Being creative in 2018

Some art work from 2018 - Wilma Simmons

Reflecting on 2018, I would like to thank everyone who supported and encouraged me and assisted and taught me during the last year. I think it was a really wonderful year - I enjoyed teaching in new places like the Grampians (Victoria) and the Central Coast as well as in Sydney, Canberra and locally. I learnt so much in workshops with wonderful artists from overseas and within Australia like Jette Clover, Sophie Munns, Gaye Nieuwenhof, Patti Culea and Bobbi Oliver. I was privileged to exhibit at the Embroiderers Guild of NSW and Timeless Textiles Gallery. I have also had so much fun participating and contributing to groups like NCEATA and Gumnut Dollies in Newcastle and online with Art Dolls Only and Tag Tuesday.

Sometimes, the creative process looks like this for me, but with the support of family and so many talented friends, it all works out well in the end! Best wishes for a creative 2019...

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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...

Ethereal Threads : Textile Art

Meredith Woolnough is a beautiful talented young artist. Her current work is exquisite, stunning, engaging and awe inspiring. As you can see from the images, Meredith reproduces the beauty of nature in stitch – literally thousands of metres of embroidery thread stitched onto a background which is later dissolved. What remains is like a delicate “skeleton", but somehow with depth of colour, movement and strength. I think what is conveyed in Meredith’s work is overwhelmingly the love and reverence for her natural subject matter and her intimate knowledge of its structure. Meredith’s latest exhibition is called “Ethereal Threads”, superbly presented at Timeless Textiles. It is a collection of framed fine art which demonstrates Meredith’s attention to the details of presentation – each of the large pieces is pinned to archer paper and the play of shadow on the paper enhances the beauty of each. There are finely detailed delic...

Lilly Pilly

Today is Australia Day. I chose a photo of some Lilly Pilly berries as a celebratory image for this national day. Lilly Pilly is a common name for a plant, Syzygium smithii which grows mostly in Eastern Australia, from the northern rain forests of Queensland, throughout NSW to the southern Wilson's Promontory in Victoria. In New Zealand it is called "monkey apple, but other names used in Australia, besides lilly pilly, are Eungella Gum and Coast Satinash. The largest Lilly Pilly recorded was found in Dingo Creek Flora Reserve, near Tenterfield where I once lived. The tree now growing in my garden was once a small seedling which I was gifted when I left Woolgoolga, a small coastal town in northern NSW. Its name is said to come from the Aboriginal word 'weelgoolga' describing the lilly pilly which grows in profusion there. It is probably no surprise that the lilly pilly berries are edible as bush tucker, and make a beautiful jam or jelly. I have even seen re...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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