My thoughts this past week have turned to spring. I know it is a tad early, but living in the south provides this transplanted yankee with a bit of a head start. I have been patiently (ok, not really) awaiting the opening of some of the early blooms in the garden, so I can create some new botanical gell press prints. While those buds have stubbornly stayed closed, I turned my attention to a queen bee sketch I had recently created.

Coronation of the Queen

That sketch is actually the second or third incarnation of this figure in my book. Initial attempts taught me that a more biologically accurate figure might not be wise. For example, insect mandibles make a sweet smile difficult. Likewise, the last pair of legs that should also be attached to the insect’s thorax appeared gangly. So, I settled on a bit more anthropomorphication than usual, even if against my former biology teacher inclinations. The result is my queen bee, Coronation.

Queen bee figure. Anthropomorphic needle felted sculpture with copper, glass bead and crystal embellishments. — Coronation

Queen Bee Construction

Coronation is decked out all her finest regalia. Her crown is felted wool over wire with hand sewn beads and crystals. Her scepter is a painted and wire wrapped dowel with a wire and bead honeycomb head. The hive orb she holds is needle felted wool over batting with crystal embellishments. The bodice of her dress is a metalic trim with a pattern that appears hexagonal when stretched. Her wings form a “robe” over her shoulders. I created these by nuno-felting white wool fiber over a fine tule mesh, and “veining” with metallic thread. The wings are sewn on to the copper wing wires, and then finished by pressing with spray starch. The bottom of her gown’s fitted skirt, is slightly flared and ends in a “stinger” train which allows her to stand upright.

I took process images while I created this piece. I personally enjoy seeing how an artist gets from point A to B, so I thought you might appreciate it as well.

coronation sketch
coronation armature
coronation armature – wing wire, batting, and arms
coronation armature – weighted feet detail
coronation armature – batting form complete, yarn wrapped legs
Coronation

Instead of holding this piece for my featured artist show this summer, I think I may bring her in to the gallery as a herald of spring. Who know’s, perhaps she is the perfect Mother’s Day gift for someone’s own queen bee.

It’s Not All Springy

This past holiday season taught me a thing or two. One lesson was that people seem to appreciate my one-of-a-kind felted ornaments. A second lesson, was that I could hardly keep them in stock. As a result, I’m trying to spread their creation out over the year a bit. I already put a couple away, but thought I’d share the one that was still sitting on my work table. It is somewhat different from what you may be used to, as it isn’t a figure, but instead a ball that uses a wool dryer ball as its base. It is just the third of this type that I’ve created, and titled Winter Twilight #2.

needle felted holiday ornament over wool dryer ball — winter twilight #2

Zentangle Zebra, Zen-bra? Zeb-tangle?

Either way, it’s a horse of a different stripe.

Continuing my sketchbook exploration into animal patterns, I came up with the idea of a zentangled zebra. Zebra stripes provide a great graphical element, and I have played with zebras and their stripes before. My first was titled Morph. Morph’s black stripes merged into the black lines of a butterfly’s wings, as those wings then diverged from black and white into a rainbow. A second zebra, titled Everything has a Price, has stripes on of one of its side flanks that transform into a barcode label.

I think that I have finally settled on the title Zen-bra for this latest striped figure. This dimunitive equine stands about 9″ tall. She is needle felted wool over an armature of wire and quilt batting. Her eyes are hand sewn glass beads, and I sewed her hooves from faux leather. I played with stylized zentangle patterns within the confines of many of her black stripes and a few of the white spaces. The result is a trubute to the art of the mindful doodle.

zentangle zebra "Zen-bra" needle felted sculpture

Zen-bra will not appear in the gallery until this summer as she is part of the show Natural Patterns.

Something for May

I also completed a couple of small functional pieces this week, They are in preparation of an event this May at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. On Saturday, May 11th the gallery is planning a Mother’s Day Pop-Up. This event will be similar to the Holiday Pop-Up this past December, and will feature items perfect for Mom. I will update you on addtional items from myself, and other HGA artists that will be available that day. In the mean time, a little teaser… Two “Tokyo tie” hand bags with needle felted embellishments. I constructed the bags from commercial felt and a contrasting fabric liner. They each feature original embellishment, and a snap closure.

handmade "Tokyo Tie" bag with needle felted embellishments

Preview!

Take a look at new work.

Now that my featured artist show is all installed at The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts, here is a preview for you. I know that I’ve already shared and wrote about all the pieces you’ll encounter, but here is a look at them in the gallery.

Something almost magical happens when three artist start to install a show in our HGA Feature Gallery. Somehow, no matter how different the work, it just seems to make sense together. My little howling wolf Loup Nouveau appears to have a moon painted just for him in Ellie Reinhold’s Reciprocus.

Preview of works in Featured Artist show 2023 — Loup Nouveau and moon in Reciprocus

A trio of my patterned pieces greets you at the Featured Exhibit room main entrance. They are all examples of my treating the figures’ surface as a canvas for pattern.

