#24

As is tradition, January marks new beginnings and a fresh start, with focus given back to creative projects! Things really got away on me in the last 3 months of 2024, but this month has enabled me to spend less time working and more time with my family and of course, time in the garden.

Despite what can only be described as weird weather, my garden has absolutely exploded with colour since Christmas, allowing for me to have a constant supply of fresh cut flowers throughout my house every day. I have also been sharing this abundance, with my collection of jars slowly diminishing after several deliveries of flowers to friends and family.

My Floret Dahlias have been absolutely stunning. You may have seen them on Instagram over the summer. They are all shades of pink, yellows, apricots and most of them have super long stems. For ease of identification, I labelled them from 1 to 9. Fingers crossed they all develop some decent tubers so I can regrow my favourites.

Having an abundance of flowers has been beneficial for my art practice. This season I haven’t been drawing as much, but I have been using the flowers in the creation of prints through Gelli Plate and eco printing.

With the Gelli Plate I have been pressing the flowers onto black acrylic paint and hand colouring with thin layers of acrylic. Kind of like filling in a stained glass window. I like the way it’s going, with the style slowly evolving with each print I make.

I have done some single coloured test prints too - the one below using Awagami Bamboo Select paper.

I also tried my hand at eco printing. I found a technique on an Instagram account called gumnut magic where you fold paper in a concertina shape and press leaves and flowers between the paper folds. You then tie it tightly between 2 wood blocks or tiles, and boil in a dye pot for an hour or so.

I had some cool results using this technique with dahlias and cosmos, however the colours were not what I was expecting!

My studio is strewn with piles of books which have been commandeered as flower presses, as I have found pressed flowers seem to transfer to paper way easier than fresh ones.

The reason I have been trialling all these techniques is because I have signed up for a stall at the Print Fair as part of Printopia this year. It’ll be the biggest market I have ever done, so I am a bit nervous about it honestly. There is a rule that zero digital reproduction is allowed this year which means no risograph stuff. Instead I’ve got a couple of new things planned, plus a bunch of old prints to share as well.

I’ll be posting updates about this here and on Instagram and maybe even making some videos. I know I mentioned making videos previously and I have shot a tonne of footage over the last year, but I am yet to do anything with it. Not sure why?

I’m going to endeavour to update each month on the New Moon in the lead up to Printopia which is the first week of May. I try to update on the New Moon, as it’s a good time to reflect on the past month and set intentions for the month ahead. With work heading back into full swing, school starting and the like, it’s more important than ever to take the time to do the things you love.

So while it’s sunny, I’m going to keep harvesting as many flowers as possible, and getting a proper plan together for my art practice.

Rach xo