Gallery

Vibrant red set against lush greenery is the visual definition of living colour. The amaryllis pushes out of the lush earth, its colours bright, creating nature's complementary colours. Colour, light and line dance in this closely-cropped image.

Techniques & Materials: Fused collage. Machine quilting. Artist-dyed cottons and some commercial batiks. Cotton & wool-poly batting. Thread. Mistyfuse adhesive web. Inktense pencil.

©2014 Sarah Ann Smith All rights reserved.

This piece explores the living colour of naturally-dyed fabrics. My work is inspired by Paul Klee's paintings of geometric forms in complementary colours.

Techniques & Materials: Plant dyeing (madder, logwood and goldenrod). Machine piecing and quilting. Hand embroidery. Fabrics include cotton, silk, repurposed linen and wool. Cotton wadding. Calico backing. Plant-dyed and vintage threads.

©2014 Catherine Gowthorpe All rights reserved.

A recent trip to Central Australia showed the desert in full bloom after rain. In some places there were extensive gardens of flowers blossoming on the red dunes.

Techniques & Materials: Needle felted and hand stitched. The cloth is plant dyed. Felt wadding, wool cloth, wool and cotton threads.

©2014 Carolyn Sullivan All rights reserved.

For this challenge, I knew I had to use my favourite texture technique of zigzag machine embroidery. I saturated the flowers with aquarelles, and backed the cutout black background with green fabric. As the fabric had shrunk with the intensive embroidery. I found similar floral fabric I made it 3D and superimposed it on the original.

Techniques & Materials: Black and white fabric coloured with aquarelles. Thread painting.

©2014 Anne Jolly All rights reserved.

The colours of autumn mixed and scattered around the surface gives this forest a painterly effect. The dark contrast of the landscape and the softer winter blue sky give the autumn trees centre stage.

Techniques & Materials: Confetti layered background. Machine stitched water soluble materials. Appliqué Fabrics: cotton, silk, velvet, metallic nylon, organza and wool.

©2014 Caroline Sharkey All rights reserved.

Kangaroo paws, billy buttons and banksias are a delight to have in my coastal garden. Their colour, textures and forms inspire me. I make many sketches from nature and also take photographs. These are the basis for most of my work. It is wonderful to be able to observe the life cycles of these amazing plants closely.

Techniques & Materials: Fabric painting; procion dyeing; free motion machine stitching. Hand painted and hand dyed cotton fabric; polyester threads; polyester/wool batting.

©2014 Susan Mathews All rights reserved.

The Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia passes through the Valley of the Giants, the last refuge of the 400-year-old Red and Yellow Tingle Trees. My piece was inspired by the colours of their leaves as they deepened and matured, falling onto the track and creating a beautiful coloured carpet.

Techniques & Materials: Painted, rusted, stamped, fused, hand and machine stitched. Dressmaker's pattern tissue, silks, fusible web, acrylic paint, polyester wadding, cotton and polyester threads.

©2014 Sandra Champion All rights reserved.

I have a wild weed growing in my front yard with bristly leaves and small round fruit. The Native Americans call it the buffalo gourd because its root can grow very large and feed many people in times of drought. ,/p>

Techniques & Materials: 1Painting, hand couched cording, hand and machine quilting. Hand painted silk and non woven materials.

©2014 Betty Busby All rights reserved.

This work was inspired by a friend's garden. The colours and textures of the irises contrasted vividly with the elegant swathe of the leaves and surrounding grassland. I was struck by the moving jewel colours of the insects that live amongst the blossoms. Still closer inspection revealed the moisture and pollen beads. Nature's miracles show us endless depths of living colour.

Techniques & Materials: Raw edge appliqué, painted, free motion thread sketching and quilting, hand embroidery and beading. Hand dyed and commercial fabrics.

©2014 Christine Dowell All rights reserved.

In August, when the canola blooms, it lights the entire landscape, banishing winter to the verges and hills, and giving promise of spring to come. It lights my world and makes me happy.

Techniques & Materials:Machine piecing. Hand appliqu&. Commercial cotton fabrics, polyester and cotton threads, wool batting.

©2014 Jenny Bacon All rights reserved.

The flit and zoom then sudden pause of a bright blue dragonfly against summer fields of dry grass. There was such vibrant life and colour in such a small insect — it instantly caught my eye and my imagination.

Techniques & Materials: Machine pieced, appliquéd and quilted. Hand-dyed silk fabric, cotton fabric, hand-drawn and coloured with coloured pencils and textile medium.