Tea With My Octopus Teacher, came home last week after being part of the National Teapot show at Cedar Creek Gallery. This piece is doubly fun, as it is also a functional work as well. It is a sculptural handbag. The octopus’ clasped arms form a handle, and a small button clasp secures the teapot lid. Inside, is a fully lined compartment. It is displayed in a grouping with My Balloon, and Prince Frog.

Change Up, the giraffe with ox pecker attendants applying her colored spots is displayed alongside Kanga And Roo.

Dance is a pair of cranes captured mid step in a courtship dance. You see them here in front of my pair of elephants working together to climb wooden blocks titled Ele-vate.

Hope you enjoyed the preview, and hope to see you tomorrow! The Show opening recepition is 6-9pm during the Hillsborough Last Friday Art Walk event.

Reciprocus Open

Featured Artist Show “Reciprocus” Installs Today

After the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts closes this afternoon, changes in the Featured Gallery room will occur. The gallery elves, otherwise known as the member artists, will set about taking down one show, and installing the next. Reciprocus, and the new work I’ve shared with you here will be ready to view starting tomorrow, September 25. The show will run through October 22nd. The opening reception will be this Friday, the 29th from 6 to 9 during the Last Friday Art walk.

postcard design for "Reciprocus" art show at Hillsborough Gallery of Arts featuring Lynn Wartski, Ellie Reinhold, and Pat Merriman

I will be sure to share some images of the installed show with you in a few days. Hope to see you all on Friday!

Loup Nouveau

Art Nouveau Inspiration

I think Loup Nouveau is the last figure sculpture that will be included in my featured artist show. We install at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts in just a little over a week. Next week, I will share more show specific details, so stay tuned!

His name is Loup Nouveau. He is the next in my series of patterned figures. I captured this rather young looking little wolf mid howl. I adorned him with an art nouveau inspired floral pattern.

needle felted howling wolf art doll figure sculpture with art nouveau inspired floral pattern, titled Loup Nouveau — Loup Nouveau

Loup Nouveau is needle felted wool over an armature I created of wire and quilt batting. For the figure itself, I used natural colored wool fibers. The leaves and flowers are colored wool from various sources. Some I dyed with natural food colors.

Perhaps it is this young pup’s first howling attempt. He certainly appears to be giving it his all. As with my other patterned creatures, I’ve applied them in a manner that I hope flows over the figure. I want them to have a harmony with the form and appear to have grown with the sculpture.

Loup’s eyes which appear blue in the images, are iridecent black glass beads. I prefer, as I have mentioned before, glass beads over more realistic doll making eyes. It is a personal preference. I find that doll eyes tend to cross a bit into the creepy realm for me. Glass beads, as seen in this case, provide the sparkle needed without the creep factor.

Loup Nouveau, and his art nouveau florals will be at the Hillsborough Gallery of Art beginning Monday, September 25. He and all his fuzzy felted friends hope to see you at the opening reception during the Last Friday Art Walk from 6-9 on Friday the 29th. The show will run through Sunday, October 22nd.

Rabbit, Rabbit (or, Hare, Owl?)

No one seems to know exactly why saying “rabbit, rabbit” on the first of the month is supposed to be good luck. To be honest, I never really followed the tradition… But, it is the first of the month, and one of the pieces I’m sharing is a hare. So, I figured, why not?

Boho Bunny (rabbit, hare, lepus)

I mentioned that “Finding True North” sparked a series of patterned figures in my sketchbook. Florian started as one of those sketches. I have produced a number of rabbit figures, and Florian takes them in a new direction. Seems he would be equally at home hiding in your flower garden, on the edge of a meadow, or on the pages of a storybook.

Hare sculpture with boho floral patterning. Needle felted wool - wire and batting armature - rabbit — Florian

I tried to capture Florian in that moment of rabbit stillness deciding if he should remain motionless or bolt. Looking more closely at him, I think he still is a work-in-progress. I see that I want to define his feet a bit more, and want to tweak his position to depict a bit more tension.

Evening Star

Hesperia refers to the direction of the setting sun, or the evening star. I did a search of owl names online, and Hesperia jumped out at me. She looks at the viewer with piercing clear blue eyes that are a similar hue as her distinctive circular and star like markings.

Owl sculpture white with blue patterning. Needle felted wool - wire and batting armature — Hesperia

I tried something different with this bird’s talons. For most bird feet, I “felt” yarn that I have wrapped around the wire armature all the way to the end. This creates a challenge of getting the ends tight enough to not allow the wire to poke through. This time I stopped the yarn at the claws. The claws themselves I fashioned by layering black tissue paper and glue. The result is a more solid end cap that also secures the yarn wrapping of the foot.

Both sculptures are needle felted wool over a wire and batting armature. They also both contain internal elements for ballast and balance. In Florian, I used stuffing beads. Hesperia has strategically placed fishing weights in her tail, and legs to allow her to stand.

