Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Tranquil surroundings, creative and talented participants and good organization are ingredients for a great event. The Contemporary Craft Retreat was not just a great event – it was an exciting and inspirational learning experience. Congratulations must go to Lex Sorrentino, the coordinator of the retreat, who seemed to think of everything anyone might need, right down to extra cakes of soap and lolly bags for the tutors! I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to lead two workshops. One was  the Bio Bowl – a wet felted vessel inspired by biological beauty. The second was Message Sticks and Spirit Art Dolls with many beautiful imaginative and creative interpretations of my wrapped message stick art doll. I’m not sure anyone used  the collected wise sayings as messages,  but the dolls were inspirational on their own.     We were also privileged to see some amazing “show and tell”. This beautiful art doll by Janice Laurent was created with a bo...

I am ashamed to say that It's been  a month since I returned from Townsville where I thoroughly enjoyed a week's workshop with Sherrill Kahn, celebrated artist and author, and I am just getting around to reviewing my photos.  The  sample of Sherrill's work pictured above is a good example of the art techniques and composition and design principles we learnt.   Having been inspired by Sherrill's  books prior to the workshop,  I had doubts about whether I had chosen the right class.as I have had very little experience with paint. However, I soon found myself experimenting with so many different techniques both on paper and fabric. Sherrill gave us many demonstrations over the five days, and we had plenty of time to try each technique ourselves. I have a pile of great samples! One of  my favourite techniques was to use inexpensive hair gel with paint .... this is still a work in progress, but I am working on this for th...