Plant prints on paper – Celia Wilson

Recent work 2021

By: Celia Wilson 3 February, 202221 May, 2022

Uncategorizedart, environment, nature, pigments, Plant prints on paper, plants, River Eyre, Watercolour paintLeave a Comment

I have been making books, prints and other things…

5/10 EV Herbarium Exotica I C Wilson 2021

A Travellers Journal. I followed the Handmade Book Club instructions and made a 2022 Planner – don’t know how I will cope with that concept… Canvas painted with runs of Golden Acrylic High Flow ink.

Before Christmas I made a few small travellers journals to give as presents. This one’s cover was made from the carton of a six pack beer – just loved the colours.

I took part in the show – Oxford Papermakers: Waiaraki Eyre River Project 4 – 28 November 2021
Alison Fleetwood, Katie Hallam, June Inch, Casey Macaulay, Elaine Steenhart, Tessa Warburton and Celia Wilson

A collage of dry point prints showing the exotic weeds, coloured with local rock pigments, that thrive on the local braided river, Waiaraki/Eyre River. The course of the river near Oxford is depicted – adapted from images on Google Earth. I have used some paper that we made from these weeds. I started this work at the Printmakers Open House at the Oxford Gallery.

2. A bit of fantasy to show the local environment from river bed to mountains: Collaged handmade papers from the river plants, local rock pigments, and home made charcoal rubbings of collagraph plates. The backing paper is Harakeke paper made by Mark Lander who made the hollander beater that the Oxford Gallery Papermakers use. The Tree Lupin is painted with ink from gorse petals.

More about this show can be found at the gallery website under ‘Exhibitions’:- https://oxfordgallery.org.nz/

Open House Printmakers: New Work

By: Celia Wilson 10 October, 202110 October, 2021

botanical paintings, Exhibitions, Oxford Gallery: Toi o Waimakariri, printmaking, Prints, Uncategorized, Waimakariri, Watercolour paint, Wrybillsart, environment, nature, Plant prints on paperLeave a Comment

We set up our new exhibition at the Oxford Gallery, on the 6th October. As you can see we have very different approaches to printmaking.

OPEN HOUSE PRINTMAKERS : NEW WORK

Kathy Anderson, Jo Ernsten, Casey Macaulay, Ruth Stanton-Mcleod, Kris Waldin, Tessa Warburton & Celia Wilson

7-24 October 2021

Here is my submission.

For this set of hand coloured prints I concentrated on the flora and fauna of the River Eyre/Waiaraki to show the displacement of bird life by introduced by exotic plant life. The plants take on an imaginary shape, though based on actual plants. These prints were influenced by medieval illustrations; I felt our present day understanding of nature is in some respect no different to their ideas of what exotic animals might look like. My work always comes out ‘pretty’ no matter how hard I try to make it the opposite! I really enjoyed painting these prints.

Ed 2/5 EV “Herbarium Exotica V” Celia Wilson

A Wrybill is the bird shown in this print.

Green dye from Black Turtle Bean

By: Celia Wilson 5 April, 20155 April, 2015

Black bean, Dyeing, Organic paints, Pigments, Solar dyeing, Uncategorized, Watercolour paintartists books, cotton, dye bath, mordants, Plant prints on paper, silk cloth, solar dyeLeave a Comment

Following on from the previous post about black bean dye –

The next day, bicarbonate of soda was added to the Black Turtle Bean solar dye. Colour changed to green and this colour transferred to the un-mordanted silk and cotton scraps.

This test needs to be redone; the bicarb was added to the original dye which was probably a bit tired – the beans were ‘going off’ at the time.

I also added to the solar dye pot some rolled-up paper, but the green disappeared into a brown-green when applied to paper. Something in the paper which is photocopy paper reacting with this dye. Where the pools of dye were deeper the green colour is just apparent. This paper is stuck onto the test page and covered the swatches in the above image, hence the change of page direction!

Kozo Tea Iron

By: Celia Wilson 30 January, 201530 January, 2015

Dyeing, Eco printing, Eco prints on paper, Uncategorizeddye bath, dyes on paper, eco print, Kozo paper, Plant prints on paper, Prints, rust, seed pods, Seeds and seed pods1 Comment

This latest experiment was about getting a contact print through an immersion in a cold dye, in this case tea. I used two strips of dry folded kozo paper that I had previously drawn on with sumi ink; one piece was held together with a metal bull dog clip. A stack of dry printmaking paper was interlaid with leaves and seeds, then sandwiched between two sheets of perspex and clipped together with paper clips. All three packages were immersed in the tea dye container for a few hours. The darker dye (caused by the metal clip in the tea) remained in situ around the bundle while the liquid was motionless. As I removed the papers I could see the reaction of the iron on the tea slowly take place over the rest of the dye and turn it completely black.

