Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Blue Horizon - Paper and cloth collage - Wilma Simmons 2018  Two of my collages sold this week have a touch of blue. This was an accident as I was using my fountain pen ink on these collages and when added to the  previously dyed fabric, it turned blue.  I rather liked the effect and added some more blue fabric.  I know that blue is the most liked colour of all people - what is the attraction of blue?  Blue is the only colour which maintains its own character in all its tones... it will always stay blue;” Raoul Dufy, French Fauvist Painter, 1877-1953  It’s nature’s colour for water and sky, but is rarely found in fruits and vegetables. Today, blue is embraced as the colour of heaven and authority, denim jeans and corporate logos. It is cold, wet, and slow as compared to red’s warmth, fire, and intensity. Blue has more complex and contradictory meanings than any other colour.  These can be easily explained by pinpointing by the specific...

Martha from Ayala Art is the creative artist behind the 29 Faces Challenge and this was her message at the beginning of the month." Can you believe we have come full circle to the last leap year? 29 faces is 4 years old!! yaay! I have met so many wonderful artists, and so many people finding out and discovering that practising every day for a full month, even the smallest of months! They can grow so much better as artists! Thanks for participating and making faces with me ♥. " ....  I am not sure that I am becoming better as an artist, but I am thoroughly enjoying researching the noteworthy women I am drawing inspiration from .... These are all pen and pencil sketches done on used tea bags.  Day 5 : Marie Curie, French physicist and chemist, first female Nobel Prize winner.  Days 6-8 : Mother Teresa, Human rights worker  and Nobel Prize Winner; Sojourner Truth, African-American abolitionist and human rights worker; Jane Austen , English nov...

What is 29 Faces?  29 faces was originally created in 2012 to celebrate the leap year with art, 29 faces in 29 days in February. It was so much fun, we had to do it 3 more times though the year!  We start the 1st of the month, and it's all about a   face . Any medium, surface, size and techniques are welcome. Canvas, paper, wood, digital, journals, mixed media, acrylics, oils, pastels, clay, rocks.... you name it! I have done the challenge before and always enjoyed this challenge and the discipline of completing some art each day.It took me a day or two to decide a direction for this month... Inspired by the amazing tea bag art of Ruby Silvious ( who created art on tea bag for 365 days!)   and with International Women's Day soon on 8 March, I decided to do a tea bag art series inspired by famous women "who have made a difference". I have called this series of sketches "Worldly Women" and each is a quick felt tip pen drawing, coloured with pencils a...

stitched tea bags vessels  - with battery operated tea light.  It's  better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.... stitched  used tea bag vessels 

stash of  tea bags-   drying  Tea bags are now firmly established as one of my favourite materials to work with. In the past, they have appeared as small embroideries, collaged materials, and even used in art dolls' clothing, In the last few weeks, I have been very privileged to take classes with  amazing talented artists. At the Contemporary Craft Retreat earlier in the month , I participated in Susie McMahon's  "Expressive Bust" . Susie taught us some wonderful techniques and I  thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and the process of creating a small sculpture . It was a happy accident that I had included a few tea bags in my workshop box.  The timber base looked ok, but it just looked better with a few tea bags applied to create a more aged look. Susie discussed the need to try to connect the elements, so they appear to be part of a whole, rather than disparate additions. I think the applied tea bags helped to achieve the integrated look. I call...

Tag prepared for Tag Tuesday   theme - Friendship. This tag is a marker drawing and hand printed text on used tea bag paper, with a felt heart applied to a tea bag tag and braid and baker's twine. Have a terrific Thursday  - drink tea and be kind!

"Leaves of Distinction" - a textile and media art exhibition  opened  at Timeless Textiles Gallery, 90 Hunter Street, Newcastle on 18 September. The exhibition was officially opened by Yvette Griggs to a happy crowd who enjoyed a nice cuppa while looking at the art works inspired by and created with teas and tea bags. The exhibition remains open until 12 October or take a virtual tour, by clicking on the "Exhibitions"at tag  on the header panel of this blog or click on this  link  http://empresswu.blogspot.com.au/p/exhibitions_18.htm l

The weather is beautiful today - warm and  sunny, so it is a perfect day for finishing off some canvases and putting the backs on others near a window, with the morning sun streaming in. Most of these are photos printed on organza and transferred to stretched canvases, with  tea bags, stitching or writing  in layers. Only three more to do in one of the series... And of course, I am having a cup of tea to keep up my strength!

Only 19 days to go.... Old Men somehow have taken over this exhibition.... they and their cups of  tea. Here is one of them and he has become the " pin up boy" , appearing on the gallery invitation and media release. There once was a man from Vienna  Who lived on a tincture of senna  When that did not agree  He drank camomile tea  That nasty old man from Vienna. ( Edward Lear) Mixed media art doll,  polymer clay a wrapped wire armature clothed with a machine and hand stitched tea bag paper vest and  upcycled fabrics.

