The Magic of Eucalyptus

I am back in Australia…back with the gum leaves of Eucalyptus trees. They are magic. I start at Baldessin PPress Studio in St. Andrews north of Melbourne and gather the leaves before my workshop on book bindings. I bring them back into my apartment and into the studio.

I sketch them.

My students use them in their work.

I make time in my schedule to do some dry point etchings and prints while at the studio.

And then I pack up and arrive at my next stop…another workshop….more gum trees.

And more trees are here with seductive shapes, colors and aromas.

And this workshop too, has gum leaf inspired pieces waiting to be completed into Memory Vessels.

Then it is me and the gum leaves. Adding more drawings.

And trying my hand at contact printing with those lovely leaves.

I will gather more at my next teaching stop. And again I have factored in extra days just to explore and try to capture the magic of these leaves. The ones I have gathered at this stop will be packed with the sketchbook. There is no way I can leave them behind.

I will be back next week and show you what comes next. I think it will be another white line print of the gum leaf since that is the class I will be teaching. Till then, can you smell the Eucalyptus from these pictures?