A Marine Theme.

 I'm not at all sure where I'm going with this marine theme, but I have enjoyed carving all the little fish stamps. Just when I though that I had enough to be going on with, I realised that they were all facing the same way.

Back to the carving tools then to cut a few facing the opposite way. The jelly fish was a bit of a challenge, but it worked out reasonably well in the end. I will use the stamps in conjunction with  gelatine plate printing tomorrow. It's going to be a very cold and wet day, ideal for staying inside with an art project!

Images from a Morning Walk.

 How amazing is the bark on this Paperbark tree. It looks for all the world like some strange draped fabric rather than paper bark.

                                                      A very beautiful native Grevillea.

                                                 The flowers of a Jack-in-the-Pulpit plant.

                                                             A very poisonous toadstool.

I don't know if these are actually poisonous, but I wouldn't take a chance with them, they look pretty evil!

Printing Again.

 I had expected with the enforced staying at home that I would get lots more artwork achieved, printing in particular. However, the late Autumn weather has been so glorious that it seems a crime to stay inside with the sun shining. Yesterday was no exception, but having weeded and tidied up in the garden for a few hours in the morning I decided that I just had to start some printing after lunch
I'm not at all sure that this piece of gelatin plate printing is finished, it seems to lack a definite focal point..

These large shapes were made with freshly pruned leaves, but the top ones in particular suggest icebergs to me and the lower ones seem like huge fish!This one is definitely not finished, but I'm not quite sure what comes next.

Today's Walk.

 Today's walk was a real mixture of cultivation and bushland, with a bit of suburbia thrown in.
Above are one of the types of native bluebells, Wahlenbergia which were growing in a small patch of native plants above our Yarra River.

 The Yarra river with the Swan Street bridge crossing over it. I love all the geometric shapes of the supports.

                      Unlike in my last post, I don't think that I'd be safe eating these fungi!

 The mighty Yarra River! It's amazing to think that this river and the bushland setting are almost in the heart of the city of Melbourne.

These wonderful flowers were on a very big tree which I later identified as a Cape Chestnut. While all the illustrations that I could find were of pink flowers, this one was definitely white, with deep pink in the centre of the flowers and random spots on the petals.

Not Quite There!

While the general idea appealed to me, this first print isn't quite right. I'm very happy with the carved sea bird stamps and with the gradation of the water, but it just doesn't look very exciting. I'll have another try very soon.

 On an early morning walk through the park we found these beautiful mushrooms. They were at peak freshness and tasted superb. Usually the park is full of dogs and joggers, but with no one around we felt quite happy to pick and eat these beauties.

Corona Virus Flowers?

These curious flowers are from our native Pincushion Hakea (Hakea laurina) from Western Australia.
        The photo above shows the early stage of the flower when the styles haven't fully opened.

 Here above the styles have fully extended to look like many pins in a pincushion, hence the name.

                                                               The Corona Virus plant?

Gellatine Plate Prints and Stamps.

 I ended up carving 3 different Brolga stamps, the first one being too big for these projects, or that's what I originally thought. However I ended up using all 3 of the new stamps plus the original one that I carved some months ago. Here I'm testing them and soon realizing that some of the lines aren't necessary in a silhouetted bird. Easily remedied with a permanent marker.

 This was a reject print because of the misaligned margins, but once I cut the margins off, it worked very well as a 'bleed' print without margins.

This too was a reject print because the red 'moon' was out of place, but with the addition of the birds it actually works I think.

A Little Bit of Art.

To add to one of the prints that I did recently, I wanted some carved Brolga stamps. I had already carved a standing Brolga in display mode for my Aussie 12 days of Christmas, but I wanted a flying Brolga for the piece of art that I had in mind. The Brolga, a type of crane is sometimes called the Native Companion. As part of the mating display, the Brolga dances for his mate, and the dance is truly wonderful. In the picture above I am well on my way to carving a flying Brolga.

 Almost there, but the legs are so thin that I can't really carve the feet that are tucked up against the legs while the bird is in flight.

Those legs without feet are awful. Perhaps I can make a few changes to denote feet, but the legs are very thin. This is just a test print to show me where to go next, in this case, to try and fix the feet!

Random Sightings

 I can't not take photos of the gorgeous Rainbow Lorikeets in the garden. They are so pretty and yet 10 years ago they were a real rarity in the city. The first one that came into the garden made me rush in to get the binoculars, and then of course the camera. Now they are really common but I still can't resist taking pictures of them.

It was the fancy carved wooden gate that first attracted my attention, but then I noticed the fluffy cat sitting in the sun. I've never seen a front gate like this, I wonder if it was made by some clever member of the household. It's amazing what you see when walking the streets that are never noticed when driving the car past the same things.

A Bit Different for the Suburbs.

 Today's picture from the morning walk is of some rather poisonous looking toadstools. Something has decided to make a meal of some slightly older toadstools, but the young unopened ones below haven't been touched ...yet.

The Outdoor Dining Table!

Spotted when walking today, a possum or perhaps a rat has a taste for feijoas, spreading them out along the top of the brick wall as they are nibbled on. Not content with eating all of one and moving on, there were 11 fruit all partially eaten. The tree was beside the front largest fruit, so I wonder if it took one to the furthest part of the wall and worked its way towards the tree or in reverse, and why not pile them all up in one place? Or maybe there was  more than one culprit.  Interesting!

Red Planet?

I've temporarily called this print Red Planet, although the larger sphere is in fact yellow. It's another image made using the home made gelatine plate with several applications of paint through masks.I don't know what the vertical marks are, but I like them!

Corellas in Town.

 It's that time of year again when the Corellas descend on the trees in the local parks and on the nature strips. Sometimes there are 100s of them in one tree and the mess they make of the tree and the ground below is incredible. They love the Plane tree seed 'baubles' and anything with fruit, such as the ornamental pears that are so popular now.

                                      A local road shows that the Corellas have been here.

                                 The resulting mess of leaves and chewed up Plane tree fruits.

Another Morning Walk.

 I must have driven past this garden many times, but it isn't until you walk along the streets that you appreciate the details of the vegetation in the gardens that you pass. I've driven past this tree thousands of times over 50 years, but I've never particularly noticed this Camphor Laurel tree before.
Whether naturally or with some human help, the trunk has joined in 2 places, diverged and joined again.

The trunk is this gorgeous silky mix of colours, here shining in the sun. I wonder if there will be any more joining of the branches, but if there is it will be too high up in the canopy for anyone to notice, even to those just walking past.