About Soft Art

I want to share with you a unique technique of painting (image making) which has become popular in Europe yet is under-explored here. This technique is interesting because it allows a complete novice in visual arts to create extraordinary images. The secret is in the material – gifted to us by nature herself – wool roves are remarkably gentle and physical, while making marks without a mediator (a brush, a pencil) makes an astounding kind of connection between the author and their creation. Felt colors allows one to disconnect for a time from swiftly paced life, while the tactile creation one feels with one’s hands creates the effect of complete submergence, a kind of expressive meditation. Too little does one create in the era of keyboards and machines abandoning even handwritten texts, while progressive psychologists state the importance of exercise of making. Here is another positive aspect of our event – beneficial psychological effect of this technique.

Soft Painting (felted tapestry) is a new art form based upon a forgotten ancient technology that has been rediscovered in the 20th century. This technique shares certain similarities with the painting process: colored woolen fleece serves as paint projected onto a textile canvas.

In the beginning of the process, the artist works on a design of his or her own choice through applying patches of colored fleece on the base textile. Then the artist uses soft flakes of fleece which are cut, mixed, braided and joined together. This process allows one to create various compositions, which acquire a distinctive look once other thin textile fibers are applied. A final unique fixation is created by a special needle punching machine.

Details

Here are some details which perhaps will give a little more of touch of this very special art media.

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The process

These pictures were taken during my Master Show in Moscow. I was making the image of Mother of God inspired by famous Andrey Rubliov masterpiece Vladimirskaya Mother of God. This photo report will tell you about the process.