Salt Lake - MRROS Collaborative Exhbition

What is it we are looking at here? It has the appearance of stained glass but it is too organic and too random to be man made. The colour looks like the oxidisation from copper but that isn’t it. What it is besides an interesting abstract is the bed of a salt lake shot out in the wheatbelt. The blue is a shallow layer of water and the cracks are the dried salt of the lake bottom. It is these photographs that are so interesting to photograph and to view. It always takes time to process what you are looking at but this makes the experience more rewarding. Nature is a wonder. 
It's hard to describe how accurately this awesome felt creation resembles my photograph.  It's truly incredible.  Sue Smorthwaite is a genius with felt, very skilled and talented.  Her work is beautiful. This is what the collaborative exhibition is all about - showing that ART IS so many things and more.  
More on Sue's pieces - 
"Christian Fletchers collaborative exhibition September 10-25 2022. I have long admired Christian’s photography; the lines, spaces, colours, patterns and textures found within his more abstract aerial views are very exciting because, from a textile artist’s point of view, they lend themselves to be interpreted in felt. I was delighted when asked to submit a piece of my work for this collaborative exhibition. Several photographs instantly stood out as ones that I could interpret in my chosen medium, but I settled on Christian’s photo of a salt lake in the Wheatbelt. All 3 of my pieces started out as flat resists, twice the size of the finished work. Merino wool fibres were laid down in a number of layers (up to seven in total on each piece). More resists, wool and silk material were then added at different stages. Using just water, olive oil soap and my hands the wool was gently worked into a prefelt stage. The main resists were removed as the wool fibres started to shrink and the silk material was ‘drawn in’ giving the work its wonderful texture. The ‘cracked’ effect was exposed when the final resists were removed and the felt edges finished off. The pieces were then stuffed and left to dry. Once dry, felt will keep its shape.
1) Cracked world - Wet felted merino wool, silk material $480.00
2) The Wheatbelt - Wet felted merino wool, silk material $510.00
3) Salt lake - Wet felted merino wool, silk material, with a removable stopper and found gum nuts $530.00
I am a felt textile artist originally from England but now live in Yallingup. Excited by the huge potential for hand-made Australian wool felt as an artistic medium, my inspiration comes mainly from nature and objects around me, but pattern and colour are also important factors in my work. I continue to explore new techniques and ways of combining found objects into my textile work, exploring, presenting and promoting wet felting as a fine art form to a new, modern audience. More of my work can be viewed at the Studio Gallery in Yallingup. Or via my Facebook page; Yallingup Felt WA , or on Instagram; sue_smorthwaite_yallingupfelt " Sue Smorthwaite