Carterton artist blends art with craft | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

Carterton fibre artist Linda O'Donnell is excited but also nervous about holding her first-ever exhibition next week.

The exhibition at the Carterton Events Centre, which is the culmination of two years' work, will showcase 14 framed pictures of felted native birds.

O'Donnell first discovered her talent for art when she and her husband moved to Masterton about 20 years ago and she started to draw.

"We moved on to a lifestyle block in Masterton and had about an acre-and-a-half and planted native trees to attract native birds, which I started drawing. I didn't know I could draw before that."

Before moving on to felting, O'Donnell home-schooled her three children and, when the nest was empty, moved with her husband to Carterton in 2008 where she joined a craft group.

"I hadn't done any felting until we moved to Carterton. I decided to join a group run by Victoria Te Tau and it was there that I learned the craft of felting and, then, I learned how to make crafts out of it."

As well as pictures, O'Donnell makes brooches, scarves and hats, which she calls her "crafts" as opposed to her native birds, which are her art.

"I wondered how I could incorporate felting into my drawing because I'm more of a drawer than a painter, I don't do things like landscapes or anything - I draw in pastel, pen and ink mainly.

"So I combined my drawing with my painting to see how it turned out and this is what it became.

"I usually take about two months to complete each piece because it's really close-up work and quite hard on the eyes so you have to take a lot of breaks, put it away for awhile. It's not like painting where you're more distanced from it."

O'Donnell makes the background using the method of wet felting, which becomes a canvas to work on. She draws the birds freehand with the wool on to canvas and, then, using a felting needle with tiny barbs at the tip, she binds the wool fibres to the base.

"I then direct the wool as one would use a pen or brush. All my work is signed on a piece of fabric and then stitched on to the back of each piece of art."The opening night of Linda O'Donnell's exhibition at the Carterton Events Centre is Wednesday, February 8. The show runs for six weeks.