Newspaper Houses

Having recently attended a workshop with Ines Seidel, at Timeless Textiles, I am enjoying creating with paper and especially newsprint. Here is this week's tag for Tag Tuesday, my online art tag challenge group. The theme was "Down the street ... A row of houses". It was inspired by a black line drawing I saw, but cannot find it again or the source. So if anyone recognises it, I would be happy to acknowledge the original.

However, I have used a completely different technique and the style of houses and the "moon" are also different. I cut out some columns from the travel section of the Sunday paper - some of the words relate to housing and buildings and pasted them down on a magazine page. I then used black felt tipped pen to draw in rooftops and houses. The section of visible street is also a newspaper photo from the same section of the newspaper. I like the idea of lights shining through windows, so made this a "night" scene with a very large full moon. The moon is a piece of dyed absorbent paper, which just happened to be lying around on my desk - left over from the 'bees" project.
I haven't been able to find time to do these weekly challenges with Tag Tuesday for a couple of months, but have thoroughly enjoyed the last two I completed. There are artists who never miss a week, so hope you might visit the blog and check them out.

Comments

Meditations on Mercator

‘ 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 ...

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

Background Information: Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap. 2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Search This Blog