Style Imitating Art | “Whirlpool Frog” by Annemieke Mein

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, and Marsha of Marsha in the Middle. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as presenter, selects an inspiration image that they will each post on their blogs. The following Monday, each host shares her art inspired outfit. Participants are invited to submit their art inspired outfits to the presenter by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the presenter will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join either! In fact, you don’t even have to join but you can still use the art to inspire an outfit just for the sake of trying something different. If you want to share your inspired outfit, we invite you do so on Instagram or any other social media platform that you prefer. Just be sure to tag Salazar, Shelbee, or Marsha so the hosts know you have joined. Go have some fun in your closets and join the SIA challenge next week!

This Week’s Presenter

Salazar chose this week’s art inspiration. Since it is still March (International Women’s Month), she wanted to continue the trend of featuring a female artist. Her love for textile art led to this spring-like image of a frog in a whirlpool created by Australian textile artist Annemieke Mein.

The Artwork

“Whirlpool Frog” by Annemieke Mein

Hand-painted silk organza, machine embroidery, quilting, and padding, 1994

About the Artist: Annamieke Mein

The only child of a dental technician father and a dressmaker mother, Annamieke Mein was born in 1944 in Haarlem, the Netherlands. To escape the German occupation of Holland and leave behind food shortages and war-torn Europe, her parents emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, in 1951. While growing up in Holland, Annamieke spent a lot of time with her maternal grandparents and she was heartbroken to leave them. After moving to Australia at the age of 7, she never saw her grandparents again.

The journey to Australia was long and traumatic and the transition to a new country was difficult but after some challenges, the family finally settled in the Brighton area of Melbourne, Victoria. Upon arrival in Melbourne, Anamieke first attended Brighton State School, then Mitcham State School, later graduating from Nunawading High School. Initially unable to speak any English, young Annamieke spent her childhood roaming the Australian outdoors and became intrigued by the fascinating diversity of the wildlife around her. She began collecting and sketching insects and learned to breed and raise butterflies.

After graduation, Annamieke enrolled in a short-lived art course at Melbourne State College and soon shifted to a nursing career at Royal Melbourne Hospital, where she graduated in 1967. While studying and working at the hospital, she met general practitioner Phillip Mein, who she married in 1968. In 1971, the young couple moved to Sale, Gippsland, Victoria, six months after the birth of their first child, a daughter Joanne. In 1972, they had a son, Peter.

After becoming a mother, Annamieke attempted to return to nursing but due to a silly hospital rule that prohibited the wives of visiting doctors from working there, she was forced to stay home. As many stay-at-homes do, Annamieke needed a creative outlet to survive the demanding daily tasks of child rearing so she began exploring a variety of art and craft mediums. When these activities did not satisfy her creative drive, Annamieke began experimenting with textile art in 1977. In 1978, she began designing wildlife images on textiles, achieving national recognition later that year when she won the inaugural Family Circle/Coats Patons Craft Award. Today, despite an autoimmune disorder which has made her work difficult, the 82-year-old Australian still manages to create stunning textile art that frequently brings people to tears.

You can read more details written by her husband here. What an incredibly fascinating woman!

About the Art: “Whirlpool Frog”

“Whirlpool Frog” is a 1994 textile wall sculpture by Annamieke Mein which measures approximately 41 x 67 inches (105 x 170 cm). It is created from handprinted silk organza with padding, embroidered by hand and machine with silk and synthetic threads.

This is how she created it…

SHOWCASE 2
WHIRLPOOL FROG 1994
FROG
1. Small frog paint trial on silk
2. Full size frog painting (4 sections shown)
    a. Hind leg
    b. Face in two parts
    c. Eye
3. Compiled frog face – underlying fabrics in place
4. Remnants of underlying fabrics used
5. Patterns for cutting underlying fabrics

WATER
6. Whirlpool bubbles paint and stitch trial
7. Low-relief bubbles – paint, stitching, padding
8. Sewing thread off-cuts from water sewing

Textile wall sculpture
105 x 170 cm
Private collection.

