Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Stitched Faces

2026-05-29T16:59:24.397+10:00

I 've always enjoyed that imperfect line of "not quite in control' free motion machine stitching.... I think it really suits creating portraits , giving them some character and even a quirkiness that hints of personality plus. These ones below are from my " Red Cheeks" series from a couple of years ago, and are amongst my favourite stitched portraits.

The current Stitch Club ( textileartist.org) workshop, by Batool Showghi has inspired me to stitch more this week. Batool , of course, is in complete control of her machine stitching and her works are exquisite and they tell a moving story. ... " Working with paper, print, paint and stitch, her textile art bears witness to displacement, silenced women and the damage that authoritarian regimes impose on ordinary lives.

Batool’s mixed media wall pieces are incredibly striking, but her artist books truly set her apart. Printed imagery of family photographs, birth certificate documents and her own Farsi handwriting are complemented by intricate machine stitching and paint.... " from https://www.textileartist.org/batool-showghi-threads-of-resistance/

Batool Showghi, Woman Life Freedom, One Body, 2024. 45cm x 45cm (18″ x 18″). Fabric, thread, marker pen. from https://www.textileartist.org/batool-showghi-threads-of-resistance/

While I'm currently doing #the100dayproject, highlighting 100 women who have inspired me #100daysofinspiringwomen and it is close to the end, I started to think about creating a concertina book as explained by Batool and feature either the amazing women I've worked with in Papua New Guinea or in Nepal . The first photo in the blog isn't quite what I planned as a practice run for Nepal, but this one below looked like one of the girls in the village in the Eastern Highlands, PNG. While I like stitching onto botanical prints on khadi paper, I am still undecided which of the countries I should feature?

When I put both of these latest stitched faces up for comment in the Stitch Club , I got some good suggestions to create "Colourful Women of the World", instead of limiting to one culture - what do you think?

Meditations on Mercator

2026-05-11T22:57:00.009+10:00

‘The Timelessness of Stitch’ was an invitational group exhibition at Timeless Textiles Gallery, Newcastle NSW , 1 April – 10 May 2026 …. Across generations and cultures, the act of stitching has woven together stories, traditions and identities. Each thread carries not only aesthetic value but also the memories and emotions of those who crafted it, demonstrating how this simple act transcends time and place.

I was honoured and humbled to be amongst the twenty-three artists (national and international) participating in this exhibition.

My small installation took some time to develop…. Although I knew about this exhibition for some time, I kept procrastinating, going from one idea to another and not settling on any.

Recently, I came across the word “mercator” and while a vague notion of maps was recalled, I really needed to research. Besides the modern commercial connections, Mercator has its origins in cartography, which Is often a source of inspiration for my artworks.

The term Mercator most commonly refers to Gerardus Mercator, the 16th-century Flemish cartographer who revolutionised navigation with his world map projection.

Mercator Projection: Created in 1569, this cylindrical map projection allows sailors to plot a course as a straight line (rhumb line), making sea travel much easier.
Size Distortion: While excellent for navigation, the projection famously distorts the size of landmasses far from the equator. For example, Greenland appears nearly as large as Africa, when Africa is actually about 14 times larger.
Web Mercator: Modern digital maps like Google Maps and OpenStreetMap use a variant called "Web Mercator" for their street-level displays ( Wikipedia)

While the maps of the time were fascinating subjects; I simply had run out of time to stitch a map …. So I began to think about stitching islands onto a background fabric…. I even bought a circular board which was going to represent a world map projection. This was until, a conversation with the curator about this idea, and a suggestion and ideas flowed with the creation of stitched landforms, to be mounted directly on to the gallery wall in a random fashion.

I chose a colour palette inspired by “Farmer’s Market” , hand dyed thread by Cottage Garden threads and from then, it was serious stitching until nine “meditations” took shape.

Meditations on Mercator: As I stitched these small meditations, my mind wandered into unknown territories where ancient maps took shape as if lands had been there since the beginning of time, but had eluded human definition. These stitcheries ae imagined “terra incognito”.

More information about Mercator:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerardus_Mercator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_projection

Embroidery Threads : https://www.cottagegardenthreads.com.au/

#the100dayproject : Inspiring Women Days 1 - 4

2026-03-06T19:09:00.002+11:00

#The100DayProject is a free global art project that takes place online 🎨

Every year, thousands of people all around the world commit to 100 days of creating. Anyone can participate .

The idea is simple: choose a creative project, do it every single day for 100 days, and document and share the process online.

2026 is my 8th year of participating. I have stitched daily observations, painted my egg cup collection, collaged postcards and envelopes, written poems, explored colour palettes .... this year I am researching, sketching and stitching 100 inspiring women.

Fortunately I purchased a piece of beautiful linen, with preprinted outlines of 100 women ... just one issue - the figures are tiny (height 6cm /2.5 ins)

My first week started tentatively ... I thought I would start with Empress Wu, after whom I named my creative activity. This is when I discovered how difficult it is to applique and stitch on these very small figures - I used tweezers to put pieces of fabric down, tried to blanket stitch around the pieces and felt I was going blind in the process.

