Each piece has a story, but the common theme is my love of landscapes, even if some of them are fantastical.
Oceans are filled with fascinating creatures, from the smallest one-celled zooplankton to the Blue whale. The seemingly infinite variety sparks my creativity in this ocean-inspired quilted and embellished work where a colorful fabric fish swims toward a cluster of anemones, tube worms, limpets, and an itty bitty purple spider crab. Available $150, domestic shipping included (13″ x 15″ x 1.5″, ready to hang).
This small ocean-centric art quilt is embellished with a denim fish, ribbon sea fans, and beaded plankton on antique lace. Sold. (6″ x 6″ x 1″, excluding ribbon hanger).
This small ocean-centric art quilt is embellished with denim fish, ribbon sea fans and a beaded hermit crab. Sold. (6″ x 6″ x 1″, excluding ribbon hanger).
Traipsing through a field of flowers on a beautiful spring day. Feel the sun on your skin and the scent in the air and your dog by your side. Life doesn’t get much better than this. The background is acrylic painted fabric that I embroidered. My figures and birch tree, with its catkins, were added at the end. Available $175, domestic shipping included. (15 5/8″ x 13 3/4″ x 2″, wood and linen frame included, ready to hang)
Your best friend is waiting for you to go on a hike with her in this semi-arid desert mountain scene. Both a machine and hand-embroidered background of desert Ocotillo cactus and rock terrain with a gold-beaded hound dog figure. Framed in reclaimed barn wood. Available $160, domestic shipping included (barn wood frame included, 8″ x 11″ x 1.5″, ready to hang).
The Phoenix rising from the ashes in a land of fire and smoke is a metaphoric work about recovery from the forest fires around the world. My hope in using a phoenix to represent this recovery that we will learn from our mismanagement of our lands and work to combat climate change on a global level. Available $500, domestic shipping included (pictured gray wood frame and mat included, 19 1/8″ x 15 1/8″ x 1 1/4″, ready to hang).
There are many sacred things in life to each of us. To me, two of those things are the old and the wise. This old tree has layers and layers of yarns with a few burrows here and there and sagging branches from a long life. My owl sitting in her nest reminds me of the owls we see in the trees around our homes – always vigilant and looking to be full of wisdom. The bottom of the wetland landscape is full of cattails and reeds. This piece is framed in distressed black wood. Sold (25.25″ x 17.25″ x 2″).
The Pacific Coastal area is where my heart lives, so I made this piece to give rise to my hope that the west will endure, after the devastating fires in ’20 and ’21, and come back stronger with better land practices by learning from our native tribes. The piece can either be hung from the twine hanger or the twine can be removed and it hung from the charred piece of wood. Sold (22.25″ x 13.5″ x 1.5″ (w/twine 27.25″ tall)).
This small textile piece captures a Southern Arizona desert sunset with a lizard overlooking the scene on a piece of old wood. Sold (10.25″ x 8″ x 1.5″ (w/twine 14″ tall)).
This small art quilt is hand embroidered and beaded and is hung from a preserved skeleton of a cholla cactus branch. The beaded turtle is also sitting on a cholla cactus skeleton piece. Available $105, domestic shipping included (13″ x 9″ x 1″ (w/twine 17″ tall)), ready to hang.
Nebula A started as a fabric painting that my mother did and she thought was terrible. I quite liked it, but couldn’t convince her, so I took it and added all the layers of embellishment and fabric borders. At the end it spoke to me as a beautiful nebula, like the posters I used to have as a child. This work is framed in solid black ash wood. Available $375, domestic shipping included (pictured black solid wood frame included, 17″ x 17″ x 1.5″, ready to hang).