The kozo paper was squeezed in the hand when taken out of the tea dye to get the lovely ’embossing’ (the photo does not really do it justice). I am very pleased with the abstract nature of the results, even though the plant material left little in the way of images on the printmaking paper, but there are some impressions – a trace of the leaves on some sheets. There are also a few traces of other colours from the plant material. Some of the seeds left a darker spot on the paper.

There is a tension here (freedom and control) between allowing enough moisture into the stack and the pressure required to achieve images of the plant material. Perhaps the paper in the stack should have been damp which might have allowed more wicking of the dye. Needs more investigation.

Some of the tonal variation occurred as the printmaking paper was removed from the stack. I tried to restrict disturbing the remaining dye but some of this did happen of course! The printmaking paper has much value as a base layer for further work.

It’s a Plane tree

By: Celia Wilson 16 January, 201516 January, 2015

Garden plants, Nature prints, UncategorizedPlant prints on paperLeave a Comment

I went out to find the tree – it is what I know as a London Plane tree – and it seems to be known under various botanical names and I won’t bother to list them. Glad that little problem sorted… See previous post.

Spring leaves, nature prints and patchwork

By: Celia Wilson 15 January, 201515 January, 2015

Garden plants, Nature prints, Printscotton, Nature prints, patchwork, Plant prints on paper, plants, Prints, seed pods, weeds2 Comments

On a walk yesterday I found a windblown leaf, and later picked some leaves and flowers from the garden. I am not sure at all what species of tree the leaf is from. It is difficult to define, mainly because it is immature. However, I think it may be a Platanus (plane, sycamore) as suggested by the stem and leaf vein structure. To memorialise this arrested development I made prints from the leaves.

I made a few nature prints, on paper and cloth. The first print is from the inked plate (with the leaf removed after passing the two through the press). I dropped the inked plate on the floor which accounts for the wiggly marks and scratches. Liked the effect!

This print below, taken directly off the leaf alone, is particularly interesting, delicate.

This print is made on damp 300 gsm paper

Here is a small selection of the process – when the leaf was thick it caused creases in the paper and some areas did not print so well.

I have been busy… Here I have printed on cloth; works very well. The impression on the right was hand done with the roller and not put through the press, unlike the other one on the left. I am getting confident with using the etching press.

Finally, the most beautiful object of all, the actual leaves, with a trace of the ink still on them. It shows the underside of the leaves. I used Akua black ink, and many of the prints were printed on dry digital/inkjet A4 paper.

To end, here is a textile work I have started in response to following Spirit Cloth. I have printed on to cloth a mallow leaf and an image off a piece of old wallpaper.

January 2015 printing – Seeds and Seed Pods

By: Celia Wilson 5 January, 20155 January, 2015

Garden plants, Nature prints, Prints, UncategorizedAkua inks, chance, Plant prints on paper, plants, plate, Prints, seed pods, Seeds and seed podsLeave a Comment

Seeds and seed pods are really quite beautiful, make good subjects for art and design. This is a collagraph plate that I made ‘last year!’ in December from dried seed pods of the Honesty plant (Lunaria annua, aka Money Plant) and one of the plant’s leaves. I had kept the dried specimen from 2012, so it has lasted well. I glued the dried plant material onto a piece of mat board and coated front and back of the board in two layers of polyurethane varnish – but it still had a little warp. This did not make any difference when the plate was printed. (Or so it seemed to me…) A small piece of the leaf had already broken away in the past, but apart from an interesting phenomenon that appeared when I inked the plate (the layers of varnish came away from three of the seed pods) the plate has held up well through its various inkings and cleanings. The photo here is what it looks like, cleaned, after an afternoon’s printing with Akua water based ink.

This is a ghost print (i.e. second print from an inked plate) from one of the initial printings.

The next two images are of a print made by inking up a piece of plastic, sending the plate and the plastic through the press, and then taking a print off the plate. The plastic creates an interesting background with plenty of unexpected results which is one of the reasons I enjoy printing.

Finally, here is a the result of selectively cleaning the inked plate, so that only the raised parts of the collagraph will print. Still have a lot to learn! At least I now know that placing the paper on top of the plate creates an embossed image. The digital ink jet paper is dry and probably causes the creasing. I really enjoy using Akua ink as it is easier to clean up and I do not like using turps! The ‘black’ ink (actually a combination of colours, more a dark grey) creates an image that almost could be a photocopy.

I have been collecting Rocket (Eruca sativa) seeds from the veggie bed. Really quite fascinating, and I notice that the membrane between the two halves of the seed pod is similar to that found in dried Honesty plants. I would like to find Lunaria rediviva a perennial ‘cousin’ of Honesty which has yet another variation on this form with more elongated pods. [Just found out that they are all members of the Mustard family (Brassicaceae)!]

