Beetles

Beetles are my next favourite insect after butterflies, their shapes, sizes and colours are so varied that I find them endlessly fascinating. More prints made on the home made gelatine plate with hand carved beetle stamps and pressed foliage.

 

More Butterflies!

Butterflies have always fascinated me, their humble beginnings as a caterpillar to their miraculous transformation into a beautiful butterfly. In these prints I have combined my carved butterfly or moth stamps with leaf prints made on a home made gelatine plate.

 Of course there are many layers to each print as you can see by the image above.Dried and pressed Hydrangea flowers on the left, a cardboard cutout of a circle and many other elements hiding in the background.

Purple!

I don't usually print with the colour purple, but for some reason that's what I used today. These prints consist of many layers of paint and texture on my handmade gelatine printing plate, with pressed leaves and my hand carved stamps as well. I also used a tiny commercial moth stamp too. I'm not sure that I actually love these prints, but they certainly are different to my usual images, and that's probably a good idea, to do something new, even if it is just printing with a colour that I don't usually print with.

    This one above lacks a focal point, but perhaps I'll add another large butterfly to it tomorrow.

Trees.

 While walking along a bush track the other day, I came across these logs that had been cut into pieces with a chain saw some time ago. I walked past them on my way up the track, thinking about the possibilities of the pattern of the cracking timber, but didn't take a photo. On the way back however I did, and of that I'm glad, as I can see distinct possibilities in that pattern. Not so useful is this photo of the tree roots from an uprooted tree still embedded in the red soil, but I just liked the image!

Stitched Prints.

 Usually my prints stay as prints, but recently I have been stitching on prints that I have transferred to fabric. When doing this, one has to really bring up the contrast and saturation to have a successful outcome. Sometimes it's possible to go too far, but the results can also be wonderful. The Kangaroo grass image that I posted previously has been printed onto cotton and I really like the brighter more vibrant colours. The background seed heads have faded to a soft blue grey which I really like too. Stitched over in many different shades, I'm quite happy with the outcome.