Appliqué and machine embroidery, textile paints, hand and
machine embroidery threads (silk, cotton, synthetic,
metallics), silk and silk organza, crystal organza, satin, felt,
cotton, iron-on interfacing, dacron padding, on cotton
canvas.

Machine sewing threads were carefully chosen to match or
accentuate the painted colours of pinks, purples, blues,
and greens. The free-sewing method (loose presser foot or
dropped feed dog) was used throughout the canvas
stitching. It creates the smooth flowing lines that visually
enhance the appearance of moving water.

Many types of threads were used. They ranged from the
thick button-hole cottons to fine polyesters, shiny silks, and
glittery metallic threads.

Some of the water bubbles are flat and only painted on the
canvas backing. Others are machine stitched and padded
from behind. A few were made separately and then stuffed
with dacron, quilted and appliquéd to the frog at the throat
and toes.

The frog was stitched (and painted) in 10 separate pieces
(two eyes, top jaw, bottom jaw, nose-bridge, four legs and
underbelly). This allows the frog to be assembled in low
relief once the body parts are fabric-underlaid, stitched,
quilted, and padded with dacron filler. Each part must fit
together exactly where designed or the frog would look
distorted. Some days are more unpicking than sewing -
sometimes I just have to start all over again.

There are some eight different coloured and textured
fabrics, cut in precise shapes, and used as underlays so
that their colours glow through the painted silk organza. For
example, slivers of yellow fluorescent crystal organza lie
under the painted silk of the jaw line, the padded elbow, the
raised kneecap, and the bubble-kicking pointed toes. These
areas will glitter when the work is lit by a spotlight. Also,
cream satin together with blue and pink crystal organza
pieces lie under the frog’s breast, with mauve, green, aqua,
and blue satin under the legs and feet. Supporting all these
little bits of fabric is a thin layer of cream felt, backed with
iron-on interfacing.

With everything pinned and tacked together, the machine
stitching began. I used stitches that emulate the warty
knobbly shapes on the frog’s flesh, free-sewing them in
roughly circular shapes.

The frog’s jaw line, throat, belly, and foreleg were moulded,
padded, and quilted into low relief. The partial webbing
between the toes was not attached to the canvas so that
the webbing would also stand out in low relief.

-Source

And that, my friends, is simply fascinating! What an incredibly stunning work of art.

Helpful Links:

• Annamieke Mein OAM: Wildlife Textile Artist
• Wikipedia: Annamieke Mein
• Gippsland Art Gallery: The Art of Annemieke Mein
• Stitch Safari: Australian Textile Artist Annemieke Mein
• Wellington Shire Council: Unfurling the fabric of Annemieke Mein on her 80th birthday
• ABC News: Craft in the spotlight at legendary textile artist Annemieke Mein’s retrospective exhibition
• ABC News: Textile artist Annemieke Mein loses her sense of touch to rare autoimmune disease
• The Art of Annamieke Mein

About My Outfit

The colors of this textile art are so appealing to me which was evidenced by the many choices in my closet room that would have worked for this challenge. This watercolor floral print kimono robe came immediately to mind when I first saw the artwork. The colors, the abstract print, and the big flowy sleeves seemed to perfectly capture the dominant elements of the whirlpool.

After playing around with a few different choices, I finally settled on this lavender sundress with a batik-style print in white and a shade of froggy green and I layered a long sleeve white tee underneath for insulation from the lingering cold weather. To further represent the frog, I added an old olive green scarf that I rediscovered after misplacing it a long time ago. I wore purple leather earrings to match my dress and I completed my accessories using black as my accent color…a new black cowgirl style hat with an ivory neckerchief as a hat band, a black woven belt, and my old black cowgirl boots.

Once again, I was very pleased with the outcome of this style challenge! I have managed to combine pieces I never would have otherwise paired together and I ended up with a winning outfit.

I hope you have enjoyed this round of Style Imitating Art. Be sure to check out how Salazar and Marsha have styled this beautiful textile art. If you would like to participate in this Style Imitating Art challenge and have your outfit included in Salazar’s round up post on Wednesday, March 25, 2026, please be sure to send your photos to her at 14shadesofgreyblog@gmail.com by 10:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, March 24, 2026.

Happy styling!

Shelbee