Pandanus seeds

When the big spherical Pandanus fruit ripen, the individual seed portions drop to the ground (maybe the whole thing drops and smashes open - must check)

 

inktense

 

 

pencil

 

my source photo on the right, and a very strange collage on the left - haven't got the hang of this collage business yet
 

 

Focus on the Tide Line

 

Now I'm looking at the tide line - this is at Lake Cootharaba - very cute calyx (yes I looked up the right word) which holds the propagule or "seed".

 

 

 

and this is a page of collage & stitching - its a bit garish, but one never knows when it might come in handy. 

 

 

 

 



Progressing to Shells

I have been working with shells for my alchemy class. Shells on the tide line at Lake Weyba.

 

I started trying to draw the teeny tiny shells bunched up in the matchbox, but the complexity of lines made my brain hurt. So I drew single shells on the page, then drew more single shells on a piece of

tracing paper and put it over the first page - lovely layers of shells.

 

 

Then I did the same in colour (tracing paper on the left)

 

 

and together

 

and now with stitch

 

 



 



Alchemy 2013

Now I have begun a 12 week on-line course - Alchemy - with Karen Ruane. So I'm busy working on my ledger - sketching and stitching, and learning about flickr.

Here are my first 2 pages. My theme is Lake Weyba at Noosa, maybe stretching to all lakes around Noosa. The landscape was sketched from the scene while the kids were out sailing. I wasn't brave enough to try to put the pelicans on the rocks, so I've added them on the next page.

 

On this page I have machine stitched the pelican - not quite the right shape. The landscape is a collage made with scrim, with a lace tree and organza overlay, and machine stitched all over.

Final piece (a work in progress)

 

Here is progress on my final piece

 

 

Its not big - just 10 x 23 cm, but there was a lot of planning went into it.



McGregor Summer School

 

I have just returned from McGregor Summer School in Toowoomba. What a creative extravagance. I did a class with Judy Wilford - she has an amazing wealth of knowledge, not just about her unique layered landscape technique, but also design and the interpretation of the Australian flora and fauna.

We did design exercises every morning

 

 

Loved doing this pointillism one - lots of ink dots (now to translate this into French knots!)

 

 

black and white grids

 

 

and another grids

 

 

Judy made us each a design book - one "challenge" was to make the front decoration

 

 

and this was my interpretation of the second "challenge"