Best laid plans

Since my last blog I have been creating. I thought when my day off arrived I was looking forward to starting a new painting. However a different project took my attention thanks to a bucket of recently tidied wools and so instead of painting on an easel I began making a new scarf on the table.

In many ways the process is the same for me, I choose colours and start laying out the background. I can blend wool to make different colours by combing it together. It’s a little time consuming but it’s more interesting than paint.

The process is to set down the first side of the design, then apply a plain very lightweight silk scarf, before laying the second side on top. The wet felting process then marries the fibres into the silk. The finished article is a light but very warm scarf.

I think I still go into ‘the zone’ more easily with wool than I do with paint. Perhaps its the tactile softness of it and I am more confident with wool than paint. When I say ‘the zone’, I mean a state of total concentration but without effort. What I do becomes instinctive, it’s probably more subconscious than conscious. Time passes quite quickly although I’m not aware of that until I stop.

If anyone asked me how long the scarf took to make I’d say three cups of coffee but in time terms it took just over six hours.

Since I wrote this I have started to paint a series of nightscapes I think you would call them, so I will write about those when I understand them better.

Gail Curry

Artist