~Wrens Splendour~ Australian wildlife embroidery pack

About the artist

With a talented dressmaker/artist mother, it’s little wonder that Ann has grown up with a love of textiles and drawing.

Life on a farm in north-east Victoria meant many childhood hours spent exploring the creeks and nearby bushland, finding creatures making their homes in the creekbanks, and exquisite wildflowers nestled amongst the grasses.

Riding her bike to school along quiet dirt roads, Ann observed grasshoppers quietly laying their eggs in the dust; rainbow lights in the glinting frost-laden cobwebs; piles of black caterpillars clumped on gum tree branches; and numerous birds flitting through the moods and colours of the seasons.

Today, this fervent love of the Australian landscape and wildlife blazes in Ann’s artwork.  Many hours are spent drawing in the field, from bush, to sea, to zoo.  Photographs are taken, visual diaries are built up and then it’s off to the drawing board.  The designs are developed then interpreted in a variety of techniques: drawing, painting, screen-printing, embroidery and appliqué.  Ideas developed in one medium often extend into others. 

Chasing the precise colours to bring age to a gum-leaf, or the depth of tones graduating down a goanna’s tail has compelled Ann to become highly skilled in hand-dying.  Ann now dyes her own fabric for use in appliqué and patchwork. 

These wonderful depictions of Australian flora and fauna can now be seen throughout Australia and the world.  Ann’s unique style of Australiana and her brilliant interpretation of bush colours have combined to produce this wonderful range of embroidery kits