Skip to main content

Exhibition Countdown :43

 No progress on my exhibition pieces in the last few days, as I had another deadline to meet today. I am one of the artist contributors to a book which is being published at the end of the year. The "coffee table" book will have amazing artistic photos of beautiful meals created by a chef accompanied by images of textile/fibre art inspired by the relevant fruit or vegetable . As you can see, I was allocated 'mushrooms". I had all sorts of great ideas of art dolls with mushroom hats and I made a number of drawings and patterns.  However, when I made a sample mushroom cap to practise the "hats", I liked the little mushrooms.... so, in my workroom, just on the shelf above, I spotted a small gourd. Surely everyone has gourds on their shelves just waiting for  an opportunity to be used in an art project? This gourd became the base, on top of which I created a rocky earthy surface with air dry clay, with the addition of embedded pockets of handmade felt. The embedded felt resembles mossy patches.  I poked small pieces of wire into the clay and built the mushroom on them. The mushrooms themselves are  machine and hand sewn eco-dyed cotton fabric, with a  pleated silk polyester mix.  Then a few tufts of wool and fibre stitched to the mossy patches for grass.... done!
 Forget the flowers... what about  mushrooms as a table centrepiece for the next dinner party?


Labels:

Comments

  1. CarolynAugust 8, 2014 at 4:04 AM

    Wilma, I must find more time to explore your posts, both current and previous. Since finding you online through Empress Wu Designs, and making the exciting family connection in the process, I have felt drawn to your blog.
    Your mushrooms are absolutely wonderful - such delicate, life-like detail and amazing earthy colours. You are, indeed, a master when it comes to your magical,original creations.
    Best of luck with your pending exhibition!
    Carolyn Simmons Logan

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wilma Simmons (Empress Wu Designs)August 8, 2014 at 9:42 AM

    Thanks Carolyn - it was such serendipity to make contact with you via family history. Did you receive the latest document and photo I emailed last week?

    ReplyDelete
  3. CarolynAugust 8, 2014 at 11:03 AM


    Yes, I did receive your last email with attachments, and also received an email through Ancestry.ca from Peter. I am so far behind in my responses, and do apologize. Each email I receive is like a gift for me. I truly appreciate your time and effort, especially considering you have such a very busy schedule now with deadlines to meet. Thank you, Wilma, so very much. Will be in touch soon.
    Carolyn


    .ca

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Stitched Faces

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 o...
Post a Comment
Read more

#the100dayproject : Inspiring Women Days 1 - 4

#The100DayProject is a *free* global art project that takes place online 🎨 E very 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 t...
Post a Comment
Read more

A spider sandwich for lunch?

Close -up of the base of "witch with sticks' art doll   Did you know that if you were a witch, eating a spider sandwich could give you special powers? Rosemary Ellen Guiley says in her  Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft, and Wicca  that in some traditions of folk magic, a black spider “eaten between two slices of buttered bread” will imbue a witch with great power. If you’re not interested in eating spiders, some traditions say that catching a spider and carrying it in a silk pouch around your neck will help prevent illness... So, while creating my art doll witch, a spider was always there amongst the drawings and plans. rough drawing of an idea for the base of the doll    I rarely take photos during the process of making a doll, only because I get so engaged in the making I forget to take a photo at each step of the way . I am not entirely comfortable creating witches, so I took a few photos of my process....  when I remembered.... sc...
1 comment
Read more