It could only get better ?

Day 2 - It helped that I chose Ruth Williams Khama, a brave Englishwoman who married Seretse Khama , heir to the throne of Bechuanaland ( see the movie "A United Kingdom). She and her husband defied opposition from both their families and the British and South African governments to establish eventually an independent Botswana. Lady Khama's legacy " extends beyond the borders of Botswana , in a model of harmony which exposed the injustices of apartheid and colonial rule" . The dress was a simpler design and it meant fewer very tiny bits of fabric and I even managed to stitch some sort of leafy pattern on the skirt ....

Day 3 was a surprise choice - I happened to read " who was born today" and Ettie Rout appeared - a little known World War 1 nurse , shunned by her own country New Zealand but celebrated in France as a hero for her working to prevent sexually transmitted disease amongst serving soldiers. This was the day I began to doubt if I would ever make it to day 100 .... a hat and a 2 piece outfit which measured about 4cm /1.5 ins!

From the dull "brown/beige" to the brightest colours of Yayoi Kusama on day 4. This was relatively easy - just coloured polka dots for which Kusama is most well known...

So far this has to be one of the most challenging projects, but also one with many more layers to it ... will I manage to research, sketch and stitch for the rest of the 100 days?

Follow each day on Facebook or Instagram

A Jaunty Josie from JOY - How did that happen?

2026-01-13T19:02:00.002+11:00

No new year’s resolutions , but I like the idea of words shaping a year …. I did not choose JOY - I chose PLAY and CHALLENGE, which I think also fits the upcoming Chinese Year of the Horse…. “ The year 2026 signifies a fresh start, embodying the dynamic Year of the Fire Horse in the Chinese zodiac, representing energy, freedom, and innovation, coupled with a Universal Year 1 in numerology, signalling new beginnings and pioneering action “

How did JOY become the focus of this story?

Where better to start than with the weekly colour prompts #coloricombo by EsteMacleod …these are published each Monday night ( Australian Eastern Summer Time) , so I’ve had a week to work on these . Added to the colour prompts Este has also intensified the challenge by including a different shape or form each week.

This week, she chose the word/letters J O Y

Between workshops, travelling and other projects, I spent a few hours cutting and pasting a “mood board” and did a few doodles – ultimate playing and so much fun!

Now the Challenge bit … I decided to do some free motion machine stitching using the word JOY . I wrote it in free machine stitch and turned it upside down , following one of my doodles and planned a face , with a fancy hat to accommodate the loops of the J and Y and circles of the O

Then more stitching J O Y shapes

- a big O for the face
- Js two ways for for the neck and and backward J for nose
- a little Y for the lips
- lots of random sized J shapes to create embellishments for the hat.
- circles were added for- O shapes rosy cheeks and smaller ones for the pupils of the eyes.
- roughly stitched Y shapes along the neckline

Having finished a rough “sketch” in stitch, I added some hand stitching in the jade tone on the hat, and the orange for the cheeks and a white highlight in the eyes.

To add more colour

- -water colour paint on the main part of the hat and dress

- - water colour paint for hair.

- - pencil for skin tone

Jaunty Josie is born from JOY.... A little crazy, but I really enjoyed the play and the challenge.

Week 1 of 2026 words achieved!

And if you haven't already chosen some words for 2026, here's a fun way to start.

Watch this space for what happens during the next week.

The Making of a Matriarch

2026-01-01T21:10:00.003+11:00

Matriarch? Definitions of ‘matriarch” don’t differ much, but the following one suits my purpose ….

A matriarch is a willing protector, a nurturer, and a leader of her family and community. She is a role model, particularly for women, and a fierce advocate for causes close to her heart. She is empowered and makes it her job to empower others. She is open-minded and utilizes her wisdom for the good of all. ( from https://medium.com › a-matriarch-in-the-making-52b42)

The debate whether a matriarch is the exact opposite of patriarch delves deeper into power relationships and the established dominance of gender in governing bodies. I will not be subscribing to that serious debate in this blog as I just wanted to make an art doll which has a story.

The Matriarch I created is an amalgam of European and First Nations concepts of matriarchs:

Guardian of Nature
Protector of Environment
Healer and Nurturer
Cultural Keeper
Decision Maker

In October, 2025 at Gumnut Dollies Newcastle ( a local doll making group), doll maker/sculptor Bobbie Oliver introduced us to her collection of “crones” and showed us her techniques of needle sculpting fabric heads with character.

Is a crone the same as a matriarch - not quite… When I had sculpted the face, it wasn’t quite as ‘old’ or a deeply secretive as I imagine a ‘crone” might be, so as soon as I got home, I began thinking about other words for women of an age and came across this distinction …

Some modern frameworks add "Matriarch" as a fourth stage between Mother and Crone. In this view, the Matriarch is the powerful, active leader , while the Crone is the older, more withdrawn sage who "walks between worlds.

I also referenced the Aboriginal cultural tradition of considering trees as matriarchs (or grandmother trees) . These trees are not merely plants but are viewed as living ancestors and guardians that hold deep spiritual, generational, and protective significance.