Mesmerize yourself in an underwater fantasy as Nammu, goddess of the sea, guards all she holds dear in the beautiful depths from the kelp forest to the coral reef. This oceanic mixed media triptych is a fabric collage adorned with hand-dyed antique lace, hand embroidery, and beaded designs, including porcupine quills. It is framed in one of my reclaimed early 20th century window from a Nashville, Tennessee home. This piece was on display as part of the Best of Tennessee Craft exhibit at the Tennessee State Museum, Oct. 29, 2021 to Feb. 20, 2022, the Wonderland exhibit at the Trolley Barn Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY, Sept. 15 to Oct. 20, 2022, and the 47th Mid-States Craft Exhibition, Evansville Museum, November 24, 2023 to March 17, 2024. $6,500, domestic shipping included (pictured frame included, 31″ x 28″ x 1.5″, ready to hang).
This textile piece is inspired by the bucolic farm scene at Navarro Vineyards in Alexander Valley, California. The chicken is made from feathered canvas and denim. The chicken coop in the distance is constructed using free-motion embroidery. There are tiny hand embroidery details throughout the piece from the pile of chicken feed to the lace-topped mountains that convey snowy peaks. She is framed in a rustic old barn wood frame. Available $350, domestic shipping included (pictured solid barn wood frame included, 21.6″ x 16.75″ x 1.5″, ready to hang)
American Rooster is a textile-focused mixed media work on a quilted and embroidered red, white and blue background. The rooster is made from feathered recycled denim fabrics with few real feathers pieced in. His head is made with a covered button and feather headdress. The frame is reclaimed and stained in an Early American shade. Sold (15.25″ x 17.25″ x 1″)
Under the Sea is a textile-focused mixed media work with ocean creatures, a kelp forest, and coral reef, including a hermit crab and a nudibranch. Many pieces are beaded, some are embroidered, and and others are real seashells I’ve collected from around the world. Sold (12.75″ x 10.2″ x 2″)
This embroidered and beaded textile collage is inspired by the designs of M.C. Escher, hence its title. It began with pieced fabric that I then embroidered by section with a mind toward creating mini gardens that overlap and intersect with the others. A few beaded raindrops here and there add to the lush folded landscape. Lastly, I added one of my signature Wild Lulu women figures. Sold (14″ x 14″ x 1.5″).
Cactus kid and his dog doggo are off on a desert adventure. This embellished art quilt is hung from a cholla cactus skeleton foraged from the desert in Tucson, Arizona. A rough twine is provided to hang the piece on the wall. Sold (21″ x 24″, 26.5″ x 24″ if twine hanger included in height).
This small beaded turtle on a desert background art quilt is hung from a dead cholla cactus branch. The desert scene is embellished, embroidered, and quilted with a variety of fabrics and other materials. Sold (14″ (17″ with twine hanger) x 6″ x 1″).
Imagine floating through space on a puffy pillow seeing all the stars, planets, and a lunar eclipse…this wild lulu is on a small, embellished art quilt made with cotton fabrics. The button face is handmade ceramic and the planets are beaded buttons placed on embroidered felt and the stars are embroidered with silver metallic thread. Framed in solid-wood black frame from American Frame. Available $275, domestic shipping included (pictured black solid wood frame included, 15.75″ x 12.75″ x 2″, ready to hang).
This rooster is made with a riot of colors. He is running around his embellished farmland background set at the base of the mountains. This small art quilt is beaded and embroidered and in a refurbished, carbon gray-stained frame. Sold (12″ x 10″ x 1″).
The desert is filled with colors that are rich and beautiful if one looks for them. I have found that batik fabrics capture the desert perfectly. Imagine hiking through the desert on a late spring morning when the birds are soaring and the cactus are blooming. Perhaps a rain storm just passed and the light scents of the mesquite trees and creosote bushes fill the air. This is a peaceful place. The frame is an old window frame from an early 20th century home in Nashville, TN that I reclaimed. Details abound in each small piece – lots of hand embroidery, beading, and other fiber embellish the fabric collage. The path is handmade from two layers of different materials and then painted. The ocotillo cactus are made from heavy canvas fabric that was already in a southwestern design that I frayed and then painted. I made the medallion using porcupine quills, glass and stone beads, and metal jingle cones in acknowledgement of the traditional Native inhabitants of the land. Available $3,500, domestic shipping included (24″ x 16.3″ x 1″, ready to hang).
