Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Entomological Elements hung in Timeless Textiles Gallery.  My latest big piece of work is "Entomological Elements" - let's call it EE ... It is a mixed media sculpture in response to the theme "Elements" for a current exhibition by the Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists. If you a regular reader of this blog or and Empress Wu Designs Facebook follower, you probably know that my thing is "stick dolls".... dolls made with sticks. EE is just an extension of those , with a piece of local driftwood as its base. EE is also   a celebration of the natural elements depicted by insects from different parts of the world.   EARTH - Common Black Ground Beetle ( Pterostichus melanarius ) - Europe/Eurasia AIR - Blue Ulysses Butterfly ( Papilio Ulysses ) - Australia WATER - Golden winged skimmer dragonfly ( Libellula auripennis ) - Central/North America FIRE - Scarlet Fire Beetle ( Pyrochroa coccinea )- Europe Common Black ...

 No progress on my exhibition pieces in the last few days, as I had another deadline to meet today. I am one of the artist contributors to a book which is being published at the end of the year. The "coffee table" book will have amazing artistic photos of beautiful meals created by a chef accompanied by images of textile/fibre art inspired by the relevant fruit or vegetable . As you can see, I was allocated 'mushrooms". I had all sorts of great ideas of art dolls with mushroom hats and I made a number of drawings and patterns.  However, when I made a sample mushroom cap to practise the "hats", I liked the little mushrooms.... so, in my workroom, just on the shelf above, I spotted a small gourd. Surely everyone has gourds on their shelves just waiting for  an opportunity to be used in an art project? This gourd became the base, on top of which I created a rocky earthy surface with air dry clay, with the addition of embedded pockets of handmade felt. The em...

Gundaroo NSW : Sally Paskins Store  Gundaroo, a village about 35km north of Canberra, takes you back in time. Most of the buildings  in the main street of the village are typical of 19th century Australia  - slab huts, wattle and daub, stone and local brick. What a delightful place! Although I lived in Canberra  for over three years, I am embarrassed to admit that I only discovered Gundaroo last week while attending a family wedding.  There are  a few arty places in Gundaroo, but I really liked the work of Leanne Percival of Clayhouse   and so Clayhouse becomes Arty Place #10 ( most likely the last arty place in this series for 2012).   I really like Clayhouse pottery ... I think there is an appealing simplicity and a  trendy cleanness  about the shapes and patterns in a "happy" colour range.  C layhouse is very much at home in Sally Paskins Store, a  slab hut,    built in 1886  wit...

While our holidays have provided me with many blog posts yet to come, this week's "arty place" is at home, literally. Yesterday, once again our family room was transformed into a workshop area  for a Precious Metal Clay workshop for beginners . The photo shows some of the work, beautiful pendants - really fantastic, I think for beginners! Recently most of the workshops here have been art dolls and this year many creations have been born here, during Wise Women workshops ....  and Message Stick art doll workshops ...  Even at family gatherings, there is always time for a workshop or two at Empress Wu Designs . Today we made polymer clay power rings and learnt to make swirl beads with scraps of polymer clay.  If you are interested in any of these workshops please check the workshop page or contact me directly.