“The world is mainly a vast leaf-colony, growing on and forming a leafy soil, not a mere mineral mass, and we live not by the jingling of our coins, but by the fullness of our harvests. This is a green world, with animals comparatively few and small, and all dependent upon the leaves. By leaves we live.”
Quote from Patrick Geddes, from The Tale of 10 Mysterious Book Sculptures Gifted to the City of Words and Ideas, Scottish Poetry Library, 2013.
The lovely little book I’ve taken my quote by Patrick Geddes from is about a series of paper sculptures given anonymously to the city of Edinburgh, including a paper tree made from a book. You can find more about these here.
Our very prolific grapevine, purchased a couple of summers ago from the Bush Fairy Dairy, has inspired a series of small works on paper. The leaves are gorgeous and their appearance heralds the beginning of the warmer months here in New Zealand.
I paid a visit to the fabulous Auckland Domain Wintergarden last week to search out more signs of spring and was impressed by the incredible floral display. It smelt divine.
Summer is nearly here and I am looking forward to taking a break soon to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. I’ve enjoyed the chance to start painting outside now that the weather is improving. The small works on watercolour paper feel lighter, softer and more delicate than the pantings of winter.
As a little Christmas gift I am offering a free artwork on my Corokia Studio website, it is called Pink Vine (see below for a preview) and is available as a free A5 download which you can print at home on A4 size paper or take to a copy/print shop for best results. Enjoy!
Celeste Sterling 