Auckland Trip

We went on Tuesday to Auckland for the opening of the exhibition Reflexions of Aotearoa at the Lake House Arts Centre where some of my work was included. It is such a lovely place! Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera, so I have only taken a photo with the cellphone of the walldisplay which included some of my work

It is nice to have such a great outlet for my work!

The next day we celebrated the birthday of Alex brother with a nice lunch and in the afternoon we took off to the Auckland Art Gallery. The new display is so great! I wanted to see the collection which were gifted by Julian Robertson and is on display until end of October. Real Piccassos and Matisse and and and.....

This giant flowers hang at the entrance and they open and close

The drive home this afternoon was really pleasant, lots of sunshine and we stopped at Jack Morgan Museum in Hukerenui. The display there is great and tells the story of the pioneer spirit.

more for Felt United

A quick decision this morning to make another piece for Felt United, still drying

waiting for their wings.....

Felt United

Just made a little necklace for Felt United Day

work in progress

I got finally my motivation back. It is so great just to do what I like to do and that I don't have to produce and to produce and to produce....
So I started yesterday some more of my 'Fly your Dreams' Birdies

lunch break..... 

I can already imagine his face....

waiting for colour....

I love to do them and it is also a good way to get rid of old wool, not nice enough for spinning anymore or not suitable for wet felting, but it still makes wonderful bodies.

While I am working on them my inspiration flies to other things I intend to do for our garden. My dream is to do all sorts of sculptures not only from wool to have our own little sculpture walk.

time of change

I have left the collective last thursday and since then I see clearly how much this membership constrained me the last months. At the beginning I was excited and proud to be good enough to be asked to join. I realized quite quickly that there was an underlying unhealthy atmosphere in the coop. It was wonderful to get a lot of inspiration by being involved in events/exhibitions but it was also devastating and depressing to be involved in an ongoing feud of vanity. Good vibes were fading, walking on eggshells was normal and hardly any open word was spoken.
It is amazing how free one can feel suddenly!
I will take time to think about the future. One thing is clear, I am not regretting the past 3 years,  I could have stopped earlier of course. It was an important time for my own development. I realize, wherever I go, I'll  always take a burden with me - myself, my demand on myself, my values which are not negotiable, my sometimes for others hard to understand honesty. Well it is me, who makes life difficult for myself, when I don't adapt to other people which are more easy going.
I am looking forward to enjoy doing what I like to do, to felt when I feel for felting, to knit when I feel for knitting and to paint when I feel for painting. And I want to paint again. I haven't been painting since I joined the coop, I was only welcome with feltwork. I will practise again, play with brush and paint whenever I feel for.
I will have a stall at markets together with 2 felter friends. I will start to sell online and most important

I will have a life again !!

another cover

I made another netbook cover and tried to include some fabric and silk. I think I was not patient enough and used a bit warm water, which made the wool felt to quick. Maybe I should add some stitching?

I am also working on some manequin torsos to hang. They look so ugly in white plastic, that I decided to cover them with old sewing patterns.

They are still a work in progress, need to dry now.