Honorable Mention, Professional Original

Too awake to call it a day and too tired to sew, one of my favorite evening past times is to curl up on the sofa with my kitty and husband to sketch. Calico Blue came about from one of these doodling exercises. While most of my sketches remain in a folder, I thought this whimsical piece presented the perfect opportunity to attempt my idea of using water-felted wool to visually soften the body of little fabric birds. I was so delighted with the results that I’ve continued using this technique in other pieces of artwork. I was also pleased to discover that by reinforcing the flower stems with heavy gauge wire, I could extend the calico flowers out of the picture background just as it was initially drawn.