Some experiments of stitching on tea bags ... The one in the middle was  attached to organza and waxed  before stitching, but I don't like the prominent needle marks and I wrecked a needle.  I am happy with the others -left, Lipton black ; right - Cranberry and Apple tea. Did you know that tea bags were invented  at the turn of the twentieth century by an American tea merchant, Thomas Sullivan who used to send his customers samples of tea in tins, until he started to cut costs by sending single serves of tea in silk pouches. To his amazement, the pouches were very popular when his customers began to drop the whole pouch and contents into a teapot, marvelling at the convenience of making tea with a bag. Soon the accidental invention of the tea bag became popular especially in the USA and in Europe. The first mass produced tea bags were made from fine cotton gauze or muslin, and in the 1950's these were replaced with the paper tea bag. And as they say, the rest is ...

This has really very little to do with tea,  but tea was used in its creation....  This is a tag I created for another blog group, Tag Tuesday which had as its theme this week, The 1950s.  I was born in 1950 and devoid of any imagination this week, I decided to use a photo of myself about 5 months old - the photo was taken at City Studios in Townsville, Queensland, on 1 November 1950. I have used a photocopy of my original birth certificate ( reduced in size)  as the background.  I scanned the original photo and printed it then covered it with tea bag paper to give it an aged 64 year old look. One of the embellishments is a motif that I tatted and dyed with tea. The tatting is not so fantastic, but I think tatting is one of the domestic arts which was more popular in the 1950s so I thought it was appropriate. The string is also dyed with tea! And so, here is my example of how I used tea bag paper and tea to give an aged look to newly created items. ...

Featuring eco prints by my grandson....  eucalypt leaves, grevillea leaves and Rooibos tea bags on watercolour paper. PostScript .... There was a request to explain how this was done. Watercolour paper folded over, leaves and tea bags placed inside the folded paper. The folded paper was then sandwiched between two pieces of ply board and clamped together with strong paper clip ( we call them 'bulldog' clips) and the whole sandwich was boiled in a pot of water  for about an hour. I learnt this technique from Elizabeth Bunsen who is the master artist of this technique- we have just been playing.

Earth laughs in flowers.... Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Tea bag luminary - tea bag paper, silk organza, dried frangipani flower, stitching and beeswax. Created 3 April, 2014 at Elizabeth Bunsen's workshop, Tea, Leaves and Sandwich Magic.

I like stitching into used tea bag paper ... this was an experiment printing a photo onto tea bag paper. I then stitched into the image and stitched the whole thing onto cotton fabric. By the way, I call these paper daisies, but according to Wikipedia " Rhodanthe  is a  genus  of  flowering plants  within the daisy family  Asteraceae , endemic to  Australia ."

All teas are not equal - at least not when it comes to colouring canvas. I found a bargain at our local shop a couple of weeks ago - a packet of cranberry tea bags for $2. I drank a few cups of tea, and  put the moist bags onto a sheet of canvas. The stains started pink, and with oxidisation (I think) turned blue. Here is a tag I made for the theme "Myths and Legends" - the tea stains created an interesting illustration for the Aboriginal story of the "Three Sisters" in the Blue Mountains, NSW.

digital print on tea bag paper, Eucalypt leaf, stitching.  The term "billy tea"refers to tea brewed in a billy can, that is a small can, tin or pot used on a camp fire for boiling water/tea.  So the term "billy up to the fire" basically means, "put the kettle on". And for real billy tea, the addition of a few eucalypt leaves is  the ingredient which makes a difference.  The billy tea  from "Waltzing Matilda" seems a long way away from the story of the origin of the tea, but the scene of a man alone with his thoughts under a tree seems familiar.  The  tea legend goes something like this....   Around 2700 BC, the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung, a renowned herbalist, was meditating under a tree while he was waiting for "his billy to boil". . A couple of leaves from a nearby shrub blew into the water without him noticing. When he tasted the resulting brew, he was really amazed by the delightful new taste, and the beverage of tea was bor...

Tea on Thursday is becoming Tea on Friday ... but here is number 4 in my preparation for my exhibition later in the year. These are just  small experimental works. Plop your used tea bags , still wet, onto a canvas either stretched or a canvas sheet, Let the tea bags do their work, and remove them  in a few hours - 24 hours is even better. Work with the pattern. You could enhance the pattern with paint, pencils, felt tip pens . In this one, I did some simple embroidery stitches to create "Wistful". 

Tea on Thursday , sorry a day late... this week the theme was decay, and I chose Miss Havisham  from the Charles Dickens novel, "Great Expectations". Miss Havisham was left at the altar, and from that day when she was meant to be married,she wore her wedding clothes, and left the wedding breakfast to decay over the years. The flowers around her veil are made from tea bag paper. I thought they look just the way white roses decay , wither and turn brown.. The roses are simple made by tearing tea bag paper to a desired width,  rolling the centre, and gradually fanning out the paper to make the outer petals  

Tea bag paper over a small stretched  hand- stitched canvas with polymer clay heads and tea bag paper head accessories ... I was trying to depict " Russian Caravan" tea ? 

It is now the trend to choose a word to motivate and inspire, rather than making New Year resolutions. Strange, I know ... but I have chosen "TEA" as my word. Later in the year, my exhibition will be based on tea, so most of my creative activities this year will involve tea. Lots of  tea drinking is the most likely activity , So each Thursday ( most Thursdays) , I will post something  "tea" related. Here is my first for the year... An art tag made with a used tea bag paper , with some purchased images and stitching, created for the theme Homes/Shelter. I have added the words " A home is not a  mere transient shelter; its essence lies in the personalities of the people who live in it... H.L. Mencken )