This is my latest needle felted Harris Tweed painting of a Barn Owl out hunting across snowy fields on a very moonlit night. We are very lucky in that where we live we often see Barn Owls at night and I have even once seen one hunting during the day when the ground was covered in deep snow.

I loved using a pale grey and white Harris Tweed to suggest the feathers on the birds wings. The white Harris Tweed I have used for the face is a very rare tweed that I bought a few years ago. I am led to believe that it was specially made to make a wedding dress for the finale of a Harris Tweed fashion show held on the island. I've certainly never seen it for sale anywhere since.

I had hoped that this picture might be ready as a card for this Christmas, but unfortunately I didn't get it finished in time. However it is is available now as a print in two sizes - 12 inch square - £75 and 7.5 inches square - £25 with free postage and packing.

The original itself is 15 inches square (without frame) and costs £500. It is framed in a plain, flat contemporary wooden box frame approx. 1. 5 inches wide and deep, with a white lime wash finish. Postage and packing with full insurance is an additional £25.

Exhibitors include:

Laura's Loom
Beautiful yarns and woven items, all from the fleeces of local sheep

The Knitting Gift Shop
Natural locally sourced yarns, locally made tools, equipment and goodies for the woolly-minded

Liz Reed Designer Maker
Quirky driftwood folk, clothed in locally sourced wool

The Woolly Pedlar
Vibrant up-cycled knitwear and household items

Dales Looms and Lakshmi Designs
A vast array of peg and pin looms, together with knitted and woven items made using the looms

Sheepfold
British wool kits, yarns, fibres and more!

Bright Seed Textiles
Harris Tweed art, prints and cards by Northumbrian artist Jane Jackson

Natural Born Dyers
Natural and naturally dyed local yarns and fibre, plus spinning tools

Ewenique Crafts
Yarns, wools and knitted goods made from locally sourced Cumbrian yarns

Chris Gibb Knits

North Pennines Wool Group:
     Ellie Langley - Fleece with Altitude
     Hill House Farm Wensleydales
     Deneburn Meadows

Demonstrations, prize draw, competitions, spinning and knitting circle and refreshments provided by The Hearth Cafe. Plus, next door, in The Queen's Hall, Hexham you can also visit the Designer Makers Market, unique, handmade crafts, direct from the maker.

A long time ago when I was a doing my foundation course at Northampton Art College I'm ashamed to say that I never dared to venture into the printing department. At the time I was only 16 - 17 years old and I regret that I was just too intimidated by the seemingly very gruff, loud, large black bearded Scottish tutor in charge. As a consequence I never learnt about printing and yet I really love prints and I very much regret that I didn't tough it out.

I especially love the relationship between flat blocks of colour and patterned/textured areas that you often find in prints. For years I have loved the work of printmaker John Brunsdon and my landscapes are heavily influenced by his work. He simplifies landscapes down to lines and blocks of colour, a design approach that lends itself well to building collages out of Harris Tweed. I use plain tweeds for the flat blocks of colour, patterned tweeds for textured areas and wool yarns for the lines.

More recently I came across the work of Mark Hearld, in a wonderful exhibition that he has curated at York Art Gallery called The Lumber Room: Unimagined Treasures. Mark is a painter/printmaker who makes fabulous paper collages of landscapes on a much more domestic scale than John Brunsdon's. I love the way that Mark's work is very humorous, lively and almost cartoon-like, but still very much grounded in the careful study of wildlife and landscape.

Because my work is built using needle felting, even drawing a line with yarn is a slow and methodical process. So it's just not possible to dash off a quick slash of colour or scribbled line and a result my work is quite calm. Seeing Mark 's work make me wish there was something I could do to liven my work up. But don't know what or how just yet. We shall see.