Christmas at Our Place - a time for...

No - this was not Christmas at our place. This is our grandson at the beautiful lights at Hunter Valley Gardens. Much to our grandchildren's dismay, we have one string of lights on a tree in our garden, but we make up with lots of fun and festivities.
Christmas for us starts on the Sunday before Christmas Day with the annual Simmons Family Party - a time for....

catching up with cousins

sharing stories with the in-laws

preparing too much delicious food

presents from Santa Simmons

and of course, the annual family photo ...

Christmas Day was with our wonderful family at our place - a time for ...

excitement - Santa came and filled the stockings

brotherly hugs and festive costumes

opening presents .... a family affair

some need help .... from other family members

others didn't - they managed all by themselves.

great gifts - a budding drummer - I love my new socks - thanks Santa!

serious playing with new toys - did you say 'read the instructions'?

eating festive food - gingerbread and Christmas mince pies -yum!

and peace, happiness and sweet dreams.

Comments

Evolution of Message Stick Art Dolls

Message Stick Art Doll - stick, polymer clay, hand dyed & stencilled fabric with embroidery My message stick art dolls have evolved over the last couple of years. Why have I called these art dolls “Message Sticks” ? I wanted to recreate a doll which was based on traditional techniques, so I have used ideas from a few different cultures. Many traditional dolls were made from wood - often wrapped with fibres. In Egypt, several types of paddle dolls have been discovered in tombs in Egypt. The dolls are made of wood, flat, and constructed in a shape has led the form to be called a 'paddle doll'. The dolls seemingly follow a convention for the female figure, emphasizing the hips and hair. The wooden figures are usually painted with a geometric pattern of lines and dots. These patterns may reproduce tattos or ritual scaring in female Egyptian culture of the period or represent clothing or jewellery. A fine exampl...

Entomological Elements - Mixed Media Sculpture

Entomological Elements hung in Timeless Textiles Gallery. My latest big piece of work is "Entomological Elements" - let's call it EE ... It is a mixed media sculpture in response to the theme "Elements" for a current exhibition by the Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists. If you a regular reader of this blog or and Empress Wu Designs Facebook follower, you probably know that my thing is "stick dolls".... dolls made with sticks. EE is just an extension of those , with a piece of local driftwood as its base. EE is also a celebration of the natural elements depicted by insects from different parts of the world. EARTH - Common Black Ground Beetle ( Pterostichus melanarius ) - Europe/Eurasia AIR - Blue Ulysses Butterfly ( Papilio Ulysses ) - Australia WATER - Golden winged skimmer dragonfly ( Libellula auripennis ) - Central/North America FIRE - Scarlet Fire Beetle ( Pyrochroa coccinea )- Europe Common Black ...

Stitched Gardens and Magpies

Magpies are always around in our garden , strutting, poking about for insects and having a splash in the birdbath. They often call if the water is at a low level in the birdbath until one of us replenishes the water supply. It is no coincidence then that they have figured prominently as part of recent little works in the stitched garden series. I also like to include human figures in my gardens, especially taken from old photos of family members. This "impressionist ' stitched garden features my husband's great aunt, Sarah Ann Bath. I like to think of her in this abundant garden , when in reality, she grew up in the early 1900s in rather cramped living conditions in Birmingham UK See more and read more about my stitched gardens - other posts: How does your garden grow with stitch? How does your garden grow with crayons?

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Search This Blog