Trees

 Although I have walked past these trees in my local neighborhood many times, I've never photographed the beautiful bark before. The colours are stunning when seen in close up without the distraction of the whole tree.

                                                           An Australian Paper Bark tree.

                                                                  A species of Eucalyptus.

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                                                                      Another Eucalyptus.

                                                         This is probably a Spotted Gum.

                                                     And a non native tree, a Cyprus I think.

A Few More Pages.

                                     

                                           Here are a few more pages from my insect book.

Finished!

 After many months and lots of various forms of art work, I have declared the Insect Book finished, although there are still some pages that I am less than happy with.

Here is the front and back cover before binding, using some of my hand dyed fabric and computer printed images

Each signature has a double page spread in the middle, so here they all are, again before binding into the book. Each page throughout the whole book has a gelatin plate print as a background with various hand carved stamps and small screen prints added to the different plant prints.

           On some pages I have added the insect names, but in these middle pages I mostly haven't.

Trial and Error!

Each signature will have a slightly smaller page between the 2 heavier weight pages, with tiny screen prints of various insects on top of a gelatine printed background and with quotations related to insects scattered throughout. However, this one was a disaster, the last step was to add a screen print of some Kangaroo grass on one side, and it smudged! There was no way to clean it up sufficiently to use, so it was back to square one to make a substitute page.

This is the inside of the  extra page with gnats, flies, ants and grasshopper prints, plus some quotations.

                                                       The flip side is vegetation gelatine prints

               So I started from scratch and made 3 as near as possible copies of the messed up page.

They weren't all as good as I hoped of course, but there is one thank goodness that will be usable as a substitute for the messy one. Pheeeeew!
 

New Book.

Last year I made a book for an exhibition that I called 'A Book of Beetles'. The same exhibition is on this year, so I have been playing around with gelatin plate prints, hand carved stamps, and small screen prints to make another book, this time encompassing all sorts of different insects and several birds. I've worked for several months on this, but I just can't seem to get very enthusiastic over what I'm producing!

                                                       Above are some of the pages so far.

First Print of 2022.

Having promised myself that I would find time for art immediately after Christmas, the days just rushed by taken up with all sorts of things other than art. Yesterday however I managed to find a couple of hours to make the above print from a weed that we call Shepherd's Purse. The little seed pods do in fact resemble heart shaped purses, and I knew that they would make lovely prints as long as they hadn't dried out too much. Bits always fall off if the vegetation is too dry, but I used them just in time as I did have to remove some little bits from the plate.

Below is the same print but with the colours reversed in Photoshop. In my next printing session I'll try something similar with printing inks in this range of colours, pale blue background, cream, grey and bright blue plants.

Looking Down.

As a scrounger from way back, I always look on the ground as I'm walking, as well all all around me of course. Since concentrating on printing over the past few years, I often use odd bits and pieces to print with. The photo shows a collection of items that I have collected on my walks over the past year or so. 

                  It's quite amazing what finds its way onto the footpath just waiting for me to find!

Tiny Tree.

As the house is still a mess because of the painting, and waiting for the soon to be laid new carpet in the living area, we set up a little Christmas display in one of the open cupboards that are waiting to be moved back to their correct places in the New Year. Just a small potted tree and some of the more interesting ornaments from years past.One little old Father Christmas must date from the 1950s, thus over 60 years old, but it wouldn't be Christmas without his appearance!

                                    Happy Christmas Everyone, and all good thoughts for 2022!