Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

  Wilma Simmons: Thorax and Eucalyptus Leaves :hand embroidered x-ray; 2024  For a few years, I've been learning more  about the healing quality of plants and testing out various well known remedies ...  for example, boiling up eucalyptus leaves to use as a steam inhalant does act as an effective respiratory decongestant.   It takes a little more effort to create meals which hit the sweet spot of being tasty, nutritious and health promoting. Did you know that it's  predicted that our brain processes taste information first, before perceived health and this can affect our overall decision making?  “ For many individuals, health information enters the decision process too late (relative to taste information) to drive choices toward the healthier option. ... We’ve always assumed people make unhealthy choices because that’s their preference or because they aren’t good at self control ” says study coauthor Nicolette Sullivan. “It turns out it...

As the saying goes, you're never too old to learn something new - that includes tearing up bits of coloured paper! I am going to share some of the "tips" I picked up this week. None of them is related to one another, but I think perhaps at least one of these might be useful. Tip 1:  Play with paper to refresh design ideas whether you usually work with paper, textiles, clay and /or mixed media. I attended a mini-workshop with Judy Hooworth (NSW textile artist) at the Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists . We started off with a postcard of someone else's art - I chose this one, called Pandanus and Pelicans Townsville Common by  Sylvia Ditchburn , I have always liked the subject, the composition and the colours. Then we enlarged the postcard to A4 size - black and white and made a tracing of the outlines on tracing paper. Here's the interesting investigative bit - divide the tracing in half both horizontally and vertically, and join up points of in...

We all associate different sights, smells and activities with Christmas. Our exchange daughter, Riikka, is waiting for snow before she will believe it's really Christmas. Besides the spiritual associations, I think cooking definitely goes with Christmas, and here I am with some of my preserves, jams and pickles labelled ready for gifts for my friends to be given out today at the Hello Dollies Christmas lunch. Although my preparations were a little late starting, today I am beginning to feel a bit organised, with only as couple of things to do before Christmas day. After the Simmons family party tomorrow (30 people for lunch at our place), it 'll be time to relax. It's been a busy week. My card making class had a Christmas morning tea on Thursday. Even with all the festive food, we were still able to make some lovely cards and enjoy the camaraderie of the morning. I had also made some little tree decorations for the ladies who sit at the same table as I do each week, so obvi...