Long before I arrived at the Icelandic Textile Centre in Blönduós, I had a plan. I intended to observe the local mosses and flora, using wool and felting techniques to create botanical illustrations.
The plants here are as exceptional as I expected, and they truly are a perfect match for the fiber. The issue is that I have found a new obsession—a completely different muse.
I have fallen in love with the rocks. The beaches here are dominated by igneous lava rocks in beautiful shades of grey and black. Tucked inside them are agates, which form underground within the air pockets of ancient lava flows. Over time, water deposits silica into these pockets, creating opaque, glass-like structures. As the softer surrounding host rock erodes away, the resilient agate is left behind.
I began by painting these beach stones using watercolor and gouache on paper, but I kept searching for a way to weave wool into the process. Just yesterday, I tried felting dimensional stones and placing them directly onto the painted surfaces.
The result is awesome! Layering these felted wool rocks onto the flat paintings creates a multimedia piece with a really compelling depth, as seen in the attached image. With one week left before our final exhibition, I am eager to see where this momentum takes me.
