Beating the Heat!

 With the temperature over 40°C today and almost as hot in recent days, the poor garden really suffers. Shade cloth is a must for some areas and it requires quite some ingenuity to adequately shade the different areas. This above is a corner of the front garden that has some tender plants in it that require protection. Note one of the 6 water tanks on the property, which are now all empty!

                                                          Part of the fernery under cover.

All the vegetable garden beds are enclosed to protect the crops from the possums and birds, the rats however still manage to get in and eat a lot of produce unfortunately. With the beds being raised and enclosed it makes it easier to cover them with shade cloth when the heat gets just too hot. In past years the tomatoes have actually stewed in situ on the plants!

Last Piece?

 With almost all of the components of the proposed image finalised, I decided that I needed one more piece of foliage and flowers slightly bigger than the earlier carvings. A quick drawing directly onto the rubber and off I went.

 After cutting away all the excess rubber, it was easier to start removing all the smaller unwanted pieces.

                                                        All ready to go for a first printing.

Not at all bad for a first try out. I'll tidy this one up and carve a few more tiny flowers to colour red, or probably pink, as I think all the wild briars are in fact pink. Almost everything ready for a trial print of the 'real thing'.

New Stamping Project.

 These images may seem a little out of character for my usual projects, but one of the challenges of art is to work out of the usual comfort zone, or so I've read. These new stamps are to illustrate a poem that I chose from a collection of contemporary poems that the printing group are working from. We each chose a different poem to illustrate, and these stamps are the components that go to make up my ideas from the poem. I can't reveal any more just at present unfortunately. Here is the first impression from the 'armless' angel stamp.

 The poem mentions a briar rose in a cemetery, so here are a couple of pages of briar rose illustrations which I will use to design my stamp, seen below in the first printing. Lots of jaggy edges there to tidy up!

 When in Scotland a few years ago we were looking for the graves of ancestors in a graveyard not far from Glasgow. I took a photo of this Celtic cross and now I'm using the basic design for my next stamp.

                I wanted the cross to be slightly tipping over, so hence there sloped base.

 The intricate design on the original cross is just too complicated to carve into the stamp, so I have simplified it a lot! I haven't tried to depict it in 3D either, as the whole design is fairly graphic and not at all realistic.

With a little bit of careful colour application, I can give the briar rose coloured flowers and green foliage. With all the other images being in black, the rose will eventually be too, but I'm thinking of making a couple of rose flowers on their own that can be easily stamped in red or pink over the black.

Printing the Collograph.

 Having waited for a few days for the shellac to be properly dry, I grabbed a couple of spare hours this morning to try out a few prints. Here's' the plate inked up and rubbed back ready to go.

 I was just using odd bits of printing paper, which isn't ideal, as each type prints the plate differently.
The one above has lovely details in the right hand large tree trunk, but it's mostly a bit too pale.

                    This I think is too dark, but again, there are bits that I'm happy with.

 The trees on the left smudged a bit unfortunately, otherwise I rather like the contrast in this version.

Another one that is a bit too light.  I plan on adding water colours to some of the details in the prints, so it will be interesting to see which ones look best with added colour.

'You Must Remember This' ?

 I wonder who remembers this fantastic Apple Mac computer. This one was pulled out of the cupboard yesterday, plugged in, and it was as if it had not been out of use for decades.

                                  Even the wonderful passing fish screen saver was there.

             The top view still looks modern and even 'space-age' today.................or rather yesterday.

New Collograph Plate.

 Having been in the bush for a few days, I've collected up a number of natural materials for collagraph plate making. I've got tree bark of various types, lichen, grasses and leaves.

 Here is the start of a new image, with pieces of our native Paper Bark forming the basis of a whole tree. There is pressed lichen around the base of the tree and various pressed seed heads for the more distant vegetation.

     I want to convey the idea of a river or maybe a swamp with rocks, trees and grasses around it.

After 3 coats of shellac, I'll now let it all dry for a few days to harden before trying a print from it. I'm really experimenting here, as I have no idea if the thin bark that I used will have sufficient texture to suggest rocks, or if the idea of water will be evident. Even if the whole scene doesn't print well, I'm sure bits of it will be salvageable.