Attaching her body to a piece of wood also made her not only human, but also arboreal. I tried all sorts of fur pieces, muslin and thread textures as a mantle, but decided on stitching leaves in hand dyed fabric and some other skeleton leaves made by free motion machine stitching machine on dissolvable fabric. I had already decided from the beginning that her head would be covered with “dread locks” or what may now also be interpreted as tree roots or branches. This idea was inspired by a photograph of an older Finnish woman from Pinterest.

The decision about including the cicadas as part of this matriarch’s story is to emphasise what appears to be a contradiction about nurturing life and inevitable death... Cicadas spend years underground as nymphs feeding on root sap, emerging en masse as winged adults for a few days, perhaps a week, to mate and lay eggs in tree branches, then die, leaving the eggs to hatch into new nymphs that burrow underground to restart the cycle. The dormant underground phase of the cicada’s life can be from 2-17 years!

In my interpretation, this forest matriarch offers a safe place for cicadas to lay eggs, only to cause their own demise … but the continuing life cycle is ensured.

This is the story of an imagined matriarch and the making.

Wilma Simmons, Facebook /Instagram

Links to Doll making/sculpting groups - Ask to join:

Bobbi M Oliver's Creations

Gumnut Dollies

Reflecting on Christmas Cards Past - November Project Update

2025-11-28T00:06:00.003+11:00

It's so close to the end of the month, but honestly, I'm not ready to give up yet. I've only had one day when I was too tired to give any creative attention to making a card. Some other days have been hard to fit in the time as I set myself the goal of taking a photo of a finished little work by 5pm each day.

What have I found difficult?

- choosing a postage stamp.

- coming up with 'different' ideas and bringing the ideas to life quickly

- including both stamp and stitch into the design ( occasionally) .

- compromising by using some previously stitching samples.

- no time for revision.

What have I enjoyed?

- knowing I will have 30 Christmas cards made , ready for posting by 1 December.

- sorting through my stash of beautiful Christmas stamps.

- combining media ( although that is also what I found difficult!) .

- deciding who will be the recipient of each card.

- the focus of creating something every day.

- the spontaneous nature of the project.

-using up scraps of fabric, abandoned samples of work and multiple used stamps.

Link to introductory post A November Project

A November project

2025-11-04T17:46:00.002+11:00

A few years ago, I began scheduling into my day, the routine of a daily art practice.... seven years later, I still love #the100dayproject and am a strong advocate of "create something, anything, every day" .

In more recent years, I haven't been content with a mere 100 days and have often pursued shorter /or longer projects requiring some daily attention. For example, I completed 145 days of slow stitching my garden and then another 60 day random cross stitch garden.... but that's a digression....

This month, I am being far more practical... I still like to send and give Christmas cards, but am always getting them in the post very late, and trying to make some special unique cards for the family the night before.... so all this month, I am making Christmas cards - just one a day. By 30 November, I should have some to choose from for posting within Australia and for giving in December. Here are my first 4 days ....

If you're wondering why bother with a daily art practice, there are many explanations and advocates online... this is what Google AI generated....

A daily art project is a creative endeavor where an individual commits to making art every day for a set period, such as 30 days, 100 days, or a year. The core idea is to build a consistent art-making habit to practice skills, develop a style, and generate a portfolio. These projects often involve smaller, themed works and are shared on social media, creating a sense of community and helping an artist gain exposure.

Benefits of a daily art project

Improves skills: Consistent practice helps you refine your techniques and experiment with new methods.
Builds a habit: It makes art-making a routine, similar to other daily habits, and can be done in short bursts of time, like 5–10 minutes.
Fosters creativity: By exploring a theme or using specific prompts, you can overcome creative blocks and discover new ideas.
Creates community: Sharing your work online can connect you with other artists and an audience who encourage your growth.
Provides a record: The project creates a cumulative body of work that documents your journey and progress over time.

and here's a bit more about one of my approaches to a daily creative routine

the 100dayproject - what and why

..... starting a daily art practice tomorrow?

How does your garden grow with stitch?

2025-10-27T17:58:00.002+11:00

"How does your garden grow with stitch?" is an update on a post I published way back in 2015, when I stitched my first "impressionist garden" for a course I was studying at the Embroiderers' Guild.

Gardens are my constant inspiration for my artwork, and I create gardens in cloth and stitch repetitively, using many different techniques. I am particularly fond of this heavily stitched embroidered "impressionist" garden.

In 2016, I stitched two small gardens in this style for an exhibition and they included photos of my husband's grandmother and her brother and sister as children. Although the collector who bought these two works did not know our family, the children reminded him of his own family from England of about the same era. These two 'gardens' have become my "stitch" reference and images which best showcase the technique although I don't have the originals any more.

Since then, quite a few other gardens have grown, often to celebrate significant birthdays of family and friends ... pictured, one square in 2017, stitched as a contribution to a family quilt for my husband, and the other in 2018, for a friend's 80th birthday.

What prompted a recent return to these stitched gardens? Over the last few years, I have stitched a series called "Garden Threads" - a slow stitching abstract exploration of colour, using only basic stitches - running stitch and random cross stitch. This year, I started embroidery some "healing" flowers and really enjoyed the process of representing flowers in stitch again .