Shanti, the Wild Lulu bird is sitting on a tree branch among the textile tree leaves, fiber ferns, beaded flowers, and real pinecones. She is on a painted fabric background. The frame I reclaimed and refinished with a light stain and poly coat. Sold (12″ x 10″, x 1″).
I am honored to work with Janet Judson, an award-winning South Dakota watercolor artist. Her puffin watercolor speaks to my heart – puffins are one of my favorite birds. The watercolor is on ginwashi paper – oh so delicate. I hand-embroidered the background along the shore and the trees. I also embroidered an outline on the lighthouse and around the moon. It is in a new distressed solid-wood frame in a shadow box format with a fiber inset. My wild lulu puffin is sitting on driftwood from the Oregon coast and the beaded turtle is floating on tree bark. Sold (16″ x 13″ x 2″).
I named this piece Pelican Manor because Janet (Janet Judson, award-winning South Dakota watercolor artist) sent me all these little painted puffins along with her modernized Pelican watercolor. It immediately made me think of English manor homes with the halls clad in pictures of dead relatives. I embellished the wee-pelican paintings as well as added a few embellishments to the big pelican watercolor. I added my own wild lulu Pelican with fish in his mouth as well as a pile of fish below. He is sitting on a piece of driftwood from the Oregon coast along with a few of my handmade buoys. Available $400, domestic shipping included (pictured wood and linen frame included, 19.5″ x 16″ x 1.5″, ready to hang).
Edmund and his dog have been hiking on the English Moors, passing castles and walking on rocky paths on a windswept, cold, slightly eerie day. Hiking on the Moors is composed of two of my embellished wild lulus placed on a painted fabric background with reclaimed wood. The castle on the right is quilted onto the painting and a few gold beads reflect the light emanating from the window high up in the tower. The bats in the sky are embellished with beads and the tree is an actual twig. The stones are real as well. The path base is made from reclaimed wood from an early 20th century home in Nashville, TN, that I restored myself. It is from the top decorative element over a doorway. After stripping and sanding the wood, I stained it with a rich gray color and coated it with tung oil to preserve it. Sold (10″ x 13″ x 2″).
This otherworldly creature is standing on a planet among all the other orbiting stars and moons. The moons are beaded buttons I created and placed on embroidered felt. The work is in a solid-wood black frame from American Frame. Available $275, domestic shipping included (pictured black solid wood frame included, 15.75″ x 12.75″ x 2″, ready to hang).
Puppet shows are such silly fun and this work captures the whimsically funny and delightful nature of puppetry. This wild lulu marionette is captured mid-hop as he dances and sings around on his theater stage. My wild lulus are made from stuffed cotton fabric and he is covered in a light blue hue, adorned with a ribbon belt and glass beads. He has fringe around his ankles and a wild feather headdress. The stage is made from early 20th century decorative lintel reclaimed from a Nashville, TN home. It is turned upside down to create the illusion of a stage and stage stairs. The sparkly ribbon at the bottom of the canvas captures the lights shining bright on our star and the beaded ropes at the top represent microphones to hear him sing his delightful little tune. Sold (11.5″ x 12.5″ x 2″).
A creature and her dog are out on a hike in the forest of evergreens and streams on a moonlit night. The machine embroidered background is an original design by my mother, an Arizona artist. I embellished it with some small beading and my wild lulu figures. The frame is reclaimed and in gorgeous shape. Sold (19″ x 16″ x 2″).
Little Miss Muffet sits on her tuffet among the fantastical jungle flowers. This textile figure is on a painted fabric backdrop with beaded buttons and a fiber wrapped cork as her tuffet. Available, $95, domestic shipping included (pictured solid wood frame included, 12″ x 10″ x 1″, ready to hang).
Please email robertabellart@gmail.com for purchase or more information about works on this page.
Roberta Bell, Mixed Media Art 