Seed Artist Book

Last year I completed a drawing of a montage of seed pods in my collection.   Over the Xmas holidays I converted this drawing into an etching plate using UV light and a solar plate.

The original print, using chine-colle
 

I was mucking around at a friend's studio last month and decided to print small parts of the print, as bleed prints on small pieces of printmaking paper.



The pieces printed

From these pieces I constructed an artists book.  My starting point was a red and black cardboard box I found at a charity shop.  I've got a thing about boxes at the moment.
I wanted the book to 'flow' out of the box, so I used a concertina format with black card, mulberry papers and some handmade paper (I think it was bladey grass paper that I made at Xmas time).  I had a japanese bone catch in my stash (I knew it would come in handy one day, lucky I knew where I had put it!).

The book is simply titled ' Seed'.   Enjoy!



Outdoor Studio in the rain

rain, rain, rain.

We've had lots of it, but even so Craig and I still went beach camping last week at Inskip Point near Rainbow Beach, Queensland. 

And of course, I took half my art studio with me (well Craig seemed to think so!).

Between dodging showers of rain on the beach, I enjoyed the inspiration of being close to nature and did some printing sessions with my gelli-plate.

One of the main advantages of the gelli-plate is its go-anywhere flexibility.  It would be impossible to make and store a gelatin plate when camping with limited resources.

And the joys of camping under casuarinas and cotton trees...... there's plenty of leaves to print with, there's almost too much choice!

A studio with a view... not that I was looking
when I was enjoying my printing so much

How did I manage to keep my art to half the camping table and one box....???

Craig's art installation on the beach using found materials

Playing with mangrove flowers,
a small installation in the sand



Scrub turkeys patrolled the camp, watching for any
opportunities to grab the rubbish bag!
I gave them all names, I think I missed my chickens....



Dappled light on the Cotton Tree leaves,
it was like looking up at a 'starry' sky

The Cotton Tree leaves were well eaten, beautiful!

Some prints, for another book

Another print, using a negative-space technique