And like that, a new series was started this year, 2025 .... and just this last weekend, I shared the process with six lovely stitchers, who I think enjoyed the experience of stitching a garden too.

( Look for a future post about the workshop fun )

Link to the previous post about stitched gardens , including the colouring of the backgrounds with crayons .... How does your garden grow with crayons?

https://empresswu.blogspot.com/2015/04/how-does-your-garden-grow-with-crayons.html.

Bilby Infatuation

2025-05-18T16:00:00.005+10:00

Wrapped wire and fabric bilby sculpture : Wilma Simmons 2016

Over the years I have been fascinated with the plight of the bilby and it has inspired quite a few of my cloth creations...

With long pinkish-coloured ears and silky, blue-grey fur, the Bilby has become Australia’s version of the Easter Bunny. Unlike the rabbit, bilby numbers are falling rapidly.
There were originally two species but the Greater Bilby is now commonly referred to simply as ‘the Bilby’ as the Lesser Bilby (Macrotis leucura) is thought to have become extinct in the early 1950s... Bilbies are nocturnal, emerging after dark to forage for food. Using their long snouts, they dig out bulbs, tubers, spiders, termites, witchetty grubs and fungi. They use their tongues to lick up grass seeds.
Bilbies have poor sight and rely on good hearing and a keen sense of smell. To minimise threats from predators they’ll mostly stay within 250m of their burrows, but sometimes roam further afield depending on the food supply.

from https://www.bushheritage.org.au/species/bilby

Bilby Girl Travelling Art Doll ; finished by Wilma Simmons 2013

In 2013, I made Bilby Girl - a "travelling" art doll and this doll made its last stop at my place in Australia. Bilby Girl returned to her owner , the original doll maker in USA. These "travelling dolls " would start off as a body, then travel somewhere else and get a head, and then onto another country to get arms and legs, and at its last stop the doll would be clothed and accessorised.

Australian Bush fabric

Fast forward to this year, and in the textile.artist.org Stitch Club, Christi Johnson's workshop was about sculpting personal mythology inspired by an animal. Reflecting on personal interest in Australian fauna and the recent climate concerns, I chose the bilby - it was close to Easter too!

Bilby collage : Wilma Simmons 2025

I made a toile from some abandoned eco dyed cotton and I really liked it, so did a bit of stitching on the front, and closed its opening on the back with a fabric circle, fussy cut from an Aboriginal print. For the other, I chose a really bright pink cotton, referencing the chocolate bilby Easter treats which were sold at easter to raise funds for the "Save the Bilby" campaign. On the front of the pink bilby, I embroidered a plant which I hope resembles Acacia gordonii (a wattle) which is also an endangered species The back features another motif from an Aboriginal print.

Bilby and Gordon's Wattle Embroidery : Wilma Simmons 2025

I had so much fun making this little soft sculpture, which I why I went searching for my 2016 version, tucked away at the back of a shelf in my workroom. This wrapped sculptured bilby is made with all reclaimed materials - wire, scraps of fabric, with plastic bags as stuffing,.. It's great to reminisce about why you return to favourite subjects and while these might be fun projects, the reality is far more serious....

Currently, there are more than 169,000 species on The IUCN Red List, with more than 47,000 species threatened with extinction, including 44% of reef building corals, 41% of amphibians, 38% of trees, 37% of sharks and rays, 34% of conifers, 26% of mammals, 26% of freshwater fishes and 12% of birds .https://www.iucnredlist.org/

Save the bilby and other endangered species ...

Bilby work in progress/reclaimed materials : Wilma Simmons 2016

In the Pink

2025-02-14T18:24:00.007+11:00

At Tag Tuesday. Pinky O' Hagan is hosting a tag challenge which asks for 'a bit of pink".... not so difficult if you like pink.

I don't use a lot of pink in my work, so it was quite a bit of a challenge when I thought only of pink - my thoughts went to pink roses, pink hearts, pink confectionery !!! Then I referred to this week's colour prompts, #coloricombo by artists Este MacLeod.... pink with sap green, dark tea, and sea green. I'm not sure I got the colours in this palette exactly, but here is my tag, a stylised landscape -

The collaged background of the tag has torn pieces of watercolour art rejects, painted magazine pages and a little bit of gift paper. The tree silhouette is decorated with paper dots, cut with a hole puncher.

"Add a Postage Stamp" Art Tags

2025-01-25T18:19:00.011+11:00

I couldn't have hoped for a more suitable theme set for this fortnight's Tag Tuesday..... "Add a Postage Stamp". I often use postage stamps in my collage work, and I admit I really enjoy working with these miniature artworks.

The two stamps I've chosen for this exercise are both Australian.

The first one depicting a white tailed kingfisher is from a 1980 issue and this series is amongst my favourite "bird" series.

The second is from an Australian animal series issued in 2019 .... who doesn't love a wombat?

The tags are both paper collages - with some stitching and in the second, I stitched a real dried eucalypt leaf. And just to add a but of interest, I also decorated the backs of the tags, complementing the theme on the front.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse of the natural world in Australia...

