
Albion
Sue Pearl
Handmade felt
30 x 30 cm
“I may not be able to travel outside my studio but in my head I have and it’s resulted in my pictures.”
Sue Pearl
Sue’s Lockdown Story
‘I am a feltmaker and during ‘lockdown’ I have taken the opportunity to concentrate on producing some of the artwork that I love to make. I am also a teacher, teaching at various craft schools in the South of the country and for the Womens Institute . This keeps me very busy during the year and doesn’t offer me much downtime to produce my own work. So this time has been beneficial for me and my headspace.
I have been making idyllic country scenes in felt embellished with stitch, seaside views and imaginary architecture. I may not be able to travel outside my studio but in my head I have and it’s resulted in my pictures.

I have found that the creativity that I have been indulging in has been enormously helpful and although I cannot reach out physically to my students I have started some on-line classes which are being greatly enjoyed by all including me.
Making felt is a very soothing process. The preparation and the actual making absorbs me completely. I listen to plays on Radio 4 on iPlayer and time passes so quickly, in fact it seems like there is never enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do.
Having this time to concentrate on my work has been wonderful.

I suppose at first [I felt] anxious and then a bit frustrated but I have a garden and a studio/shed and I have Hampstead Heath extension to walk on every day so I am a lot better off than many people.
Exercise is much more important to me with my daily walk and Joe Wicks videos. I have been just concerned to keep safe and be sensible. Cookery is now much more important and I try to create a different dish every day to keep the man in my life happy.

I think many of us have ‘rainy day projects’, things we may have started and have been meaning to finish but during this time we have all that time to finish them in, and there is an enormous sense of satisfaction in seeing a project completed.’
Text and images © Sue Pearl