©2014 Charlotte Scott All rights reserved.

Wattle branches laden with flower dance in the breeze, sending their golden pollen into the blue Australian sky. I enjoy working with the actual flowering wattle plants for printing the imagery. This process helps me observe the differences and wide variety we have in this species.

Techniques & Materials: Dyed, printed, machine quilted. Cotton fabric, dye, paint, batting, threads.

©2014 Sue Dennis All rights reserved.

Chlorophyll is the green pigment found in plants and is critical in photosynthesis — a process that allows plants to absorb energy from light. Different hues reflect the variety of greens found in plant material and the changes that occur to plant tissue as it moves through its life cycle. The circular motif of the design is symbolic of a plant's relationship with light.

Techniques & Materials: Torn-strip machine appliqué, machine quilting. Commercial and hand-dyed cotton, viscose felt, polyester batting,cotton backing, polyester thread.

©2014 Dianne Firth All rights reserved.

Living Colour! evokes thoughts on the bounty of nature and its wondrous colours. Hence I have been inspired to reproduce some of nature's joys in my work. I have free machined ferns, vines, leaves and rocks in the background, leaving the colour of the living beings as the main highlight.

Techniques & Materials:: Painting; machine appliqu&ea; machine piecing; and free motion quilting. Cottons hand-dyed by the artist..

©2014 Phyllis Sullivan All rights reserved.

Birds are like people. There are the bright, the vibrant, the gregarious and the colourful, showy and popular. They are hard to miss, swooping and gliding through life. But then there are the other, ordinary folk: quiet, plain, and shy. One might pass by the awkward, ungainly, little black cormorants of life, who cannot compare...but wait! Look closely and in the shining sun, you might see the colours there. It all depends on your perspective.

Techniques & Materials: Acrylic Ink on 100% cotton, appliqué, machine quilting.

©2014 Sue Duffy All rights reserved.

Inspired by the beautiful, vibrant colours of the birds and foliage found in New Zealand's North Island.

Techniques & Materials: White cotton painted with Tsukineko inks, Inktense blocks, and Neocolour II pastels. Free-motion machine quilting.

©2014 Mathea Daunheimer All rights reserved.

What better representative of Living Colour! than a chameleon that can change colour according to his mood and surroundings? Many chameleons are in the brown and green tonality, but others can transform into bright blues, oranges, pinks and a rainbow of other colours. They can fully change or just change a part to resemble their surroundings.

Techniques & Materials: Painted with acrylic inks. Machine stitched.

©2014 Brenda Wood All rights reserved.

Expansion plans for a coal export terminal within the Great Barrier Reef concern me. Reef life is constantly hanging in the balance as man's activities as well as natural disasters take their toll. These hidden wonderlands of life and colour must be preserved for all to gain an appreciation of these living treasures.

Techniques & Materials: Machine piecing, free-motion thread painting, free machine embroidery around raw edge appliqué, free-motion machine quilting. Cotton, polyester, metallic/nylon fabrics, iron-on interfacing, cotton batting, with cotton, polyester, nylon and metallic threads. ©2014 Julie Harding All rights reserved.

As a school child, I was encouraged to join the 'John Gould Bird League' and, as a result, I grew in my awareness and appreciation of birds. It is appropriate that these beautiful jewel-like birds carry the name of this amazing and influentialnaturalist. Gouldian finches are indeed a kaleidoscope of living colour!

Techniques & Materials: Machine piecing with raw-edge appliqué. Free-motion machine quilting. Mostly hand-dyed and surface-enhanced fabrics, including the use of thermofax stencils and fabric paint.

©2014 Linden Lancaster All rights reserved.

Seahorses have captured my imagination for the past few years since visiting a seahorse farm. In this quilt I have sought to capture their beauty, their ability to change colour to suit the environment and the sense that they are floating or drifting through life. In the natural environment they are known as "flagships" - they let us know the health or otherwise of the environment they live in. Their ability to change colour suggests a living colour!

Techniques & Materials: Free-machine quilting. Hand coloured using Inktense pencils.

©2014 Lois Parish-Evans All rights reserved.

This project began with the blue-striped fabric on the left edge. It came together with inspiration from the striped colour palette and the ideas of many different plant shapes. I gathered fabric, paint,embroidery floss and started layering elements. It's fun to think about leaves,blossoms, sprigs, sprouts and branches overflowing in a garden and symbolizing growth. The tiny bits in this quilt are just as important to the overall design as the larger elements — as in life.