12 Days .... festive or not?

2025-01-12T20:21:00.001+11:00

Days 5 & 7 - the Gold Rush Era Stamp Series

It seems so long ago now since we were celebrating Christmas and New Year.... hope you enjoyed a great festive season. I took some time out, not doing much at all but I did set myself a little challenge of doing some tidying up which meant spending a little time each day using scraps of fabric and paper to create something a little playful or as the mood took, useful!

Unlike the long projects I usually undertake, this was a 12 day project ( 12 days of Christmas ) - completely random, but finishing half done projects or recycling. For example the first photo shows some collages I did on days 5 and 7 to use a postage stamp release, the Gold Rush Era series, first issued in Australia 1981 ... yes I probably have had it in my stash since then!

Completing some other little projects was very satisfying .... On Day 1, I assembled a folded paper folk cube from a kit my daughter gifted to me last year for my birthday. The next day, I sorted and ironed many pieces of eco dyed fabric which has been languishing crumpled in a plastic bag since a dyeing session early last month. On Day 8, I was putting away things in my workroom and rediscovered a little kit, a friend gave me, so I made it up - not sure this little owl was designed to look as though it's wearing a skull cap, but I was happy to finish it.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 8

Recycling was definitely one of the aims of this projects .... I stencilled newspaper, brown paper and kitchen paper to create some great gift wrapping , and used strips of fabric scraps to make some very strong twine. You can see that I used this twine , Day 9 , as ties for fabric scrappy bags to be used in a gallery for purchases from the gallery shop, instead of commercial packaging. Day 10 was a big day - I made 4 cushions, one for each of my gran\d children. One was made from fabric from a jacket I wore when I acted as the Secretary General at Model United Nations Assemblies; the second , for a grandson who is planning a trip to Japan in May, features a strip of fabric showing a street map of Tokyo; the third uses an embroidery made by my late mother, and the last is a painted cloth from Thailand - a travel memento.

Day 3

Day 4

Day 9

Day 10

Other days' projects were merely on the agenda... like gathering and treating sticks for an upcoming workshop I am presenting next month, and on the twelfth day, I packed up all the Christmas decorations and started a little cross stitch project to do while streaming some 'summer' movies.

Day 11

Day 12

I also played with some photo manipulation which I hope to explore more later .... overall, it was a good start to the year .

Day 6

Numbers?

2024-09-25T07:48:00.000+10:00

The current challenge at Tag Tuesday is NUMBERS ...

Here is the brief ... I would like to see Numbers on your tags, as in the title, I mean more than one number, I don't mind how many numbers you use, but you must have more than 3. They can be all the same or all different...

On my desk, I happened to have a box of old postage stamps ... and there were numbers of course, as each stamp displays its value.

Here are my tags for the Numbers challenge. The first is a collage of the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, standing on a podium with a random set of numbers . The second features a lovely set of stamps from New Zealand , again with the three numbers prominently displayed , complemented by a cut out from an old greeting card.

Thanks, Sandie from tag Tuesday - a different and challenging theme.

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #6 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape - Regrowth

2024-09-08T12:29:00.002+10:00

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #6 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape

Background : The Golden Cape is a collaborative project for ATASDA members and it celebrates the 50th Anniversary of ATASDA in 2024. 50 present day members have received an image of one of 50 yesteryear members artworks, to use as a muse, to create new artwork based on the past. Inspiration can come from textures, colours, style, design, subject, culture or history of the original artwork.

The new artworks have become panels stitched together to create a Golden Cape - an anniversary art wearable . The Golden Cape will be displayed at various venues around Australia from May 2024.

Angela Liddy drew inspiration from Maz Beetson's 2007 work "Fire Regrowth" for her contribution to the Golden Cape.

Angela used a traditional Korean technique "joomchi ' in her work. Joomchi is a 500-year-old paper-making technique that uses water to seal several layers of thin, handmade mulberry papers together to form a single, strong sheet. The paper is first wet, then, manipulated until the fibres are broken down, or felted, resulting in an almost leather like material.

Colour choices and machine stitching combine to tell the story of regrowth after fires.

Hope you will see ATASDA's Golden Anniversary Cape at a venue near to you....

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #5 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape - Broken Circle

2024-09-02T12:20:00.005+10:00

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #5 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape

The new artworks have become panels stitched together to create a Golden Cape - an anniversary art wearable . The Golden Cape will be displayed at various venues around Australia from May 2024.

ATASDA member Susan Pepper chose an original work from the 2014 exhibition as her inspiration for her Golden cape contribution. Elizabeth Robert's Ferris Wheel featured a play of circular light and movement within a subdued colour palette.

Susan Pepper's new work referred to these original elements to create "Broken Circle" - layering and distressing fabric embellished with hand stitching and beading .

The broken /fractured elements in the fresh blue-green combination enhance the direction and movement of the circle.... Thank you Susan for your contribution to the ATASDA 50th anniversary Golden Cape.

