I have been making felt for over 35 years and I have been a watercolorist for about the same amount of time.  But, it's only recently that I've been combining the two.  That is, I'm taking concepts from my painting, and applying those concepts to my feltmaking. The result is the watercolor series.  Felts that are conceptually similar to watercolors, but which are totally made of dyed fiber.  There is no actual painting involved, unless you consider the placement of each individual, colored fiber as "painting" with the fiber.  With these works, I create rich backgrounds and use these backgrounds to help define the foregrounds.  By themselves, the foregrounds would be dead and flat, but by making the backgrounds visually exciting, the foregrounds are enriched.  This treatment of background/foreground is the main concept from my painting that I've brought over to the new series of felts.

My MFA is from the University of Washington. I am a practicing artist with areas including feltmaking, watercolor, monotypes and drawing. I have exhibited my art work both nationally and internationally. I was a university art professor for 16 years, teaching all of the fiber art areas as well as drawing, design, and color theory. Currently, I teach workshops in felting and design.  I am the co-owner of Fine Fiber Press and Studio and editor of the North American Felters’ Network newsletter.

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