Chinese/ Lunar New Year

Today begins the beginning of the Lunar New Year. For my family, it is the Chinese New Year - the Year of the Tiger , or more specifically the Year of the Black Water Tiger.

There are many predictions published about what this new year will bring. ( just try Google - Year of the Tiger ) While individual predictions vary according to your birth year and your Chinese Zodiac animal, there is a general agreement amongst astrologers who say the tiger denotes strength, vitality and growth. These are qualities that will hopefully stand us all in good stead as we look to move past the uncertainty of COVID-19 in the past couple of years .

Here is a guide to find out your own Chinese Zodiac animal - Always check the new year's date if you are born in the early months of the year, because the first day of Chinese New Year begins on the new moon that appears between January 21 and February 20.

According to your year of birth, your Chinese sign is:

Rat: 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020
Ox: 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021
Tiger: 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022
Rabbit: 1939, 1951,1963,1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023
Dragon: 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024
Snake: 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025
Horse: 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026
Goat: 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027
Monkey: 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028
Rooster: 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029
Dog: 1946, 1958, 1970. 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030
Pig: 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031

Once you have identified which animal you are, here are some links for more information about what the year has in store for you.

1. It's Lunar New Year - Here's what the year will bring you in 2022

2. Year of the Tiger 2022: How to Bring You Year-long Good Luck for Horoscope in Chinese New Year

3. Chinese-horoscope 2022 - Year of the Tiger Meaning

And I am sure that once you start searching you will find literally hundreds of sites which attempt explanations of the Chinese New Year - and look out for all those delicious recipes which make any new year celebrating. Happy New Year - Gong Hei Fat Choi - 新年快乐

In the Pink

At Tag Tuesday . Pinky O' Hagan is hosting a tag challenge which asks for 'a bit of pink".... not so difficult if you like pink. I don't use a lot of pink in my work, so it was quite a bit of a challenge when I thought only of pink - my thoughts went to pink roses, pink hearts, pink confectionery !!! Then I referred to this week's colour prompts, #coloricombo by artists Este MacLeod.... pink with sap green, dark tea, and sea green. I'm not sure I got the colours in this palette exactly, but here is my tag, a stylised landscape - The collaged background of the tag has torn pieces of watercolour art rejects, painted magazine pages and a little bit of gift paper. The tree silhouette is decorated with paper dots, cut with a hole puncher.

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...

The Sea - for Tag Tuesday

For the current challenge "The Sea" at Tag Tuesday, I made a couple of painted/ hand drawn tags . These were created from a piece of watercolour paper which had been sprayed with acrylic paint - blue, yellow and quinacridone gold. I then sketched over the top , trying to follow some pattern created by the splatter and then add some felt tip pen lines watercolour pencil to highlight the shapes. The tags represent the fantasies of the hidden city of Atlantis and a mermaid. With this theme in mind, I also add a free motion stitched tag I made earlier this year for 29 Faces -

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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