Images : ATASDA

1. Detail Broken Circle : Susan Pepper 2023

2. Ferris Wheel : Elizabeth Roberts 2014

3 Broken Circle : Susan Pepper 2023

A lesson

2024-06-22T11:13:00.003+10:00

Don't knit close to the edge of a cliff , or if you must, know when to stop!

https://fb.watch/sRTHMDMhAv/

How many cats?

2024-05-27T16:02:00.000+10:00

At Tag Tuesday the current theme is cats ... my first thought was the famous riddle.

While on my way to St. Ives, I saw a man with 7 wives. Each wife had 7 sacks. Each sack had 7 cats. Each cat had 7 kittens. Kitten, cats, sacks, wives, How many were going to St. Ives?

Was that 49 cats total ?

Anyway I decided to make a Mr and Mrs Cat tag for the Tag Tuesday challenge using the colour combinations for this week in my #the100dayproject. - forest green, saffron, dusty pink and sea foam. These are weekly colour prompts #coloricombo, curated be artist Este MacLeod ... I think I got most of the colours into the background with a predominance of the forest green and saffron in the cats.

In case you were wondering what is the real answer to the riddle "how many were going to St Ives?"

Answer : one , only me!

'Anything Goes" and It Does Matter.

2024-04-26T16:31:00.000+10:00

When 'anything goes", does it follow that "nothing matters" ? .... I think not. When I interpret "anything goes", I think it means taking a few risks and experiment, but also care about what you are doing and finding a purpose in the process.

Currently, the Tag Tuesday theme is "Anything Goes" ... This describes my daily art practice at the moment. I am doing #the100dayproject and each day I am responding to weekly published colour prompts #coloricombo, curated by artist, Este McLeod. During the last week, the suggested colours were jade green, primrose, vermillion and purple grey. Each day, I've been trying to experiment with colour and technique with the goal of developing and learning.

Here are some of the tags I created using these colours, or at least as close as I could manage with stuff from my stash... I have titled these "Fragments from Afar" as all of them feature an image or a postage stamp from somewhere far from home.

from Japan: fabric and paper, folded flower with button.

from Equatorial Guinea : fabric, paper , thread and postage stamp

from Singapore: paper, postage stamp, thread and hand- beaten metal embellishment

from Hungary : fabric, photo transfer, thread, and enamel embellishment

from Vietnam : fabric, paper, postage stamp and metal embellishment

I found this combination of colours challenging and perhaps I didn't get the colours exactly as proposed, but in the end, I enjoyed the concept of making something like a memento of another country and liked the idea of using a mix of materials to create a little narrative.

Images : Days 61 - 65 #the100dayproject2024 #100daysofcolourcombo

Pink Candy and Mocha - #the100dayproject 25-31

2024-04-11T22:21:00.007+10:00

These were days of scarlet cheeks, candy pink and blush grey hair and mocha mushrooms!

This combination really stretched the imagination, and the first day I resorted to a pre-stamped embroidery which I think summed up the week - wandering from colour to colour, subject to subject ....

First came a couple of mushrooms - the background of these are machine stitched. Scraps of fabric are laid down on a base fabric and , using the decorative stitches on a sewing machine, rows and rows of stitching create the effect of a new background fabric. I often use this technique to create unique backgrounds for applique and feature stitching. The mushrooms are raw edged appliqued onto these essentially pinky red backgrounds. Do these colours make them fairytale like or just a bit sinister?

You might have noticed a theme of red polka dots in these little works .... that just reminded me of red cheeks, and so a series of quirky characters was born .... a party girl, a pair of nerdy teenagers and a rather sophisticated mature woman. These are all free machine stitched and then coloured with Prisma pencil. I enjoyed this technique - it's like drawing with the sewing machine and colouring in later. The "drawing " isn't perfect and that's what I like about it - the stitching lines are free and seem to add 'life" to this little odd portraits. The backgrounds are made from old whitewashed book pages. I guess you;ve worked out I like drawing people with glasses and rosy cheeks!

Hope you will also check other posts in this series ...

Sunshine and black and white

Pistachio and dark chocolate

Greens with mustard

Ready, Steady, Go

To follow my daily posts about #the100dayprojects2024 please see my Instagram page.

Springtime Tuesday ( except it's not Spring)

2024-04-08T23:34:00.000+10:00

Tag Tuesday's theme is Spring Flowers. Of course, it's not Spring here in Australia, but that doesn't matter - anytime is a good time to celebrate flowers.

My tags were little 'nature notes" I created for #the100dayproject, where I am responding to colour prompts, #coloricombo, curated by Este Macleod. The first is a collaged "tag" with a painted background (watercolour) and a blue flower ( fabric) appliqued and stitched. The tag itself is a scrap of inked paper with magazine text.

The second tag is a another collaged "nature note" with postage stamp. Torn paper and fabric have been used on a background of white washed print and my own garden notes.

The third, strictly speaking does not depict flowers, but those little gum nuts were once flowers and if you look carefully, the snippet of fabric in the right bottom corner is a floral print.

All of these are responses to the colour combination of soft blue, pea green, green gold and guava.

