A new portrait

[caterina]

Hello!
It has been quite some time since I posted anything here, partly because I was not felting much and partly because I was not happy with the results of my efforts!
I finished a new portrait to add to the one that I have made last month, "Bernie". It took me a lot because I kept not liking the results, and it is hard to work on something that you really think it is not coming out well. But yesterday I got some new ideas to try on it, and I feel that it is much better now. In the primitive style, just like the "Bernie" one. Almost all of it is wet felted, only a few needle felted touches.
Here is the link to "Matt":

www.dropbox.com/s/sa724qwidyr9fz9/img_20210713_094140.jpg?dl=0

Of course, any suggestions on improvements are very welcome! Thanks!
Caterina

[MTRuth]

Looks good, are you basing these on real people?

[lyn]

You've got a good skin colour on Matt and I really like the pattern on his shirt and his hairstyle. Very appealing!

[caterina]

Jul 13, 2021 15:20:46 GMT MTRuth said:

Looks good, are you basing these on real people?

Thank you, Ruth.
"Bernie" is actually based on a friend of mine, she was dressed like that one day, she was striking with those colours and she made me itch for wool tops and a bit of time to recreate the colour pattern!
"Matt" is kind of a mix of different street types, but I saw someone with a similar colour pattern in front of a vape shop.
I am planning another one, as I saw a lady with the most amazing forest and grass green clothes, that I would like to make. :-)

[caterina]

Jul 13, 2021 15:44:54 GMT lyn said:

You've got a good skin colour on Matt and I really like the pattern on his shirt and his hairstyle. Very appealing!

Thank you, very kind.
I thought maybe I should introduce a bit more variation in his skin tone. I got the skin colour by mixing different coloured tops by hand, next time maybe I will use even more daring colours in the mix.

[MTRuth]

One of my friends created sketches/portraits of people. We created a book and had different artists create pieces based on the sketches. You can see more about it here if you do Facebook:
www.facebook.com/thewhitefishfashioncollection

Just look through the photos

Or here's a short post I wrote for Felting and Fiber Studio:

feltingandfiberstudio.com/2015/08/07/the-whitefish-fashion-collection/

It doesn't have very many photos and the blog has been shut down.

[caterina]

I tried to get a shiny effect in the background by using flax, but I did not manage to get the effect I wanted. I also did not particularly like felting with flax mixed with merino tops: I just do not like its stiffness, and, if you put more than a few strands, it is also hard to felt in.
I think that I will use it very sparingly in the future.
I really like to felt with tussah and sari silk, though, and I used only a few silk wisps in this portrait, in the top orange area, but I felt they were a nice touch.

[caterina]

Jul 13, 2021 17:30:04 GMT MTRuth said:

One of my friends created sketches/portraits of people. We created a book and had different artists create pieces based on the sketches. You can see more about it here if you do Facebook:
www.facebook.com/thewhitefishfashioncollection

Just look through the photos

Or here's a short post I wrote for Felting and Fiber Studio:

feltingandfiberstudio.com/2015/08/07/the-whitefish-fashion-collection/

It doesn't have very many photos and the blog has been shut down.

Thank you for mentioning it, Ruth.
The book must have been great fun to read: the comments on the sketches are hilarious, and the sketches themselves seem fantastic! Pity that the blog was shut down, I would have loved to see more photos or comments.

[caterina]

Ruth, I really liked your embroidered piece for that project, the Shakira one. So cool!

[lyn]

Jul 13, 2021 17:37:02 GMT caterina said:

I tried to get a shiny effect in the background by using flax, but I did not manage to get the effect I wanted. I also did not particularly like felting with flax mixed with merino tops: I just do not like its stiffness, and, if you put more than a few strands, it is also hard to felt in.
I think that I will use it very sparingly in the future.
I really like to felt with tussah and sari silk, though, and I used only a few silk wisps in this portrait, in the top orange area, but I felt they were a nice touch.

I agree that the silk at the top is lovely.
There are so many experiments to make in felting - and you've discovered quite a few things in making this piece!

[caterina]

Jul 13, 2021 21:50:33 GMT lyn said:

Jul 13, 2021 17:37:02 GMT caterina said:

I tried to get a shiny effect in the background by using flax, but I did not manage to get the effect I wanted. I also did not particularly like felting with flax mixed with merino tops: I just do not like its stiffness, and, if you put more than a few strands, it is also hard to felt in.
I think that I will use it very sparingly in the future.
I really like to felt with tussah and sari silk, though, and I used only a few silk wisps in this portrait, in the top orange area, but I felt they were a nice touch.

I agree that the silk at the top is lovely.
There are so many experiments to make in felting - and you've discovered quite a few things in making this piece!

Yes, you nailed it, Lyn! Although it may be frustrating at times, exploration is a major attractive feature of felting and creating with fibers for me! :-)
Thank you for your comments.

[lindsay]

Well done Caterina. For me the important thing is to find your own style. Bernie was great and Matt is looking really promising. Only you can decide where your inspiration takes you. Probably that will involve trying different things and learning from what you don’t like as much as from what you do. Keep trying things out & don’t worry about everything being perfect. As I’ve always said to my kids, if it was that easy to get right it would be very boring.

[caterina]

Jul 23, 2021 20:32:57 GMT lindsay said:

Well done Caterina. For me the important thing is to find your own style. Bernie was great and Matt is looking really promising. Only you can decide where your inspiration takes you. Probably that will involve trying different things and learning from what you don’t like as much as from what you do. Keep trying things out & don’t worry about everything being perfect. As I’ve always said to my kids, if it was that easy to get right it would be very boring.

Thank you, Lindsay.
Some creative styles grow out of learning mistakes, so I am hoping for a lot of growing space :-)
Caterina

[caterina]

Hello!
Another portrait finished: I am not sure how I will call it, maybe something like "Amina" or "Jogging near the park".
www.dropbox.com/s/tzi034my9cxz1gp/img_20210726_171007.jpg?dl=0

The headphones and some folds of the dress are needlefelted, all the rest is wet felted. All merino, with a few bits of corriedale and tulsa silk, as usual.

I would love comments, also because I am working on another one at the moment, maybe halfway there, and I have three more in mind: I could use suggestions on improvements. I tried to work on my darker areas, values and so on, but I am not where I want, yet,

[lyn]

Hello Caterina - may I suggest that with each new portrait you start a new thread because readers may not realise that you've added a new portrait to this old thread and it would be a shame for others to not notice.

You've really captured the feel of forward movement with this portrait and the background is lovely. The figure is well proportioned and her trainers and gait are very good.