As the first month of my working as a full-time artist is coming to an end, I decided to start writing a bit of the online journal looking back to the past events during this time. But first of all, I feel I need to take time to introduce myself to you all here.
We, Estonians are quite private people compared to other nationalities and cultures, therefore we are not very good at opening ourselves up and sharing our thoughts and feelings. But slowly, I will try to share with you my life as a textile artist and fibre farmer. As living and working in the countryside has a lot to do with my creative work, I can not leave this important part of my life out either.
As you are on my website, you probably know that my name is Reena and I have dedicated my life to working with fibre and traditional skills. I live and work in a peaceful place called Oruveski Talu with my husband and our three children. I have a studio here, which is built in the old haybarn. My husband has been running a sheep farm here for over 17 years now. At the moment we are specialising in growing Swedish finewool sheep, which is an old heritage Nordic breed. We also have a few Angora goats and rabbits for different types of fibre for my artwork. My husband has started shearing the sheep and there are plenty of wool bags for me to sort in the next few weeks as well.
Angora goats are very nosy and cool animals to have.
My husband is originally from the Isle of Man and he has gained various experiences in agriculture over the years, so I will be sharing his ideas about wool and sustainability here as well in the future.
I used to work at the local school as an art teacher in recent years, but I feel it is time to concentrate on the creative work and growing our fibre fully now.
One of our polytunnels in the summertime.
Here, in Oruveski Talu, our life is quite seasonal. Besides looking after animals through different seasons, we have polytunnels and vegetable beds for growing our food. We also have pastured free range chickens for egg production.
So, most of September we have been busy with picking tomatoes and harvesting vegetables. It has been an extremely warm autumn, so we had a few family hiking trips in forests and bogs.
Family trip in our favourite bog. Estonia has got many wetlands and bogs to explore.
Morning routine swimming at the local lake. Which better meditation would you need?
I did manage to get some time in my studio and managed to finish one new woven tapestry, which I named after my life situation - “The Beginning”. As you probably know, I mostly use felting techniques for my artwork, but I do love to weave tapestries as well.
Woven tapestry "The Beginning". As sustainability is an important part of our values here, I mostly use leftover materials from textile industries for my weavings.
Part of my work has always been teaching and this months I also had a felting workshop, where people could visit our fibre farm, see the process of wool and learn felting.
Days are getting shorter, evenings darker, the garden is falling asleep for the winter and soon I can spend more time in my studio.
As September has still been a month to settle into my new life, I did not manage to work as much with my online courses as I hoped for. So my goal for October is to have better progress with these. I would also like to thank everybody for their interest in online courses. Your support has been noted and I am truely grateful for your patience!
As most of my work is inspired by nature, I love having these views of autumn on my doorstep. I hope you enjoy autumn colours as much as I do!
Until the end of October then,
Reena
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