Show Installs 9/25, reception 9/29

Hesperia, Florian, and many of their friends will be at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts starting on September 25th. The reception for my feature show, Reciprocus, with fellow HGA artists Ellie Reinhold and Pat Merriman is that Friday, September 29th. I hope to see you then!

needle felted anthropomorphic animal figure sculptures with patterned surfaces — Patterned series

Paisley, Prince, and Prints…

That’s a Prince Frog, not a Frog Prince

Every once and a while, a single piece sparks several more pieces in a slightly new direction. That happend recently with Finding True North. I like the surface treatment of the nautical “tatoos’ so much, that I found muself sketching other sculptures that incorporated interesting patterning or symbolism on their surfaces. The first of these new sketches to be realized is Prince Frog.

Prince Frog - needle felted anthropomorphic purple frog sculpture with paisley pattern and raspberry beret — Prince Frog

He is a little purple three toed tree frog. I captured this anthropomprphic amphibian waving hello, or perhaps giving a piece sign? It’s hard to tell the difference with only three fingers. He wears a distinctive little raspberry beret set to one side, and has distinctive paisley pattern on his back.

Prince Frog is needle felted wool over a wire and batting armature. He has iridescent black glass bead eyes. This art doll sculpture looks up and waves from a squating position on his hind legs. I will let you know when he becomes available for purchase.

Prints, Prints, and Cards

I received a request to wholesale some of my monoprint cards. Many artists bristle at anything that feels like production work, and I am definitely in that category. I don’t even like making batches of my own holiday ornaments (puffins, polar bears, and baby seals, oh, my!) but, they are so darn cute and popular. I was torn by the request, especially since my prints aren’t even my main artwork. They weren’t looking for hundreds, (though they may in the future) so I figured I give it a try. I made more than the order, so they can choose, and any left over will be available to take to HGA. I will let you know where they are headed after I deliver them next month. The price will be slightly higher than the $10 I sell them for at HGA. I have no control over retail markup.

One-of-a-kind mono-print botanical cards

One-of-a-kind mono-print botanical cards detail view

Each of these cards is hand-pulled on a gell press using acrylic paint and plant materials. Almost all are comprised of two layers of paint, one with the forground image and the other background color. Some feature additional overprinting, and watercolor enhancements. Each card is a unique and one-of-a-kind original art work on paper and is suitable for framing.

Finding True North

It is defined as getting on the right course, and proceeding in the right direction.

My latest sculpture, Finding True North, is a white sperm whale. I depict him breaching far out of the water, and spouting from his blowhole. It is, of course, an obvious nod to Moby Dick, but I hope he is a bit more. My white whale is adorned with a variety of nautical “tattoos”. Some of these images are navigational symbols. I hope he suggests finding one’s way for the viewer rather than serving as a symbol of singleminded obsession as Melville’s whale did.

Magnetic North

Finding True North is needle felted wool over an armature of wire and quilt batting. Several points of sparkle are incorporated in this sculpture through the use of hand sewn glass beads. Iridecent black beads are used for his eyes, clear crystals for the stars of the Ursa Major and Ursa Minor dipper constellations, and blue seed beads accentuate the spout spray. The symbols are truly wool tatoos as the colored wool is applied through repeated needle sticks to the surface. The piece also features a bit of metalic thread to highlight the constellations that indicate the location of the North Star, Polaris. Additionally, I used some of the synthetic quilt batting I mainly use in my sculptures’ interior form as a fiber source for the bright white of the water spray.

Though my whale is baring his one row of large teeth he doesn’t appear menacing. He will be smiling and providing guidance and navigation soon at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. I will let you know when he is available for purchase.

Raccoon and Kangaroos?

A Raccoon With a Daisy For You

“For You” is a young raccoon holding out a daisy. He is offering his flower up to the viewer. I’m not sure if he intends to share the flower itself, or merely a chance to sniff and see if it has a sweet sent. Either way, he engages the viewer to move in a bit closer, and smile.

For You - anthropomorphic raccon needle felted art doll sculpture holding felted daisy — For You

For You, is needle felted wool over a wire and quilt batting armature. He contains stuffing beads as well to provide ballast and volume. His daisy is needle felted wool over wire. He also features large glass bead eyes, and some prominant fishing line whiskers.

Kanga and Roo?

Kanga and Roo is an anthropomorphic Kangaroo sculpture that features a momma and her baby. The joey kangaroo waves at the viewer from the security of mom’s pouch. Momma Kanga appears to be proudly pointing out her progeny.

Kanga and Roo are needle felted wool over a wire and quilt batting armature. They both have hand sewn glass bead eyes. This pair will likely hop into HGA for my feature show in September, but keep an eye out, sometimes they become available early. I will let you know when either Kanga and Roo, or their raccoon friend, For You, become available.

Wartski Art Dolls and Sculpture

Art dolls and mixed media sculpture