Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Often,  after I have repeatedly made artworks especially art dolls , I wonder why I have done them in a particular style, shape or colour.  Lately, I have been in a 'blue" mood....  This week I made a couple of dolls , These are stick dolls in the style I made quite a few years ago.   Why blue? Was I thinking of the sea and/or sky? This seems rather unlikely as I am not a lover of swimming or beaches and the sky has mostly been grey during the last month. Perhaps sapphires, blue topaz and aquamarine are in my subconscious . While we respond to colour differently, blue appears to be universally associated with calm, serenity, peace and stability.  Some further information is interesting as a cue to the answer to the question of why create in blue?  Blue is  often linked to creativity . A possible reason this takes place is due to the physiological responses evoked by the color. Blue lowers blood pressure and thus slows down heart rate. Under these conditions, the body becomes r

  The current theme at Tag Tuesday is "Christmas in July" - .enthusiastically celebrated here in Australia, but I wondered if there was more to it than just a reason to celebrate in Winter in the Southern Hemisphere . Here is some information I came across.  from  Trivia Hub Live   1. Christmas in July is usually recognized as occurring on July 25th. 2. The first mention of Christmas in July dates back to a French opera in 1892 that mentions “When you sing Christmas in July, you rush the season.” The term “Christmas in July” originated with the 1940 movie “ Christmas in July ” which follows a man who buys gifts for his family during the summer. The official celebration of the pseudo-holiday is believed to more formally begin in 1944 when the U.S. Post Office and American greeting card companies launched a Christmas in July campaign to encourage the early mailing of cards to overseas soldiers. In the Southern Hemisphere, seasons are in reverse to the

    Recently, I've created a few portraits and it is always interesting to try different techniques. For a  "travelled" theme exhibition, the Wednesday Makers Group at Timeless Textiles   was invited to create some postcard portraits.    It was a great opportunity to use  "random cross stitch" , a technique I learnt in the textileartist.org workshop by Sharon Peoples.  The cross stitch helps to create a textured skin with subtle changes in tone.  My husband, Jim, is the subject -  here depicted on a trip in Finland ( Finnish forest in the background)  This postcard is  all handstitched and as Jim always travels with a paper map , I added a much loved map in miniature.  The whole collection of postcards by the group captures travel memories of places visited and enjoyed - places like Hawaii, Uzbekistan, Turkey,  Vietnam, Bali, India, Fiji , Latvia, Lord Howe Island, Disneyland, China , Germany, Finland, Ukraine, Bhutan, Italy,  France, Japan, Egypt and various lo