This year, whilst in covid lockdown, I’ve spent a lot of time walking in bushland both observing and collecting flora, mainly weeds.
A few weeks ago I started photographing Lamb’s Tongue weeds (Plantago lanceolata). They have a robust cylindrical shaped head which I can’t flatten and use in monoprinting through my press, so I decided to translate them into a linoprint.
Sitting at my drawing table I started sketching the Lamb’s Tongue along with what I could see across the lawn; my birdbath, some flagstones and fencing.
The birds hopped in and out of their bath, sometimes drinking, sometimes getting a wash.
The angles weren’t right but the idea was solid. I didn’t want a realistic version of my garden, I was after having my weeds in the forefront and the garden falling away behind. After photocopying, tracing and redrawing several times I found myself with a usable design.
I started cutting my lino. Because I never like to make life easy for myself, part way through I decided to swap some of the positive and negative aspects of the image. I’ve just about finished cutting and can’t wait to see the first print proof. Let’s hope I didn’t totally stuff it up.
TactualTextiles 
I have been looking at this weed, too. what i love are the delicate little anthers and the way the sun shines through them. sometimes weed are quite beautiful, too Your linocut looks lovely and will be great as a base for some stitching! or on paper, too.
Thanks Vicki. I’ve been considering adding a little hand colouring, or cropping it into smaller sections to use in future projects.