LEAF LINES

The two leaf lines were created during my residency at the Glasshouse in Port Maquarie NSW.

I always like to start a new project with fieldwork and my explorations around Port Macquarie took me to Sea Acres National Park. As I wandered around this natural wonder I was attracted not to the rainforest canopy above but the subtle rainbow of colour underfoot. This easily overlooked spectacle was made up of fallen eucalypt leaves in various stages of dying and drying out. I collected a range of these leaves and took them into the studio to inform my work for the week. 

Eucalypt trees are so commonplace in our natural and suburban environments that their beautiful sculptural leaves are often unnoticed. 

Once in the studio I strove to reimagine the leaves in embroidery, focusing on their basic form and subtle colour shifts. During the week I stitched dozens of leaves, striving to achieve something close to the beautiful colouring of my collected specimens.  These stitched leaves can be seen in the two ‘leaf lines’ that are arranged like rows of embroidered specimens.

Embroidery thread and pins on paper

43.5 x 156.5 x 4cm (framed size)

Private collections