While exploring these colours, I also manipulated some photos and these inspired me to put this nature note tags together. Here's an example

Wherever you are, I hope you are enjoying beautiful weather and the joy Nature brings every season.

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #4 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape

2024-04-05T12:14:00.004+11:00

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #4 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape

Background :
This year, 2024, ATASDA ( Australian Textile Arts and Surface Design Association) is celebrating its Golden Anniversary. The Collaborative Golden Cape is a celebratory garment representing 50 years of creativity in textile arts.
Members of ATASDA have joined together to create a beautiful cape comprising of 50 art panels inspired by 50 past ATASDA artworks. Each contribution to the Cape is a personal response to its corresponding historic artwork and its story. The Golden Cape, embellished with these beautiful cameos of textile art and surface design, will travel and be displayed throughout Australia.

Parrwang:

Jo-Anne Britt drew inspiration for her contribution to the cape from the 1987 work by Bobbie Winger . This was a dramatic wearable textile artwork, entitled , "Dancing Cloak for a Currawong". The limited colour palette and the "feathery" form of the cloak really appealed to Jo-Anne and it's easy to see this attraction, even from this archived photo.

Dancing Cloak for a Currawong : Bobbie Winger 1987

Living on Wadawurrung land, Jo-Anne chose to interpret Bobbie's work by featuring the parrwang (magpie). The black and white might have been obvious, but Jo-Anne took the concept further and the colours she has included in her palette reflect the Australian magpie's eggs and the vast blue sky as contrasts. I think these are brilliant choices which add to the parrwang's narrative.

Parrwang : Jo-Anne Britt 2023

This completed panel for the collaborative cape shows careful consideration of materials and techniques and attention to detail before the abstraction of the parrwang wing feathers.

Jo-Anne researched and sketched the parrwang wings, transferring the shapes onto silk fabric. Further details were created with fabric paints and free machine stitching.

When the entire piece was stitched, Jo-Anne cut shapes again and re-assembled an embellished abstract interpretation of the parrwang wing feathers.

This is a such thoughtful textile artwork which so aptly celebrates the golden anniversary. Because the parrwang (magpie) is a highly adaptable bird that can thrive in a variety of environments, this has made it a symbol of adaptability and resilience. Jo-Anne's interpretation shows not only her skill and creativity but also her love and respect of her natural surroundings and indigenous Dreamtime. This artwork looks stunning as part of the Golden cape ( see lower right in the photo)

Collaborative Golden Cape ( front) ATASDA 2023-2024

Other stories in this series. Please check them out if you haven't already.

Story #1

Story #2

Story #3

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #3 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape

2024-03-28T08:41:00.004+11:00

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #3 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape

The new artworks have become panels stitched together to create a Golden Cape - an anniversary art wearable . The Golden Cape will be displayed at various venues around Australia from May 2024.

Vine (Exotica 2009 ATASDA exhibition ) : Norma Warnecke

Meg Buchtmann chose Norma Warnecke's 2009 artwork shown in the ATASDA exhibition "Exotica" as her inspiration for her contribution to the golden cape project .

Golden Cape panel 2023 : Meg Buchtmann

Taken with the colour combinations and the 3D nature of Norma's work, Meg knitted flowers in similar colours and folded them, origami style, the way Norma had. Meg also added to the texture of her panel with an appliqued butterfly and embellishing the flowers with beads and sequins. On an entirely knitted background with leaves and stems, Meg's work not only shows her skill in her chosen technique, but also a lively, colourful and respectful interpretation of the original work. In this work, all the elements of the original are retained, but reinterpreted and reworked using different materials - woollen yarns, in various weights, embroidery threads and glass beads. and techniques.

Meg Buchtmann's work is joyful . It acknowledges the past and celebrates the present. Meg's contribution to the 50th Anniversary Golden Cape not only revisits Norma Warnecke's original work in a unique way but also uses the traditional technique of knitting to create contemporary fibre art.

Read other stories about Golden Cape artworks.

Story#2

Story#1

Gothic Tuesday

2024-03-26T12:22:00.008+11:00

It has been such a long time since I participated in a Tag Tuesday challenge … This fortnight the theme is ‘Gothic’ and it really engaged me because I really couldn’t at first think of anything I could create as a tag. I recently have been playing with photo manipulation and editing so here is one of the results - a double exposed image of the interior of a gothic cathedral and the head of a sculpture I made a few years ago . I also added a few touches of gold leaf and coloured a few areas of the image with Prisma pencil to add some depth. I was thinking the gothic arches created mitred headgear ? Or is just a spectre of a saint interred in the cathedral crypt? … it’s gothic!

Sunshine with black and white -#the100dayproject 18 - 24

2024-03-21T21:40:00.000+11:00

from 2022 #the100dayproject- Wilma Simmons

When I see or use a bright yellow, it resonates energy, joy, and happiness. It is no wonder that in the colour prompts, this yellow is called "sunshine" ... If you haven't been following, I am participating in #the100dayproject, an art challenge, where participants for 100 consecutive days make art for a short period of time daily, using their own chosen techniques in their self designed project.

