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...

  Magpies are always around  in our garden , strutting, poking about for insects and having a splash in the birdbath.  They often call if the water is at a low level in the birdbath until one of us replenishes the water supply. It is no coincidence then that they have figured prominently as part of  recent little works in the stitched garden series.  I also like to include human figures in my gardens, especially taken from old photos of family members. This "impressionist ' stitched garden features  my husband's great aunt,  Sarah Ann Bath.  I like to think of her in this abundant garden , when in reality,  she grew up  in the early 1900s in rather cramped living conditions in Birmingham UK  See more and read more about my stitched gardens - other posts:  How does your garden grow with stitch?  How does your garden grow with crayons? 

  I couldn't have hoped for a more suitable theme set for this fortnight's Tag Tuesday ..... "Add a Postage Stamp". I often use postage stamps in my collage work, and I admit I really enjoy working with these miniature artworks.  The two stamps I've chosen for this exercise are both Australian.   The first one depicting a white tailed kingfisher is from a 1980 issue and this series is amongst my favourite "bird" series. The second is from an Australian animal series issued in 2019  .... who doesn't love a wombat?  The tags are both paper collages - with some stitching and  in the second, I stitched a real dried eucalypt leaf. And just to add a but of interest, I also decorated the backs of the tags, complementing the theme on the front.  I hope you enjoy this glimpse of  the natural world in Australia... 

I t's that time of the year again when I participate in the global art challenge #the100dayproject .... I have done this for the last five years and I love doing it. Sometimes, the idea of creating something for 100 consecutive days just seems ridiculous, but I've learnt over the years not to do something too ambitious, and to have an idea or theme which is entirely achievable. Today it all seems easy - it is only Day 3.  This year, 2024, I have decided to follow colour prompts curated by artist, EsteMacLeod. - Este publishes these colour palettes each week, and I thought  using these means that half the work is already done. My 100 day project will be then to make responses to these prompts and work on each palette for a week for the duration.    1/ #100daysofcolourcombo - Bubblegum Cat  Day 1 Bubblegum Cat .... a Laurel Burch print , overstitched in bubblegum coloured thread. This particular technique follows these steps:  - stitch around the shape ( two ...

 Today's Christmas card features a vintage postage stamp issued in Australia in 1968 . It is a collage with paper, fabric,  gold  foil and thread.  The Stamp celebrates the Christmas Hymn ' " Adeste Fideles " - Oh Come all Ye Faithful and here is some information about this well known  Christmas carol....  "O Come, All Ye Faithful" is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade, John Reading, King John IV of Portugal, and anonymous Cistercian monks. The earliest printed version is in a book published by Wade in 1744 ( Wikipedia) 

 A small selection of pin poems from the collection #the100dayproject have been released for sale on ETSY ....  Link to my Etsy shop :  https://www.etsy.com/shop/empresswu Link to #the100day project:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/empresswu/albums/72157713803669781

  This is my tag for the current theme at Tag Tuesday - Book Print. I like using text as a background for tags and today, I reduced one of my recent  line drawings and printed it on a small book page .... as you can see,  the book's chapter is entitled "Of Holy Living and Dying ( from The Book of Books) .  I thought this was appropriate as this 'Covid man' drawing depicts Nature happily thriving while man appears to be "unravelling " at the edges of body and mind...  Original drawing - Wilma Simmons   Silk screen print on fabric  : Wilma Simmons  Silk screen print on paper : Wilma Simmons  And here are some other tags on book print backgrounds - these are free motion stitched "Nature" portraits done earlier in the year.  

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 - 

I have missed Tag Tuesday ...  When the theme chosen by Sandie was "Wings" , I thought I could add to one of my series as well as practise my machine stitching skills for #The 100 Day Project which seems to be monopolising my time currently. For my "wings" tags, I created two on the theme of butterflies. Both are free motion stitched on my trusty Bernina sewing machine . I then applied "heat and bond", a double sided fabric adhesive and cut around the stitched "portraits". The cut outs were then applied to prepared tags made from cardboard,  covered with  book text and painted with white gesso. The red cheeks are coloured with Inktense pencil.  Here are the first two in the Red Cheeks series ... and they fit the "wings" theme too. 

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/770185973749441338/ Advent Blog  Day 9 - In the Dark  Who turned off the light?  If you find your lamps dismantled, it may mean a creative person in your household is making a Christmas tree.  'Tis the season of the lamp shade Christmas trees! https://theanamumdiary.co.uk/2012/11/27/i-love-mondays-o-christmas-tree/ http://101ideer.se/vintagetips-i-juletid/ https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/770185973750590822/ https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/770185973750590895/ A more subtle approach can be taken ...  https://www.pianetadonne.blog/allinsegna-del-riciclo-piu-estremo-20-fantastiche-idee-natalizie/ And if you have some antique pieces , add some candelabra  to enhance the theme ...    http://101ideer.se/vintagetips-i-juletid/  Typically the contemporary DIY  Home Decor TV shows are all over lampshade  Christmas trees. If this style is for you, the accompany...