Painting with Wool

by Christine Blomquist

From a very early age, I knew my passion was to create visual art. Fortunately, my mother, a talented pastel artist and seamstress, recognized my interest and began teaching me to draw, sew, embroider, quilt and crochet.  While growing up, I focused on sketching with pencil and charcoal until high school photography classes changed my creative trajectory for many years.

On becoming an “empty nester,” I now had more time to re-energize my artistic side. I discovered felting with wool fibers quite by accident. Given my early indoctrination to both visual art and working with textiles, it seemed a natural fit. Largely self-taught as a fiber artist, wool “painting” became my main focus because of its unique, organic and sculptural nature.  I use both wet felting and needle felting techniques to make my “paintings”. 

In art, felting is the process of transforming loose fibers, typically dyed wool, into dense fabric. The two main techniques are wet felting and barbed needle felting. Wool fibers have microscopic scales that, when exposed to heat, moisture and agitation, open up and interlock with neighboring fibers. This is what happens in wet felting. This “matting” of fibers together creates a solid two dimensional felted piece similar to a canvas that is the most common painting surface in fine art. A barbed needle can be used to join fibers and/or add more wool fibers to give the image dimension and detail. Think of the dyed wool as the paint and the barbed needle as the paint brush. I use wet felting techniques to create my backgrounds then needle felting techniques create the final layers that give dimension, detail and a 3-dimensional quality to the image.

Given my years of experience with photography as my primary artistic outlet, it shouldn’t be a surprise that most of my inspiration for wool painting is derived from my own photographs, mostly of nature, and the ever-changing landscape of the world around us. Many of my favorite pieces feature animals and birds, others include flowers, landscapes, and a wide variety of subjects inspired by my photographic archive.

You can see my works at the Seacoast Artist Association in Exeter, New Hampshire, and in various outside shows around the seacoast. 

Chistine Blomquist, @wildandwoolydesigns will be discussing her work on Monday September 15 at 10:00 a.m. at the Rye Congregational Church. Refreshments at 9:30 a.m. For more information about Rye Art Study activities and events visit www.ryeartstudy.com