You'd think that relaxation for me would not involve working with textiles and colour, but it does.  I've been taking a class at our local Leisure Centre in printing.  We are printing on to all types of things, but mostly onto paper and fabric.  And I am loving it!   Those who know me know very well that I can't draw for toffee, but I can work with colour.  So rather than doing artistic drawings which are then converted into prints, I'm working with natural leaves and experimenting with the different textures you can achieve and the colours that you can have fun with.

Here are a few of my results so far:

 

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I love this one below - the colours are not particularly bright, but as I was rolling the paint over the leaves the roller picked up an impression of the leaf which then transferred to the paper.

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On this one, I love the texture that emerges because of the veining in the leaf:

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And I have a particularly soft spot for oak trees - the town where I spent most of my school years was nicknamed City of Oaks as the streets were all lined with the most beautiful oak trees, the original of which were planted in the 1600's.

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I've no idea yet what I'm going to do with all my leaves .... at the moment they're just stacking up nicely waiting for me to come up with a brilliant plan.  And with 3 weeks still to go on the course, who knows how many more leaves I'll have by the end.