I've chosen to respond to the weekly colour prompts #coloricombo , curated by Este Macleod. This particular one ( black, white and sunshine) is inspired by and is a tribute to the iconic Iris Apfel ( 1921 -2024) , who was an American businesswoman, interior designer, and fashion designer, known for her flamboyant style, outspoken personality and oversized eyeglasses. In business with her husband, Carl, from 1950 to 1992, Apfel had a career in textiles, including a contract with the White House that spanned nine presidencies. In retirement, she drew acclaim for a 2005 show at the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art featuring her collection of costume jewelry and styled with clothes on mannequins as she would wear them. She became a fashion icon, was the focus of the 2014 Albert Maysles documentary Iris, then signed to IMG in 2019 as a model at age 97. ( text from Wikipedia; image from Este Macleod )

#18/100 2024

I started the week well with a water colour and paper collage, with a fabric applique and stitching. However, this year, I am very conscious of the time I allocate myself for this project. This is part of the challenge, to create art in a snatch of time which I set for this project, while I have so many others vying for my attention. The next day, with a lot going in I settled for setting up my fun lemon earrings against one of my favourite and snapped it. Not very creative , but a response on a day when I was feeling rather "stretched"

#19/100 2024

The next days followed with small paper collages which I really enjoy making and which offer their own challenge because of the shapes and size.

#20/100 2024 8 March

Besides my recognition of International Women's Day, this little series became nature/environment themed. not by design, but somehow the postage stamps in this colour palette seemed all to relate to the natural world. You will have noticed that the first image in this post relates back to 2022 when I used postage stamps in another #the100dayproject - the same stamp popped up again... and it is one of my favourite series of Australian bird stamps.

#21/100 2024

#22/100 2024

#23/100 2024

The last of these circular collages highlights a stamp which seems to be the odd one out... it really does fit with this theme. It is one of the stamps issued in Australia in 1976 to raise awareness of environmental dangers . The were bushfires, pollution and road safety. I think it's interesting that almost fifty years later, climate change is still the major issue threatening human well being, and the number of road accident deaths is still a concern as we prepare for a transition to electrical vehicles.

#24/100 2024

Watch this space for more progress in this project and or review

other posts in this #the100dayproject2024

Pistachio and Dark Chocolate

Greens and Mustard

Ready, Steady Go 1 2 3

Pistachio and Dark Chocolate - #the100dayproject 11-17

2024-03-18T00:22:00.003+11:00

A pairing of pistachio and dark chocolate sounds like a delicious and indulgent late night snack, but when your add donkey grey and taupe , the first impression of the four colour combination appears rather lacklustre. I've always thought of taupe as dull and bland. Some research suggests that taupe is now a very popular colour in interior design and is considered to be associated with luxury and sophistication! I can see that it fits rather well between the donkey grey and dark chocolate as an intermediate shade.

If you haven't been following, I am currently attempting the global #the100dayproject, which means I spend a short amount of time on a daily art practice of my choice. I have chosen to interpret the colour prompts published each week by Este Macleod. I admit this one did not really excite me at the beginning , so I did a quick collage from paper torn from magazine pages. This helped me to see the different values of the colours and how they looked together.

After the first day, I started to find some old eco dyed khadi paper I had in my stash which seemed to match the greys/taupe/brown hues. it seemed rather obvious to continue the theme and create some small "nature" studies, with paper and cloth - and before I knew it, I had created a series of small series of works while growing more and more engaged in this "earthy" colour palette. The mono prints of seed pods/gumnuts were on the beautiful lotka paper and already were a lovely highlight too, for each of the day's work.

When I had used all the monoprints I had of seed pods for Days 12-14 , I used a piece of fabric with dark chocolate flowers with a couched outline and this was highlighted in the next three (Days 15-17) . The backgrounds on the eco dyed khadi paper were scraps of fabric, which were in the right tones for these colour prompts, and somehow they came together very quickly with some minimal machine stitched motifs and hand stitching the elements to the backgrounds. This week's colour prompts are now embedded in my repertoire - to be returned to, at a later date.

Watch this space for more about #the100dayproject2024

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Stitched Faces

Meditations on Mercator

#the100dayproject : Inspiring Women Days 1 - 4

#The100DayProject is a *free* global art project that takes place online 🎨

A Jaunty Josie from JOY - How did that happen?

The Making of a Matriarch

Reflecting on Christmas Cards Past - November Project Update

A November project

How does your garden grow with stitch?

Bilby Infatuation

In the Pink

"Add a Postage Stamp" Art Tags

12 Days .... festive or not?

Numbers?

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #6 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape - Regrowth

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #5 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape - Broken Circle

A lesson

How many cats?

'Anything Goes" and It Does Matter.

Pink Candy and Mocha - #the100dayproject 25-31

Springtime Tuesday ( except it's not Spring)

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #4 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape

Connecting and Interpreting : Story #3 from the ATASDA Collaborative Golden Cape

Gothic Tuesday

Sunshine with black and white -#the100dayproject 18 - 24

#18/100 2024

Pistachio and Dark Chocolate - #the100dayproject 11-17

#The100DayProject is a free global art project that takes place online 🎨