Sketchbook and Inspirations

I've never showed you sketches of my artwork.  I remember seeing a website where a woman did just such a thing and she inspired me to keep my own little book of sketches.  I frequently get my inspirations from flowers and photos others have taken.  Maybe it's a scene I wish I had been a participant in or a scene from a children's book.

My Felted art collectible never started out to be detailed renderings albeit in roving of flowers - nothing detailed - more muted with a touch of embroidery.  But over what seems like many months (but really isn't at all), I found stitching.  Then I carefully played with just how much to put in a felted.  Like with any art, the key is to know when to stop - I face that continually.  Sometimes, I think that something might sell because it needs to be guilded when I really prefer to have it more ethereal and impressionistic.  I've written about this before so won't go into it.

Sometimes, detailing with stitching does just the trick taking something from boring to interesting!  My stitching repetroir is not extensive - mostly because I found this art at the beginning of the rev up for the holiday selling season.  I look forward to doing more of it - there are two great sites I refer to.

Here are a few pages from my sketchbook.

The one on the left is on Etsy now and pretty much looks the same - the idea came from a plate I saw when I googled the Star of David.  The one on the right came from a suggestion from a friend - dreidel and gelt.  This also came out pretty much the same and will be listed tomorrow.

The one on the left is inspired by the Tree of Life - I'm not sure how this will translate to a Felted Collectible - I really like this quick sketch, though.  A Few minutes ago I finished the one on the right - just the front though - not the whole thing - that comes tonight.

The one on the left is inspired by a picture of a rug in a catalog.  We'll see if I get around to it.  The other one has been done and sold.

The one on the left is about apples and leaves in the Fall - never got done - but the one on the right certainly did and I added a gourd - now also sold.

And this is a watercolor I did of an apple orchard on a farm we stayed at two years ago in Vermont - in the summer.  It is there that I bought the sketchbook!  I also got many inspirations from the photos I took of flowers there.