Art Gallery visit

Last week I went to the HOTA gallery at Burleigh Heads and had an inspiring time. One of the exhibitions was students art work.

My favourite 

Weaving

I have been weaving , colours inspired by painting at GOMA . Trying proportions of colour and matching yarns. Also plying new yarns to use .

Poppies

 I have just discovered the amazing colour, form, and beauty of poppies. I had been given some from a garden a friend is watering while the owner is away.

I haven’t stopped looking at them, sketching, pressing the petals as they fall, photographing and videoing them as they dance in the breeze.

Even now when all the colourful petals have dropped I am now admiring the green twisted stems and the wee furry flower heads. 

My new favourite flower. 

But they have such a special place in my memory. My Dad grew poppies in our garden in New Zealand, but as a child I just saw them as another part of the natural, and cultivated botanical world I lived in.

Then my first trip to France when I was 22. When I saw the blood  red poppies growing wild in the green fields I suddenly got a tiny glimpse into the deep, deep meaning for my grandfather and many others wearing them every ANZAC day in Australia. He spent time in the trenches in France during WW1 and would have seen these wild poppies growing. Hardy, fighters, bending but not breaking.

September Postcards

 These are the next two postcards for members birthdays in my Broadstrokes textile art group.

This first one was the most recent for Jane. As the theme is travel, I sent her on a fantasy travel journey. The background fabric in a vintage style imaginary map. On top I have stitched small squares of fabric collected from various countries around the world. 

The second one for Mel who developed a range of work titled Sunday Drives. She would go on day trips in the car around the Brisbane environs, taking photos , sketching and bring these back to her studio for further exploration. So my postcard to her has her figure in the centre surrounded by flowers, sketches, maps, phone camera, a car and a wee cat face as some of her explorations simply led to her backyard and neighbourhood with her Cat , Calico. The ‘compass’ in the top left corner is made from the inside of an envelop as  Mel worked on a collage a day using envelops a few years ago as part of our group project.