Tuesday 5 May 2015

Swallows, cuckoos & snow & a lovely ''new home'

I've been trying to get here for over a week now, that 'life' thing just gets in the way sometimes.


I started this daisy collage a while ago & don't seem to have added much to it recently.


the sample at the bottom of the sketchbook page along with doodles & cutouts for some mono printing.


I realize I need to get a shift on as the beautiful honesty ( a pic from a couple of years ago above) & dicentra & even geranium phaeum is out already - it is my intention to capture my garden in stitch as it emerges but not at one stitch a week!



 So I made a delicious gelatine plate - I knew playing with those lovely agar plates at school in Science class would come in useful!

 As you can probably see from thse first 2 pics I must have let the plate get too warm in the room before printing as when I pulled the first print - dicentra leaves - a layer of gelatine came off with it! Over night the thin layer of gelatine dried beautifully (not sure whether it might start degrading even tho it's dry!) but I look forward to flooding the print with some color.


 Peeled off the leave & got such a crisp print!


The plate now looks like a map of the world & as I was in daisy mode I used some card cutouts for more mono printing. Lots of pics, feel free to scroll thru quickly!





 used this as a first anniversary card for the eldest & dil....one year already!! I did add color but posted it off before I took a (nother) pic ;)






paraphernalia above & cards & cloth below


Well, & would you believe this is what I was lucky enough to win in a give away from Janice MacDougall (The Craft Magpie) This is where I can 'move in' to any time I feel like a change


 A beautiful house box & a pretty brooch, too


 beautifully stitched  flowers


A cat & the key to each door


& the smell of roses. I love it Janice, thank you!


Can you guess what these are, what made them? I seem obsessed with them, tried to 'take a print' but couldn't - if you guess you can help me work out how to...please  ;)









 Ages ago I would sit with my coffee on my favorite bench & watch a robin eat last year's Gunnera seeds. Never had my camera while he was posing so I just grabbed this thru the study window. Marveled at how the color of the seeds & the robins breast were an exact match. Sadly, I've had to cut all 5 plants (!) back as the sleet, snow & wind over the last couple of weeks totally dried them out. They'll grow more!


 Very atmospheric weather we've been having, what next?!


13 comments:

Josie said...

Your sketchbook looks stunning and congratulations on a lovely win x

Anonymous said...

Lots brewing in your world. Like your sketchbook page very much. Gardens are in my future now that we have sun, and more sun. xox

Living to work - working to live said...

Those prints were amazing - so crisp. I tend to use a sheet of plastic for my monoprints. I actually won an Gelli plate, but seem to prefer the plastic. Making your own fellahin plate seems like a dedicated faff to me, but then agin the results are stupendous.

Your weather sounds bonkers. A return to winter. We're in the grip of autumn storms just now ( wind and rain) summer having been bypassed all together! Sadly I don't think the lovely apple blossom will survive. This is mean weather for fruit farmers.

Mystic Quilter said...

What a stunning post!! Your daisy is a treats to see and I love all your prints. I bought a Gelli Plate some months ago - still in the box! After seeing your work I have to start playing. Thanks so much for the inspiration.

Amanda said...

Well done on persevering with the plate! I've been drying cow parsley for much the same reason. The marks are in your coffee cup?? And well done on the cute win too.

Julie said...

Your little house would make a very happy retreat :) I would never have recognised the coffee froth, I only drink tea ;-)

Jan said...

always fun to stop by here and see what you are up to. Love your little stitchery, and what a lovely gift you received! Your prints are great, I want to pull out my gelli plate and use some ferns on it too. Your atmospheric photos are quite lovely. Sorry I haven't been by so much any more, I seem to have moved away from blogging.

Suztats said...

I could happily move into that cute little house, as long as it could hold all my art supplies! lol Nice creativity. Wanting more, little piggy that I am! Ha!

Beverley said...

Coffee frothy prints? You can make bubble prints.... add a smidge of washing up liquid to runny paint in a shallow dish. Insert straw and blow to make bubbles. Lay paper on top, bubbles pop and print. Not exactly same, but aiming towards.

Anonymous said...

Looks like great fun with your gelatine plates!

Catherine said...

I love your work Emma. There is such wonderful variety. I like the coffee froth image. If all else fails, you could try a digital print. I don't know if you have encountered Bubble Jet, but it enables you to print straight onto fabric using your own printer.

Linda Vincent said...

Lovely work Emma......and those two panorama shots at the end are just wonderful!! x

(How sweet....I've just had to select soup to prove I'm not a robot ;-)

Maggi said...

Wonderful prints from your gelatine plate.