Variations on a Theme.

 I'm still fiddling around trying to get the effect that I want with this marine theme. I quite like the streaks of yellow light coming down through the water, but it isn't repeatable unfortunately and I need 3 of them more or less the same. It's all bit too green overall too.

                                                                      Even greener!

                                                                     Much too green!

Printing Afternoon.

 I spent a few hours this afternoon trying out the various marine image stamps that I have carved recently together with a couple that I made some time ago, such as the Leafy Sea Dragon. The blue in this print is much too bright with a slight purple tone which is not what I want.

 The Leafy Sea Dragon is a stamp that I'm very happy with, but it's way our of scale for the rest of this piece and the blue is too turquoise and wishy washy for what I have in mind.

 This darker blue is better and the background piece of embossed wall paper prints quite well, and it's better without the Sea Dragon too I think. Still not happy with it all though!

                                                           Getting there, but not right yet.

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?