Falling Leaves

Autumn brings so many beautiful colours and we have been collecting leaves over the last few weeks and pressing some of them. We love the shapes and subtle tones of gold, red and brown in each leaf. Our house is now filled with collections of leaves in bowls and on shelves. We add them to our gift wrapping and even bluetac them to the walls!

This lovely garland image is from The Happenstore in Sydney. https://www.instagram.com/thehappenstore/ 

In the past we have made digital cards using collected and weathered leaves. We can't stop decorating with them in many corners of our house at the moment.  Autumn is such a beautiful season.

Book Illustrations

Late last year I posted a couple of drawings that I was working on for a publication by Tasmanian scientist Peter Davies. The two images above are details from the published book that was launched last month and show how some of my drawings have been combined with vintage maps and actual gum leaves and nuts. You can see the cover of the book with my emu drawing on the bookshop's launch material below. The project was blessed to have graphic designer, Gillian Ward, who  beautifully combined all the written material, drawings, photographs and other imagery to create the book.

It was a wonderful experience and I was thrilled to have my drawings in print! It is also the first time that I have drawn so many animals and flora - some of which are endemic to Tasmania. My drawings reproduced in the publication include the wombat, spotted quoll, devil, emu, kangaroo, swallows, eastern bettong, galaxias, black tipped orchid and midlands buttercup and kangaroo grass. 

The Book was project managed by Lynn Davies and together with artist Nikala Bourke, the four of us enjoyed being the creative female force behind the publication.

Peter E Davies, Woven Landscape: Connections in the Tasmanian Midlands, Australian Book Connection, Hong Kong 2017

Community

Recently we were commissioned to make a very large 'nest' and over the last 10 days we have been constructing it in our driveway. The nest had to be designed so that it could be hung about a metre off the ground, so it was necessary to construct it with a sturdy wire armature as the finished nest was to be at least a metre in diameter.

The wonderful thing about making it in view of our street was that all our local community took such an interest in its making. Each day, as the nest began to take shape, friends and neighbours would leave a little surprise on the pile of branches and sticks we were using. Sometimes it was a perfectly curved branch they had collected or gumnuts on twigs, feathers or flax. So many lovely natural gifts from everyone as they shared in the making of this huge nest. The final nest in many ways ended up as a 'team' effort. Many discussions about its progress enriched each day as we worked on its construction. and it was such a joy to see everyone share their ideas and their collected items as the nest grew.