Kboat's Blog

Addicticted to Felting

kboat — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 05:20:36 +0000

I seem to have been bitten by the felting bug. My husband and I have traveled to three states visiting fiber festivals. I gathered information, supplies and new friends. I have joined the Southern Shore Art Association and been accepted as a member and have gained new friends there as well. I will be co-chairing the September Art Show and helping with the special needs art class. My felt work seems to have been well accepted and have even sold a couple of pieces. These are my latest pieces that will be exhibited at the SSAA during August. On one I used a scrap of felt I made for the background of a journal page, for Paper Traders Round Robin Journal Challenge, the other is a Bird House and finally an abstract piece. I hope you all enjoy them as I have making them.

No sitings of Snookie or The Situation

kboat — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 05:54:03 +0000

Went to the Jersey shore for a few days and it was wonderful. Great weather, had a house only two blocks from the beach and the Boardwalk. Favorite time was sitting on the porch, no mosquitoes!!!!! Took a boat trip looking for whales and dolphins. Saw lots of dolphins but no whales. It was a long car ride but fun, just me and my dear husband, talking and laughing all the way, and a little sleeping for me.Click to view slideshow.

Check one off the Bucket List

kboat — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 04:41:43 +0000

Click to view slideshow.You know those dreams that you think will never come true, yet you continue to hope. One of the items on my dream/bucket list came true this past weekend. Thanks to Suzy Vance, a new friend I met at an art class, I was able to hang my felted art pieces in a local gallery.

It was if I was in a movie set and the director calls ACTION, people start mingling, wine is poured, crackers and cheese are served,.. enter stage left, Karen “little ol me” Boatright. Strangers approach and congratulate me, small local press approaches for my permission to run a picture of my art. Cut, fade to happiness…..

I have to ask my husband if this was a dream, and he verifies it all happened and tells me how proud he is of me. WOW what a night. If I die tomorrow I will be happy. What a dream come true!

The Artist in me

kboat — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 22:09:04 +0000

Click to view slideshow. Some of my latest works in wet felting. Let me know what you think.

Sorrow is not getting to say goodbye

kboat — Mon, 23 May 2011 06:10:10 +0000

Click to view slideshow. Her name was Olga Pausch-Martz, she was a ballerina in a famous dance troupe, she was my surrogate grandmother. I was about 8 when our family took a trip on the California Zephyr train to California. In my child’s eye she seemed to be ancient. My brothers and I were loud and always getting up and down out of our seats. She was annoyed and would make comments, but by the time the ride was over we were friends and I corresponded with her until the time when my letters started being returned about 20 years later. I called her grandma Olga and she called me her dear, dear Karen in every letter. She sent me pictures of when she was a ballerina and would tell me stories of her life. I was the only one in the family who seemed to be able to decipher her hand writing and would be amazed at her tales. Her family had taken her for granted and left her alone in her golden years. She spent her last three years alone and never leaving her house. The pictures above are of a journal page for a word prompt journal challenge with a yahoo group called Paper Traders and the word for this challenge was sorrow. I have great sorrow in that I never saw her again and never was able to say goodbye. I loved her and I know she loved me as well. To this day I find it amazing that two people could have one chance meeting and become forever family. She was special and I miss her still.

Can you say frozen in MAY

kboat — Mon, 16 May 2011 05:52:58 +0000

Yesterday was my first ever participation in a Farmers Market. I rented a spot at the European Market in Chesterton, IN. The weather was awful. It was about 47 degrees and rainy. I was an ice-cube by the time we left. This is a juried fair and these pictures are of some of the wet felting pieces I had for sale. Even though the weather was awful there was a steady stream of courageous patrons. People were to cold to be shopping for art. The flower vendors and the food vendors were doing great, I sold enough to pay for my rent and that was my goal for the day. I learned a lot for my first time and hopefully next month the weather will be more cooperative.

Not your mothers scratchy wool…

kboat — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 02:02:21 +0000

Soft merino wool is so fun to work with. It is not that scratchy material I remember as a child. The process of nuno felting or wet felting transports me to a quiet place. The placing of the fibers and the rubbing is so quieting to the soul. No two projects could ever be the same as it is so unpredictable as to how the fibers will attach themselves. The beauty of using the extremely fine silk “hankies” is extraordinary. Just peeling the layers of the delicate hankies is a labor of love. Each one different yet from the same hanky. I am so enamored by this form of art and what you can create, it is endless. I wish I was a better photographer as I haven’t captured the real feeling of these pieces, but I hope you get the idea.

“There are only ten minutes in the life of a pear when it is perfect to eat.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

kboat — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:40:31 +0000

Not so with these beauties. These waxed works of art were inspired by an article in Somerset Studio’s Magazine (Somerset Workshop Volume 3 2007). I absolutely adore them and so much fun to make. They are made from muslin, polyfil, acrylic paint, stamps of choice and coated with a couple coats of beeswax. I adore looking at them and feeling the waxy texture. It is so rewarding to make something that turns out so beautiful.

Nuno Felting or Water Felting

kboat — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:11:55 +0000

First piece and I love it

I have enrolled in a nuno felting workshop at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts and I love this technique. This is my first piece and it demanded that I frame it.

I loved the quiet gentleness that it requires while laying out the wisps of wool roving in the design that you are making. One cough or sneeze and it is ruined. The soft fluffy feeling of the wisps as you pull them from the bundle of wool fibers. So quiet, so intense and then bammmm you get to scrub your heart out and take out all the days pent-up aggressions out on this delicate little piece of art. Once felted, it’s rinsed clean and then you get to slam it down on a hard surface a few times. It’s a wonderful process.

Three Muses Fashion Challenge

kboat — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 22:46:49 +0000

Did these for Paper Traders Yahoo group, works well for this challenge as well. Enjoy