Decorative Folk Artists of Queensland Inc

Have you seen our Photo Gallery yet? Please click on the link on the Photo Gallery page. There are already photos posted there for the Christmas Lunch 2007, Brush in a Rush days, and Craft Shows. Shortly more folders will be added for Show and Tell, Memory Boxes and other events. Show your friends what activities and events you participate in at your guild and encourage them to come along as a guest to see for themselves. If you have photos for any of these categories which you would like added to the folders and you think would be of interest to our members  please send them to dfaq@dfaq.com.au We would like to especially hear from our regional members and see some photos of what they have been doing and painting.

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)

This is our display at the Mt Gravatt Library.  Items were loaned by Barbara Stewart, Deirdre Hasson and Penny Morgan.  There is a wide range of decorative painting styles displayed, including Russian, Rosemaling and Delft. as well as floral, whimsy (bear) and Christmas pieces.  The Christmas shelf has proved the most popular to date.

The Brush in a Rush day was held on Saturday 1st September at Greenslopes Bowls Club, Carole Cherry taught a  design by Willow Wolfe of Hummingbird and Columbine on a canvas journal with embellishments (click on photos below to enlarge the pictures). All paints, journal, beads, ribbon etc were supplied. 

 Joan Hartas taught the ladies how to construct a lovely beaded bracelet in the design as per the photo. The beads were all supplied and the ladies had a relaxing and enjoyable day.

Please check out the Workshops page to see details of upcoming workshops in Brisbane and the next Brush in a Rush projects in November.

Following our Annual General Meeting on 4th August, we were pleased to be able to welcome Emmy Stokvis who is here visiting her family from Holland. Emmy is a very talented artist who paints in the traditional style, having studied many years ago with Jacques Zuidema. Over the years she developed her own style and we were enthralled with her stories of painting and teaching in Holland as well as her travels teaching in Japan and Korea. Emmy has promised to return here next year (perhaps for our Paint-in) and there will be no shortage of members wanting to attend one of her workshops. You can view Emmy’s work on her website www.emmystokvis.nl The photos below show Emmy receiving a floral thankyou from Vi Bowman and a close up of one of 6 cushion covers she painted for her sister Anka. Just click on the image to see a bigger picture.

During the month of June 2007, the DFAQ held a display of members’ work in the foyer of the Loganholme Library. The local members who lent their painted pieces for the display were Judi Beggs, Carole Cherry, Joan Hartas, Kym Woodward and Carol Dobson. Many favourable comments were received by visiting patrons. Just click on each image to display a larger picture.

The DFAQ is supporting the ‘Memory Box Program’ which allows artists to paint memory boxes to be given by hospitals to families of newborn infants who die in hospital or are stillborn. The boxes are used to hold the bereavement book provided by the hospital and other precious memory items like ID bracelets, handprints or lock of hair.

At the present time we supply the Mater Mothers’ and Mater Children’s Hospitals, the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane and several others, including SIDs. Any and all support from our members is very much appreciated. So far more than 80,000 boxes have been distributed worldwide.

For more information on this program visit http://www.teraleigh.com/memoryboxes/

Click on the image to view a larger picture.