Finally, poppy seed pods from the garden.

December prints

By: Celia Wilson 27 December, 201428 December, 2014

Garden plants, Pottery, Prints, UncategorizedAkua inks, art, dyes on paper, environment, Plant prints on paper, plants, Prints2 Comments

A few prints, one produced at home, and the others at printing group.

This print is produced with Akua inks, on a smooth card, and I used my printer at home. The print is taken directly off some old wallpaper that came from my parents house. The original illustration of what I think may be a conifer is pale green, but here I used red and it suggests the NZ Christmas tree – Pohutukawa! I used this print to make Christmas cards for family and friends.

I’ve always had an interest in pottery, probably because of the glazes, but I really like the shapes of vessels and I am also presently researching cardial ware pottery. The next two images are of prints I made using a piece of flat, smooth polystyrene packaging that came with food from the supermarket (nice to recycle!). I traced the outline, cut the shape out and used a pointed etching tool to impress the marks. I am still learning, so it is helpful to have an image I can work up on a block quickly, then be able to concentrate on the printing process itself. I used two small pieces of polystyrene joined with masking tape at the back, and the marks and pits on the surface of the polystyrene helped to suggest the surface of clay pottery ware – as you can see below. I really think these printing block are artworks in their own right.

I found the cardial ware pottery image by Joanbanjo on Wikimedia Commons. The neolithic pot is described as decorated impressed ware, from the Cova de l’Or de Beniarrés, (5000 – 4200 BC) in the Museu de Prehistòria de València. I used water based printing ink and dry paper for these works.

Credits: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AVas_amb_decoraci%C3%B3_impresa_cardial%2C_Cova_de_l’Or_de_Beniarr%C3%A9s%2C_Museu_de_Prehist%C3%B2ria_de_Val%C3%A8ncia.JPG

By Joanbanjo (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons from Wikimedia Commons

Finally from the garden, a photo of poppies for 2014 – red for love and tinged with white for peace.

I wish everybody a safe and bountiful 2015!

A print book

By: Celia Wilson 31 December, 201331 December, 2013

Uncategorizedartists books, dyes on paper, eco print, handmade paper, Mark Lander, mordants, New Zealand plants, Plant prints on paper, Robert FrostLeave a Comment

Time for this has been scarce recently, so I thought I should try to get another post in before 2014.

Some of my eco prints on paper have been made into artists books. This one is a ten-page ‘concertina’ book. It is a little difficult to present these books; however, here is a scan of the cover and the last page…

The cover image is printed onto handmade paper by Mark Lander. The wood-block type of print (using a plastic block and a Dremel tool) was made in 2012. The pages each have a line from the poem by Robert Frost – Gathering Leaves – and I have written these words with ink from Harakeke, the New Zealand flax plant. The autumn leaves all come from our garden here in Oxford, and are a collection of prunus, oak, sycamore, cotinus, acer, pin oak and ash leaves – the coloured deciduous leaves all providing good elements for transfer to the paper which was dipped in alum first. The dark brown on the pages below is provided by a piece of harakeke seed pod.

Colours from a Landscape

By: Celia Wilson 21 August, 201321 August, 2013

Eco printing, Eco prints on paper, Exhibitions, Organic paints, Paint making workshops, Pigments, Prints, Uncategorized, Watercolour paintart, dyes, eco print, environment, nature, Plant prints on paper, plants3 Comments

I am currently showing some pigment colour swatches at the Dunedin Botanic Gardens, and in October I am doing a workshop on making paint. This exhibition was facilitated through the Blue Oyster Gallery in Dunedin. Also included in the show are some natural pigments on paper – eco prints – and some raw pigment. The two artworks on paper show colours from Waikari (green) and Ashley Gorge (pink and green) in North Canterbury. Many thanks to Clare Fraser from the Dunedin Botanic Gardens who is in charge of the venue. I think the colours look fantastic presented on black paper against the lovely red walls of the Information Centre!

The pigment swatches each show a colour found at a specific location which is named on the swatch.

Appearing below are some of the photos I received from Jaime Hanton, Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin, who kindly photographed the show and installed the work for me :

This is not my anticipated installation for this show as the initial selection was stolen. My box was left on the pavement by the courier company and disappeared overnight. The items in this box were some of those in the photograph shown in the display case, bottom left corner. If, by any chance, they turn up, I would just love to have them back. They represent five years research, experiment and recording. I have given up hope of ever seeing them again, however, and will re-build as much of the information as I can… Worse things happen, and I ‘count my blessings’.

Shells were traditionally used for paint containers!