Lino Changes.

 I decided that I didn't like the heavy bar of lino at the top of the plate, so here above I have removed it, keeping as many of the carved flowers as possible. Some I didn't like and some were just too fiddly to both with.

This is a quick print using a stamp pad to see how the lino removal is going.  Much better I think.

Lino and Gel.

 Today I decided to use my trusty lino cut with the Gelli Plate, just to see what sort of prints I could get.  The original one above looks quite delicate, almost like chintz fabric, but a bit wishy washy for what I wanted.

    This one above is the same print inverted in Photoshop, what a difference! I really like this effect.

        This is different print, O. K but not exciting.  The inversion didn't improve it either.

This one has many different layers, but again the inversion was not appealing. Perhaps these bland ones would benefit from some hand outlining with a metallic pen.

Back to the Stamps.

 Here are the first 3 in a series of flowers stamps that I hope to make out of 'SoftCut'. Easier to use than lino, I prefer this medium for individual stamps.

Here are the stamps themselves, the one in the middle adhered to a piece of Perspex and the other 2 on mountboard.  They have of course been coloured, with felt tip pens.

A Good Crop Today.

There isn't anything better than an early morning walk around the vegetable garden to see what's growing and to pick a basket full of goodies. A zucchini slice  for dinner tonight with beans I think, and there will be a salad of fresh lettuce leaves for lunch tomorrow with commercially grown cucumber and tomato as ours aren't ready to pick yet.

Playing with Reed Photos.

 Having isolated the image of the reeds reflected in the water of the dam, I spent a fun hour or so playing with the picture in Photoshop.

 This is of course 2 identical images merged side by side. To me it looks like some sort of weird underwater creature swimming towards the light.

  This is 2 different layers merged and one slightly displaced. It might be fun to take this one a bit further.

Group Christmas Lunch.

 One of the textile groups that I have belonged to for almost 20 years always has a special lunch on the first Friday of December. The table looks very  festive as usual.

                                                              Now for some dessert!

Wriggly Reeds.

 I have photographed this clump of reeds in the dam many times, but I particularly wanted some wriggly lines to show up in the reflections.

 Having thrown a ball into the water for the dog to swim after I thought that the resulting ripples would give me good results, but the timing was everything.

Too early and the ripples hadn't wriggled the reflections at all and left too late, only some of the lines wriggled. Some in the left of the photo are nicely wriggled, but not quite as many as I would have liked. Oh well, next time!

Under Siege!

 The council in its wisdom has decided to re- curb and re-surface our road. This means lifting thousands of old bluestone blocks, re-laying them and cementing them into place before spreading the new asphalt.

This means that every property has to have a new concrete driveway 'apron' and a new storm water outlet pipe and exit. During the time that this takes, for the preparatory work and for the concrete to dry, we are trapped in our homes.   Well, not really as we all got our cars out into another street before it all began, but it feels as if we are under siege with the noise of the concrete trucks, the diggers the backing trucks and the soil rammers.  I can't wait for it all to be done!!