Working with nature: Plant Drying
In anticipation of creating some nature monoprints I’ve continued to collect fallen flora. Each leaf has been carefully laid out and pressed between paper, in single layers, using my Albion press and book blocks.
These leaves are more robust than the last ones I tried, where I learned to only press single layers at a time. The veins on the three larger types are very prominent and I’m hopefully of excellent print transfer definition. In fact, just during the drying process, colour leached out.
This gives a great indication of what I should be able to achieve when printing.
These small fronds have barely a vein and might only work as a resist but for the next part of my mixed media journey I’m really after leaf prints. So I’ll experiment and see what I can get.
A friend living on a rural property very kindly sent me these skeletonized leaves, which is a boost to my meager findings. Even though I live in a bushland environment, and walk daily, I rarely find good specimens such as these.
In mid April I created a range of nature vignettes, which was a new experience. Having completed the on-line course, I’ve decided to extend this concept and create my vision of printed vignettes. This collection, added to my existing dried flora, will become the basis for some of the imagery.
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