Decorative Folk Artists of Queensland Inc

At the last General Meeting in December, members brought along painted Christmas Ornaments for the Painting Challenge competition. They were all quite different, however the one which appealed to the judge the most was Vi Bowman’s candy cane ornament (see photo below). This competition was devised by Penny Morgan to encourage members to come along to the meetings and join in the spirit of participation. The winner is not necessarily the best painted but whatever item appeals most to the “secret” judge on the day - be it the cutest, strangest, craziest or whatever.

So why don’t you think about coming along to the next meeting in February when the challenge will be a Valentine Gift - this could be a painted/decorated card, chocolate box, heart ornament/brooch or whatever you would like to create.

The annual Christmas Lunch was held on 2nd December at the Greenslopes Bowls Club and attended by 27 members. Thanks to the work of multi-talented Judi Beggs, we all received a lovely handpainted snowman name badge, and a cooler bag compliments of the DFAQ was an added bonus. It was great to see Ann Hilberts travel up from Port Macquarie to come along with her sister Carol Laurence from Nerang. Sue Nelson also made the journey from Lismore Heights and it was good to catch up with her again and hear all about her travel teaching around the countryside. The ladies and one gentleman enjoyed a buffet lunch of seafood, roast meat & vegetables, plus a delicious selection of cold meats and salads, all topped off with yummy Christmas pud and ice cream.

The raffle for the Ken Harris oil painting was drawn and the winner was a lady from Newmarket, who was on holidays in Bundaberg when we contacted her. The painting will be delivered to the winner when she returns to Brisbane in the new year. Here are a couple of photos from the lunch (click to enlarge):

Cheryl and her family recently moved from Brisbane to the Central Coast of NSW to open a Childcare Centre. During November, Erika Schacht kindly flew down to Avoca Beach (about an hour south of Newcastle) to help paint murals on the walls of the new childcare centre which is due to open in January.  They spent a week painting quirky scenes from a book by Suzanne Whittaker, but got the whole centre finished on target.  Some rooms have large `friezes’ around the top of the walls, and others had full scale murals that took up the whole walls, and cot rooms which have clouds floating around the whole room.  

Cheryl said they had many laughs, and too many wines, but learnt a few new painting techniques when working this size - several of the scenes were painted using face washers or heavy duty paper towels for backgrounds, clouds and large areas.  Their poor old bodies were very worse for wear on days when they had to get up and down the ladders.

Cheryl and husband John have just opened the centre for families to visit and have a look at the facilities while they finish off the set up and admin work, and there has been a great response to the cosy feeling the murals give the centre.  It makes their centre unique and along with the dinosaur garden and extra large playground they are hoping to have a great start to the new year in their new business venture and in their new home. Cheryl is missing all of her painting friends, but hopes you all keep in touch with her via email. (click on the images below to enlarge)