Kidderminster. Raya has a Fine Art and Textiles degree from St Petersburg
and has been living in this country for the past 23 years. She has been
doing wool painting for the past 15 years and holds regular on-line and face
to face workshops, which include wool painting and felting. See her
website address below.
Before her demonstration, Raya gave us a brief introduction to the diverse
properties and uses of wool which she finds very therapeutic to use. 3D
images can also be achieved without the need for stitching or gluing. Felt is
known to be one of the earliest fabrics, used for saddles and 3D artefacts as
early as the 5th century. She liked the feeling that she was carrying on this
tradition.
Raya had brought many examples of her work to display together with kits
for making paintings and separate packs of wool for sale. In addition she
showed a very interesting slide show of some of her work.
She also does wet felting, using warm water and soap which can be made
into garments, bags, slippers, shawls or jewellery. Also needle felting which
is a more modern technique.
The wool painting technique was invented by a Russian artist. It can give
the impression of a watercolour painting. The wool strands are kept in place
solely by the glass of the frame.
Wool used is mostly merino which is very soft. British wool is usually too
coarse, but can be used as embellishments on garments, etc. Silk and
viscose can be used to give a sheen if required.
Wool is very suitable for animal and bird pictures.
Wool suppliers can be found online by searching for Merino felting wool on
line. World of Wool is one supplier she uses.
The support used is a board covered in fabric, usually cotton, on which the
wool is laid. All the tools needed are a pair of scissors and tweezers.
Raya gave us a demonstration of a landscape painting which is approached
in the same way as a conventional painting in terms of composition, colours,
tones, etc. Firstly, Raya makes a watercolour painting of the image she has
chosen and then makes her wool painting from that. Various techniques
were shown for sky, clouds, grasses, stems, flowers. Different coloured
strands can be mixed. Shapes can be fashioned for leaves, petals, tree
trunks, etc. Silk fibres can be added where appropriate to give a sheen.
Website address: www.magicwoolbyraya.com which is well worth a visit.
Raya has a range of courses, both on line and in her studio face to face, to
suit all abilities and various media. There are also wool painting kits and
separate packets of wool to purchase to make your own images.