Reflections.

             On a very still icy morning the reflections on a bush dam are jut so clear, like in a mirror.

Another body of water, not a dam this time but a waterlogged stretch of swamp land, a frog paradise!

Spring?

 Going by the calendar, we are only just over 3 weeks into winter, but this prunus obviously believes that it is spring already!

Tree Stump.

This appears to be the remains of an old tree, probably a Cyprus of some sort I think. The

old stump however looks for all the world like a huge leaf, complete with veins. With the colours inverted it even looks like some weird undersea creature.

Playing with Shapes and Stamps.

 Above is my trusty home made gelatine plate with a selection of circles and rings as masks that I want to use for a new print. I'm using acrylic paint in an ultramarine blue for the base colour with Paynes Grey highlights, or low lights really, as the colour is not bright!

This is the first trial of the various components of masks and some hand carved rubber stamps. It might all come together eventually, but I can already see how I could improve the over all composition and look of the print.

Old Bridge.

 While bush walking  couple of days ago, I came across this wonderful old wooden bridge, which is unfortunately beginning to collapse.

 Some of the hand cut and finished timbers are huge and it's wonderful to see the skill with which the bridge was constructed.

Thank goodness for the sign, otherwise I might have attempted to drive across the bridge......or not!

Back to the Printing.

 I seem to be just getting to grips with the layers that are achievable using my home made gelatine plate. Both these images started out as prints that I considered to have failed, they were dull and I couldn't decide whether to just throw them out or not.

With the addition of several more layers of paint and the inclusion of some of my hand carved stamps, the images began to come to life and to be something quite interesting. The one above I have called 'Time Flies'.

Closer and Closer!

 After a lot of rain all the desiccated and dried up moss left after our hot summer has sprung back to life.

      The dew drops on this pillow of moss caught my eye, so I started taking ever closer photos.

 Still looking like dew drops here, but in the photo below the larger ones look like sparkling diamonds.

A Few More Tree Roots.

 Not strictly a tree root, but the flaking bark at the base of our native Paper Bark tree, a Melaleuca species.

                           Now this is a tree root, although I'm not sure what sort of tree it is.

                                                           The base of a Eucalyptus tree.

                                                     A wrap around root of this street tree.

At Last Some Art.

 Today I managed to find the time to get back to some art work using the trusty home made gelatine plate. For all of these prints I have used my hand carved stamps for the figures, some circular textured collagraph plates and  some cardboard rings which came from a collection of childrens' play pieces.

 Each print has several layers, but even so they are not yet finished. I want to add some more stamped images in a dark grey or dark blue.

 Here you can see the 3 different sized rubber figures that I carved.  In fact there is one even larger making 4 in all. I didn't realize at the time of printing, that the rings behind the figures look somewhat like eyes!

    I also used a commercial ripple stencil which shows very clearly in the above and below prints.

 I must admit that the more striking print below was not planned, but I was very pleased with how it turned out. Again however, I want to add a little more to the print, probably some darker stamps.

Looking at the Ground.

 Just recently I've been looking at the ground as I walk a little bit more than usual, as I have discovered tree roots! With a mixture of native and exotic trees around our suburb, there are all sorts of variations on the simple root system. Above and below are the amazing roots of the European Plane tree swelling out across the footpath.

                                         These roots are of a native Queensland Box tree.

                        This is the very prolific and fibrous root system of a huge palm tree.

 Another Plane tree with the roots looking almost as though they have been poured out and then solidified.

  This is a very extensive root system of an Oak tree, but I don't know which species it is.

All on a Morning's Walk.

 One doesn't usually expect to see a Spur-winged  Plover, or Masked Lapwing as it's now known, in the suburbs, especially not walking around on the tarmac of a petrol station and certainly not to see a pair of them. But I did this morning.

               This beautiful cream Protea  with drops of rain on it was a real sight to see.

A cheeky Rainbow Lorikeet perched in an English Plane tree rather than a more suitable Eucalyptus tree. Ten years ago when seeing one of these pretty birds in the suburbs I rushed in to grab my binoculars as they were so rare out of the bush. Now however, they are very common in suburbia, but I still can't resist taking pictures whenever I see one, they are so gorgeously coloured.