Pages

Monday, February 14, 2022

Foreign Flora - a work in progress

 


Presenting Foreign Flora, 15 x 11.5 cm, a newly carved lino block intended for Illustrated Women, an artist book that’s slowly, but surely, in the making. 

The subject’s floral tattoo is a motif from Australia, circa 1888, an embroidered table cover designed in Britain by the remarkable May Morris (1862 - 1938). It’s reproduced (not to scale) in the first developmental view below. In fact, none of the flowers depicted in the textile are native to Australia. The table cover was originally commissioned by a Scottish-born couple residing in Adelaide, South Australia, which I assume is how it acquired its title. Australia is now held in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Directly following are four sequential progress views of Foreign Flora.