I have followed Impressions of Nature on Instagram for about a year now. I have enjoyed watching Suzy create beautiful prints of leaves with just some ink, a roller and paper. So it seemed time to take a class from her.
First published March 9, 2024: First of all, you might want to know that I have messed with “printing” leaves in my art for almost ten years. I really enjoy the texture as a background for my work. My method was to spray leaves with acrylics while they were on the paper, leaving lovely shapes for enhancing.
What Suzy brings to the table is the art of multi-layering. It seems like, in her 11-video course, she made dozens of prints from just a few colors. But the combinations are endless when you start adding on a layer to a print.
While Suzy uses special etching ink, I used the ink I already have around for my linocutting. I only have the primaries, and Suzy had some lovely Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna to use with layers of black and white.
Since it is still winter here in Michigan, the choices of leaves were few. But I also had some dying roses in a vase that I used for variety. Here is a picture showing how much fun I had creating prints on rice paper, copy paper and printmaking paper:
I forgot an important step in Suzy’s instructions, which I am only sharing here so that you do not make the same mistake. I forgot to dampen the thick printmaking paper, so I did not get a saturated background. But I don’t mind — I still like these two on the same paper:
I will most likely use these in my collages, because some of the textures are awesome! Suzy does a great job of thoroughly walking you through the process. I will look forward to seeing more of her pieces in social media.
Suzy’s tutorial cost $30UK, but you can get a $15 voucher for a beginner class, or if you choose to take the beginner class first, you can get the $15 voucher for the class I took. Here is the link to her tutorials: Impressions of Nature. You can also purchase her Step by Step guides for a bit less. They are also at her web site. Check it out!
Happy artventures this week…