Mangroves, arts practice and sense of self

My direction in art over the past 12 months has been shifting to a mode where I am getting to know my self better through connection with place.  For me, that place is mangrove creeks and tidal zones.  I have a strong history of family connections to coastal and tidal zones - my Dad was a keen fisherman and now that he has been gone for over 10 years, my memories of him are found amongst the mangroves.

I don't consider myself to be a writer, but I am using words to explore and discover more about the connection between myself and place.

My casuarina skeleton lies like a bridge

connecting creek water to eroded bank, 

my strength devoured by the hunger of a full moon surge,

my roots parched and shriveled, straining

against the ash of salt-laden air 

holding both my breath and reclamation.

-  I will return to the earth one day

 

This work is a study of mangrove leaves found washed up on the high tide mark.
I was amazed at the variety of colours, so I made a long
concertina of watercolour paper, with watercolour, pen and pencil
drawings.  I also added a few words of poetry that I had
written - the words flow between the leaves along the 
length of the book, a celebration of detritus and decay.

Mangroves, Mud and my obsession

I have come to the conclusion that I have a bit of an obsession about mangroves.  I'm drawn to tidal creeks, the sculptural form of prop roots, the tang of decaying leaves in the mud, the song of honeyeaters.  Over the past 12 months, I've been doing a lot of writing about my relationship to mangroves, trying to figure it out, and as a consequence my arts practice has become increasing tied to my sense of self and mangroves in tidal creeks.

My next few blog posts will focus on how I have used words and creative play to explore my experience of these magical but often unappreciated places.

A forest of putrid ugliness.
    
you think it
you say it

but I hear
whispered pulses of the rising tide,
soothing hands stroking the casuarina,
a heron’s beak striking the fingerling,
a lone mangrove seed falling,
                                        falling.

I do my best thinking on my
bike or in my kayak,
the notebook is always ready!

Cotton Tree leaves - my
other obsession!

Cotton Tree leaf drawing -
coloured pencil and white pen
on toned paper

Work in Progress - using watercolour
over the top of a rejected monoprint.
I used myself-made colour chart to
figure out what colour would
sit best against the busy background.

Completed artwork (detail photo)

Another one - using ochre colours

Watercolour Leaf Printing

I knew there was a reason I'm a facebook user..... I ignore all of the depressing news stuff and follow some very interesting art related groups.  These groups bring together like-minded people who post all sorts of photos and information about what they doing in their art studios.  Sometimes I find some particularly tempting techniques, such as leaf printing using watercolours.

I give my acknowledgements and thanks to Karen Rush who posted in Craft Press Printmakers facebook group, where she introduced this technique that she learned from Rebecca Chamlee of Pie in the Sky Press.  

Its a straightforward process.  You paint dry leaves with watercolours, let dry, then print onto damp watercolour paper.  Its wonderful that something so simple can produce lovely results, without all the mess and fuss of the usual monoprinting processes.

I've shared this technique a couple of times with friends, and we've had a great time sitting around a table (social distanced of course!) painting, printing, chatting..... and then laughing over the ones that don't quite work.  

I'm grateful that at the moment we can gather together with friends to make art, but if you can't, please try it yourself.  Its a great dining table activity with children or if you have a spare hour or two.

To print the leaves, I used my Xcut diecut machine, but you could use any craft press or manual pasta maker.  You could try hand printing, but you may not get the detail of the veins or it might move around a bit.  Of course you can always 'tweak' the less successful ones with a fine marker pen and more watercolour when it drys.  Nothing is ever wasted!

Two colours on a grevillia leaf.
Leaves with interesting silhouettes and veins are best.

Two or more colours works best.
I put a layer of pink, let it dry a bit, then
added the paynes grey.

Yes this is a print, not the actual leaf!
I've found that the colour improves
after a few prints and re-inkings.
This one started with orange, then a mix of yellow ochre,
sepia then other colours I can't remember....
That's the magic of monoprinting,
it keeps it secrets well!

Beautiful colours and a bit of embossing too.

Applying watercolour, but
keeping water to a minimum because you
need the pigment to be strong.
Let dry before printing.

Another beautiful leaf! 
I think its the one I'm painting in the photo above.
These will make beautiful cards - I use double
sided tape to mount the print onto coloured card.