Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

I love a monthly challenge which requires a daily art practice for a few weeks. Recently, I completed #The 100 Day Project. I enjoyed it but I'm not ready to tackle such a long distance activity again yet. Last month, I attempted #29 Faces, and am still completing them (only a few more to go). There are lots of really great challenges for October advertised on social media , but I thought, "Why not set my own challenge and then I own it completely!"  Thinking of the most relaxing creative activity, I have set myself at least 20 torn paper and fabric collages for October.  I am also trying to make "abstract" interpretations of things I see while walking in my neighbourhood or as in some of these,  something experienced whilst on a recent trip to Nepal. I must emphasise that these are very loose interpretations and are not meant to look in the least like the photos of the real scene.  Inspired by a gymea lily .... I really love this plant, and enjoy photo...

#everydaycreativeatoz Days 17-23 Q-W Q : Quilt, loving stitched  by family members for Jim's 70th Birthday - R: Reindeer - watercolour and ink drawing   S: 'Stick dolls' - 193 art dolls created for the exhibition "Stitched Up" T: Temari - wrapped and stitched balls in the  Japanese temari style  U: Used, undone and unfolded tea bags - great for various art/craft  V: Village and vixen ( handpainted wood)  W: Wise women - three art dolls created for the WOW series, Women of Wisdom)   

"She didn't claim to see the fairies or hear their music, but she did find the fairy rings of dark grass, sprinkled with toadstool left by their dancing feet. "  Having completed a small watercolour and ink sketch this week led me to thinking about  "fairies in the garden". I remembered a story of an amazing hoax  by two young girls in 1917.  Have you heard of the Cottingley Fairies? Much has been written about the five photographs produced by two cousins, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths in Yorkshire, England. I would love to show  here all  five photos but there is some controversy about the copyright of the photos and I would not like to be in any sort of dispute about the use of them. However, they are reproduced on these sites - click on the word link to see the photos  : 1. Wikipedia   2. Museum of Hoaxes 3. The Telegraph - Five Famous Hoaxes   Elsie and Frances took  photos with a quarter plate camera in their garden ...

First day of Spring in our garden .... all photos taken on 1 September, 2013 with a Canon Ixus. 

I will be leaving tomorrow for this part of the world ... I'll be returning home in a few weeks with lots of stories and photos.

Since the beginning of the year, I have been struggling to find new inspiration, so this week I referred to a new book. Here is a dragonfly cache I made this week, all stitched and beaded by hand. It is a small hold-all for cosmetics, jewellery or just little trinkets.  My inspiration was this lovely book I got for Christmas - so appropriately named "Handmade Treasures from the Heart". It only arrived last week, as my husband bought it for me online, and the seller sent the wrong book . This one is so much better than the anatomy book sent by mistake! I am also inspired by my friends. I spent an afternoon recently with my very creative and productive friend, Bobbi from LamboArt. She has been making sumptuous Santas. These beautiful  art doll creations are certainly enough to inspire anyone.   Spending time with my family is not only relaxing it is also inspiring and motivating. A couple of days ago, we took our older grandchildren fishing ...