Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

  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

 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 gua

  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 reall

  Connecting and Interpreting : Story #3 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.  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 natur

 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! 

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 presidencie