Techniques & Materials: Fused appliqué and collage; painting, stamping, surface design, free motion quilting, hand embroidery; commercial and original fabrics, tulle, paint, ink, thread, and embroidery floss. ©2014 Deborah Boschert All rights reserved.

After being completely surrounded by migrating Monarch butterflies one vacation, I have such an affinity for these fluttering jewels of nature's brightest colours. This one is sipping nectar from its favourite coneflower in a captured quiet moment.

Techniques & Materials: Machine appliqué, hand embroidery, painting, and free-motion machine stitching. Made from painted cotton fabric, ultrasuede, silk, pearl cotton, wool strands and threadwork on soluble stabiliser.

©2014 Kay Haerland All rights reserved.

With the emergence of the sun, life is born. As a bearer of creation, the lotus flower holds a special place in mythology, in nature and in our lives. It symbolizes not only creation, but the timeless and continual process of birth and rebirth. At night, the lotus flower sleeps. At sunrise, with the waking of the sun, the lotus flower emerges to life.

Techniques & Materials: Raw-edge strip piecing and appliqué, machine stitching and quilting. All cotton fabrics, polyester batting, cotton threads.

©2014 Suzanne Gummow All rights reserved.

The variance of colour and design on the Earth is breathtakingly amazing. I wanted to show the beauty of a unique flower and how nature has allowed for so much contrast and detail, right down to the smallest dew drop or insect. The title reflects on the current significant population decline of bees worldwide.

Techniques & Materials: Painting, machine embroidery, machine-needle-punched silk velvet and a fringe created with a tailor tack foot. Foils (dewdrops). Moulded Angelina fibres (bee wings). Trapunto petals.

©2014 Neroli Henderson All rights reserved.

I have made several trips to India, and will be returning again in 2014. I love to photograph the women wearing their vibrant saris. She walks with purpose, returning from her daily tasks.

Techniques & Materials: Painted calico with block and screen printing. Appliqué using recycled sari silk with stitch embellishment.

©2014 Gillian Travis All rights reserved.

Holi. Sometimes known as the Festival of Colours. It is a celebration of life, love and the triumph of good over evil! The participants greet and embrace family and friends in the streets, amidst clouds of coloured powder. What better picture of this than a young boy embracing the joy of the occasion?!

Techniques & Materials: Appliqué, trapped fibre, Shiva sticks. Machine quilted. Hand-dyed and painted cotton and muslin; homespun, Indian batik, wool, silk and cotton fibres.

©2014 Roxanne Murphy All rights reserved.

I've been working on a series based on the seasons and life cycles, so the theme Living Colour! instantly appealed. I dived into my collection of magazine clippings, photographs and scanned images and starting making a collage glorifying the wondrous colours and textures of this amazing planet. From an image of the sun on ice, a sunset on the sea, to the genius of a shell, represented as the feminine and mother earth.

Techniques & Materials: Paper collage reconstructed in cotton fabric from transferred images using"Image Maker" medium. Colouring with fabric markers and water colours. Machine stitching and quilting. Cotton batting. ©2014 Paula Rafferty All rights reserved.

Fire is awe inspiring. Watching the powerful colours and movement of flames is mesmerizing. We need fire for living. Light, warmth, cooking, and rejuvenation. We build campfires to cook, relax around communicating with friends. The flames dart and dance hypnotically. Fire is part of our circle of life. Growth, ageing ,death, decay, fire then ashes. Fire is certainly living colour.

Techniques & Materials: Fused collage. Machine embroidery. Burning. Cotton fabrics with organza layers. Fusible webbing. Threads.

©2014 Di Flint All rights reserved.

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to experience the very special and mysterious world that exists below the surface of the sea on a coral reef. The bright and intense colours of hundreds of different reef fish and delicate coral fought for my attention. It was as if a child had taken the most vibrant coloured pencils from the box!

Techniques & Materials: Cotton fabrics, machine appliqué, machine quilting, pencil.

©2014 Alison Laurence All rights reserved.

The world is an intricate and glorious creation! I am amazed and excited by the spectacular colours that fill it. And at the vast diversity of living things.

Techniques & Materials: Painting with thickened Procion MX dye. Machine quilting. Diver image: T-Shirt transfer medium. White cotton, various threads, poly-wool batting and polyester satin binding.

Copyright Notice: Scuba diver image used with consent of Paul Giggle and Tourism & Events Queensland.
©2014 Sandy Corry All rights reserved.