Sticky fingers

How can I turn the view from Sam mountain that was so big and atmospheric into a collage that needs to be less than 20 x 20 cm and has just three colours????. 

I squint at the photo and try to see the critical elements and the way they interact together, straight lines and wobbly lines, colours and texture. I try to decide where to use cut paper or torn paper.

Tearing is good for the sky whereas I think cutting gives the feel for the reflection in the flooded fields. Tearing also has the big drawback that it's very uncontrollable.


I need tiny strips of paper and they move every time I breath. 

I cannot lay them out to check if they look good or if they are the right shape as they will not stay still. So I glue as I go along getting stickier and stickier. 

Perhaps I should have just put glue all over the background rather than on the strips.   Too late for that now.  But I quite like the flexibility and stickiness of one strip at a time. 

Finished result a slice of the view from Sam mountain.

Sam Mountain

One month ago today I stood in the late evening heat on Sam mountain as the sun set over the Mekong delta. 

Sam mountain is a holy mountain with many statues, shrines, pagodas and temples along with strangely the odd dinosaur. At the top the smell of incense hung in the air from the offerings left at the empty site of the Lady Xu statue.  The statue has according the legend been carried down the mountain in the 19th century by 40 virgins, in order to build a temple.  The temple site was chosen at the point where the statue became too heavy for the 40 virgins to carry it anymore. 

As the sun slide down the sky the details of the flooded rice in the bright green fields disappeared and miraculously the sun reflected in the water. The photographer took many shots but I just breathed in the atmosphere.

Faced with the assignment 2 challenge of making a sunset collage , I knew it had to be the view from the atmospheric Sam mountain. As I light some incense sticks, bought the next day from a lady hand making, in a treadle machine, them in front of her house and look at the small photo which captured such a vast and beautiful scene I wonder if it is possible. 

White out

This blog is to record my adventures and discoveries during my year long felting course with artybird

My first course in over 30 years,  and my first online course ever.

For two weeks now I have been reading my instructions but not doing anything - a bit like making and colouring in a revision timetable!

Last night was time, I had prevaricated long enough - September was nearly half way gone and I was yet to start - panic panic.

First task .
Make a white piece of felt.  Following simple instructions -this is always hard for me as I always think I know better already.  But I tried the new ways , and tried to forget my bad habits.

One really fundamental mistake.
If you lie white fibre onto bubble wrap on top of a white towel , you can't see what you have done.  I didn't recognise this flaw and sort it out , when I could ......  I just carried on, the problem became even worse once I had added some soap , now white fibre , white towel and white suds.   Its a white out.

A reasonable piece of felt , bit ragged around the edges , eventually emerged after much rolling and turning.  Once dry it will be in the post to be checked.

Learning lots already !

Jane