Lichen.

 Still on my bush walk, I noticed these lichen covered branches on an old dead tree. The 'flower' above is like something seen in a rainforest, rather than the dry material. Click to enlarge to see a slightly larger version and appreciate the beauty in something so small and desiccated!

Tiny Spider.

This strange little beast is a Spiny Spider (Gasteracantha minax) and is only about 9mm in length. I spotted it while out walking along a bush track and I just had to try taking a photo, tiny as it was. Given that I had to get down on my knees and shoot up under it, I'm very pleased with the result from my little point and shoot camera.

Melted Snakes!

 It was over 40°C here last week, and someone left a bag of jelly snakes out in a spot that was just too hot for them. They melted into one jelly mass that will have to be cut apart to be eaten.

The inverted version in Photoshop looks a lot more sinister and unappealing, like something from a medical text book!

Wonderful Patterns.

I just loved the patterns in the wood of this old tree stump. It must be very old judging by it's girth and the fact that it's so weathered. I wonder how a rubbing of it would go, although it's probably too rough and uneven to make a good rubbing.

Second Attempt.

 Having abandoned the 'arty' protea flower, I carved a second version showing the flower in full. The carved away butterfly in each version is to enable me to add a butterfly of a different colour to the flower image.

Better, but the central part is still not quite right, and obviously the butterfly needs to be better aligned. This version is definitely an improvement on the first one however.

Friend or Foe?

 Look what has just popped up in one of my houses plant pots ! The plant has been growing happily for 4 years or so, but I've never seen this companion planting before.

                                        The next day, and we have a little yellow parasol.

The question is, will the fungus do the plant any harm or is indeed working in symbiosis with the plant.

Project not Working!

 Having carved the green pseudo lino and made a hasty stamp pad print, I realised that the arty photo with the edges of the Protea flower disappearing off the picture wasn't necessarily going to work as a lino cut. I went back to my original collection of photos and chose a similar one with the flower head all visible.

Here I've started to carve the next version on proper grey lino, but I'm beginning to think that the whole idea is not going to work as I envisaged at all.

'Serenading Adela'

 Anyone from Melbourne will recognise the name Pentridge Prison, being the original city jail which took in its first prisoners in 1851. It was closed in 1997 and the general precinct is now being redeveloped into apartment blocks, but the main prison buildings are being restored.

 In late 1917, Adela Pankhurst, daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, was placed in the prison for her rallying of the people, particularly women, against war and especially conscription. It was exactly 100 years yesterday since her supporters went to Pentridge and sang to Adela from outside the walls.

 The Street Opera 'Serenading Adela' was performed last night inside the walls of Pentridge and we were privileged to be in the audience and to enjoy a wonderful and very professional performance.

 The final message was, as ever, we need peace in our lives not war. A very apt sentiment for our times!

                                                                 Will we ever learn!

Not Sure About This Project.

 Having gone through all the photos of butterflies, (and a moth), that I've taken over the years,  I printed out the ones that seemed to be possible for the art work that I have in mind and pasted them into my current work book. I eventually chose the Australian Admiral on a Protea flower as the one that appealed most for the project..

 I've drawn the flower and butterfly on an old piece of 'plastic' lino, something that I don't normally use, but waste not want not. I've started to carve out the centre of the flower, but I really don't like this 'stuff'.

      The next stage of the carving which isn't going too badly, but the butterfly is a bit of a disaster.

Showing the finished 'lino' below the original photo. Now, I'm not at all sure how to get a nice clean border around the flower, or how the colour the butterfly. The medium is too hard to cut out a nice border, so I'll have to think about it another day................not today when it is 41°C outside!

Three or Five?

 Having managed to get at least one good print, I have started to add the stamped flowers that are the actual colour of the real flowers. However, I'm not sure if I want 3 or 5 in the design. Three as above looks O.K, but maybe five as below is better. These coloured versions are stamps that I carved quite some time ago.

  I have used reject copies of the lino cut to try out various placements and numbers of the stamps.
                                                          I think I prefer the five option.