Arty Alphabet Days 1-5

My cousin alerted me to this Instagram challenge called #everydaycreativeatoz hosted by artist, Jennifer Cockcroft . Here is a summary of what Jennifer says about this challenge in her blog

"Everyday Creative A to Z challenge!

This really is as simple as it sounds - every day the prompt will be a letter of the alphabet (we'll work through them in order so nobody gets confused!), and all you have to do is post something related to that letter.

I want you to really let your imagination run free with this and post whatever you like!

I know we're in the lead up to Christmas, but there's absolutely no requirement for you to post festive images if that's not your thing - or if you're a total Christmas freak then please go right ahead!

You could stick to a theme in your posts, or mix and match each day depending on your inspiration.....

You get the idea - there really are no rules with this, and if you like you can switch and change and post something different every day, or skip some days and just pick your favourite letters."

Here are my first five days ...
A&B : Because I didn't actually start until 28 November, I used one photo for both letters. ART and BALDNESS . This is a photo of me, soon after I shaved my head for a charity fundraising supporting the Zero Children's Cancer Campaign. The art is by Brisbane based artist, Sylvia Watt whose portraits here are obviously of bald women. This photo set a theme for me for the rest of the challenge to post an "arty" alphabet...
C: COW COLLAGE Followers of this blog know that I tear up bits of paper and use them in an attempt to create artistic collages. I sometimes include postage stamps in those collages after being inspired by the work of Jette Clover earlier in the year. Jette encouraged us all to try to practise art each day with a simple exercise of making a small collage for a card - here's one of them!
D: DAY of the DEAD DOLL I created this doll after winning a set of fabric markers in a raffle. It started with a piece of white cotton and I drew on it , sewed it up, filled it with fibre fill and then painted over the edges of the raw fabric.
E: EMBROIDERED EGG and EGG CUPS I have been collecting egg cups for over 40 years, so I have a large collection.... I like to stitch temari too. So here is an embroidered egg sitting in one of my eggcups with part of my egg cup collection in the background. Just for the record, we love boiled eggs!
Watch this space for other posts about my arty alphabet .... and soon a Christmas Countdown for Advent!

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...

Fragments

Some days are just your lucky days - today I was very fortunate and privileged to open the first ever Australian exhibition "Fragments" by UK Fibre Artist Sue Hotchkis . Here is a little about the techniques of this amazing textile artist from her own website ... Working intuitively with print and stitch, marks, textures and colours are exaggerated, intensified to reveal the detail and complexity within the images. Materials are deconstructed using modern methods, ripped, burnt and dyed. Time is invested in their reconstruction; pieces can take from a week to several months to create. Whilst being aesthetically pleasing the work can also act as a metaphor for deterioration and ruin, associated with urban decay and ultimately death and loss. They evolve organically, built up with layers of print, cloth, paper, and stitch into three-dimensional abstract forms that hover between object and image; to create a unique, visual and tactile lan...

Wednesday's Child /2

Work in Progress - 3 of the 193 for "Stitched Up"- Wilma Simmons The work for the "Stitched Up " Project continues. See the previous "Wednesday Child" post for the background to this art project celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Newcastle Industrial School. I have been documenting the progress of my work, so I thought it might be interesting to share some of the early stages of the "stick dolls" ... Here are some of the beginning steps.. Sticks collected while walking the bushland in my neighbourhood Drying and getting rid of any insects - oven heat 75 degreesC for approx 1-2 hours. Trimmed and cut if necessary Ends sealed with matte sealing solution. Drying - solution goes on white but dries clear. First wrapping - foil to create a body shape Second wrapping - stretch fabric. Third wrapping - fabric strips Some stitching - more stitching and embellishment to ...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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