Explorations Episode 13: Graying it Up, Toning it Down

 Explorations Episode 13:  Graying it Up, Toning it Down

Did you know that, in felting, a person can apply color as easily as if it were paint? --but sans brush and sans spills.  That's what I've been doing this week, applying wisps of fiber as if it were paint.  I'm working against an August 1 deadline, using merino wool to change some of the colors a major piece I'm working on.

 This is for an exhibit called Explorations: Journeys in Creativity:  The Artist's Studio.   http://www.saqacallforentryexplorations.com/.

The background was 'way too bright.

Those golds and light yellows, intended to show the raised parts of ridges in the sand, were just too bright.  Yes, they were supposed to show something that was shining because it was raised, and catching the light.  But in this case those colors stole the show when combined with the luscious piece of textured silk which I've painted and stitched and made to look like a ribbon of foam.

The color of those ridges needed to be less assertively bright.

So I used browns and grays to kick down the brightness a notch.  First I applied gray and brown wisps by hand:

Then I used my Baby Lock felter to mesh them even more tightly on the background of raw silk layered on top of wool quilt batting:

Now that background looks like this, more subtle:

And it especially looks better now with the painted silk layered on top of it:

Progress on this piece is slow, but at least it's progress.