Beetroot, seedpods, and ink

Today in the studio: my first time printing in 6 months, rediscovering the borrowed old friend - the rusty etching press, inking up some new collographs, realising some ideas that have been whirling around in my head for years, in a snippet of time while my baby is sleeping, dying paper with beetroots, some 'crude' printmaking - bush printmaking at its best; rough, unconstrained and messy. All the opposite things you are supposedly meant to do when you are printmaking.

Embossed dots, particles, static sun, the smaller things and the big things in life come to mind like all the things we cannot see. I am always fascinated by space, stars, the sun and moon and how it all works out there in deep space from a scientific viewpoint.

Sphere. Sun. Star. A cosmic structure. Expanding galaxies. Decay.

'Little paper tree' embossed trees -  test pieces.

 Detail, 'Little Abstract' - seed pod collograph on beetroot dyed paper.

Dark matter. Growth.

Laying out the beetroot dyed test pieces to print.

Inking up the seed pod collograph...

'Little paper tree' collograph - test piece. 

 I absolutely love the texture of the printed canvas. A very exciting discovery.

Seed pods.

Abstracted seed pods - squares rearranged.