San Juan Bloom (Original)

This piece captures a rugged red rock peak rising above a wildflower meadow in Colorado's San Juan Mountains. A rocky creek winds through the foreground, its stones built up in soft grays and browns to catch the light the way real river rock does.

Around it, the meadow comes alive with color; magenta, purple, gold, and deep red wildflowers scattered through layers of green, each one needle felted by hand to give the impression of a field caught mid-bloom.

Behind it all, the red rock formation rises against a soft blue sky, its texture built up in layers of rust and burnt orange wool to capture the way sunlight catches on stone at that elevation. Getting the mountain's depth right took several passes of felting, building shadow and highlight into the fiber the same way a painter builds up layers of paint.