Apart from the usual work on collagraphs that are in progress and
finishing off drawings, the latest venture has been completion of a monoprint
piece, made up of 3, 20 x 20 cms parts. It follows the theme of the High
Country, and is referenced from photos I took of native beech leaves, in the
forests of Mt Erica (near Baw Baw), one of my favourite walking places. Years
ago, we used to walk to the summit there and sit and enjoy a panoramic view over the mountains of the Great Divide, stretching away in varying shades of blue towards the horizon.
Now the
walk near the mountain top is through snow gums which have grown back since
cattle stopped grazing there in summer, and the panoramic view has gone. I do
miss it, though of course the snow gums are beautiful too, with their vivid
bark colours in never-endingly different patterns, tempting me to take just one
more photograph.
The work is not just monoprint. Like all of my bright ideas,
it involves lots of painstakingly cut details, collaged onto the monoprinted leaves, as well as some coloured pencil work.