Coominya Ghost Train

Today Craig and I went mountain biking on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail, the 15km section north of Coominya (meaning 'where is water').

This railway line was established in the 1880's but has been disused for many years.  In recent times the track structure has been removed to make a cross-country trail for horse riders, mountain bikers and walkers.

I hear you ask - what has this got to do with art?  Everything!  Scattered along the trail are discarded rail spikes that were used to secure the train line to the underlying timber sleepers.  These iron spikes fit nicely into my eco-dyeing pot to create a wonderful dark, rich brew.  They are also useful for rusting on cloth.

So, with pockets laden with rusty goodies (and a few interesting leaves too!), we rode the rail trail under a beautiful blue sky and cool winter temperatures.  A bit of art in the outdoors - to me, a perfect combination!

Traversing the disused railway bridge

The railway bridge with rails going nowhere

discarded rail spikes - just waiting for an artist like me!

a rail spike still in place on the bridge

A discovery

In my previous posts you will recall that I created eco-dyed books with monoprints of ferns.  I had thought at the time that I should call this series of books 'Fossil' as they appeared to reveal the remnants of some ancient flora caught between layers of rock.

Well, I was out mountain biking at Emu Creek, near Benarkin last week and was riding over some tracks that had been disturbed during the heavy rains over summer.  As usual I was in more of an 'art' zone than a 'riding' one and came across pieces of fossilised fern imprinted into rock.  This of course had me stopping and off the bike within seconds, with Craig 50 metres ahead of me wondering what on earth I was doing!  He really should know me by now......

Anyway I was most excited as these pieces of rock gave me the same feeling as the books I had created only weeks earlier.  Its almost as though the inspiration was back-to-front.  I was awestruck at the beauty of the fossil imprints and immediately felt that these could lead me further in more explorations in eco-dyeing and monoprinting.

Dyeing for the Results.....

Below are photos of my completed Eco-Dyed books that I was working on last week.  I had a rather hectic weekend and this week has been busy with my day job (excuses, excuses!).

The patterns from the eco-dyeing are just beautiful, enhanced by the crispness of the fern monoprints.  It gives a rather 'fossil' like feel to the books.  As you open up each book, its like exploring something very primeval and organic.  Yum!

Snake Book with fern monoprints

Accordian Book with pockets,
with fern monoprints on cards