Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Here is one from my own childhood .....   Comic character - watercolour and ink sketch - Wilma Simmons  L is for Little Lulu   Little Lulu Little Lulu with freckles on her chin Always in and out of trouble but mostly always in.  Using daddies neckties for the tail of your kite.  Using mommies lipstick for the letters you write.   Little Lulu first appeared  in 1935 as the cartoon creation of Marge ( Marjorie Henderson Bueli) in the American Saturday Evening Post. Little Lulu was first seen in print  as a wedding flower girl, mischievously strewing banana peels down the aisle, instead of rose petals, so this will give you a little insight into her character.  I began reading Little Lulu comics in the late 1950s obviously after the syndicated comic Marge's Little Lulu was established in 1948. Lulu was a resourceful and resilient little girl who could hold her own against the boys in the comic,Tubby and his mates.   Marge...

"As the sun sets" - charcoal,ink and watercolour sketch . Copyright Wilma Simmons   The "woodland" creature  as a trend in  fashion and home decor and  bespoke design was (and in many places, still is) very popular. Dashing deer antlers, awesome owls, and then fantastic foxes.... I know I am often behind the times with trends, but I was surprised to hear that foxes have been "in" for well over 3 years! Perhaps a year I thought, but it seems that foxes have been on the rise as a popular design motif for some time. At the well known  international Renegade Craft Fairs  there were reports of items with "fox" images to be the best sellers as early as 2011 and then followed the predictions...  " Trendspotters  called it   back in February. (2012) More and more, foxes are popping up on the radar as stylish elements in design, outfoxing the omnipresent owl as the  It  thing in woodland animals. Could foxes be the new owls in hip...

Art Dolls /Stick Dolls : copyright Wilma Simmons  I confess to being a fan of Angry Birds and challenging myself to a game of Angry Birds Ham'O'Ween will be about as far as I will go to celebrating Halloween here in Australia. However it did start me thinking about how birds became associated with this celebration with its Celtic origins. I can understand spiders, bats and even black cats  and wolves associated with spookiness, but birds? Halloween Art Tag :  copyright Wilma Simmons  It appears that the black raven has long been considered rather ominous, in spite of  a harmonious history of sharing the environment with human beings. Associated with wizards and witches,  the raven supposedly inherited some secret powers " to carry magic across long distances  and collect secrets to bring back .. . " (from natureworldnews.com)   Add this information to its throaty  territorial "kraa" call and scavenger habits, it is no wonder that th...

Close up of fabric owl - Wilma Simmons, Empress Wu Designs 2015. Abigail Brown   is described as a creature textile designer extraordinaire, and having met Abigaill recently, I would add a very talented, generous, spirited  and beautiful artist. Her vibrant work rejoices in the amazing beauty of nature ... here is what Abigail says about her stunning soft sculptures .... I am excited by the opportunity to create life from these flat pieces of cloth, working with their weave to mould shapes, fraying their edges to form feathered breasts, creating stiffened tail feathers from something that was limp. That final placing of the eye and a new life is born...The Animal Kingdom is the inspiration behind all my work. I am fascinated by its rituals and language, a world of mystery and secrets on which we can but speculate. My fabric bird sculptures are a celebration of textures, patterns, colours and forms that delight me in nature. Abigail Brown with work...

This beautiful print is by an Australian artist. Lindy Longhurst of    Serpent Mandalas Please click the link to see more of Lindy's art although I admit this is one of my favourites.  I chose a smaller version of this for my sister's birthday gift and then I went  searching for other owl paintings and mixed media collages, depicting beautiful girls and owls. I was surprised to find so many on Etsy, so I created a treasury. It is called Owl Sisters  - just click to find some amazing art work, linking girls and owls or you can see the images in the Etsy Mini  in the side bar to the right. Some old  Australian Aboriginal beliefs assert that bats represent the souls of men and owls the souls of women. Owls are therefore sacred, because your sister is an Owl - and the Owl is your sister. A few years ago, I planned to make a series of "bird" women. I did finish the owl woman, but that is as far as I got. However, recently I have started t...