From Nature to Block
Wild Impressions: Australian Wooden Printing Blocks emerged from years of travel, creative exploration, and a deepening love for two places that have shaped my life in very different ways….
Australia and India.
Over the past twelve years, I have spent significant time in India, both travelling and living for long periods as a volunteer within a spiritual community in southern India. During these stays, I have been immersed in the colour, rhythm, devotion, beauty, and living traditions of Indian culture. The longer I have spent here, the more deeply I have come to appreciate the richness of Indian arts and crafts. So many creative traditions in India carry history, story, symbolism, and a sense of reverence for the hands that make them.
It was during one of these long stays that I found myself drawn again to wooden block printing. I had seen the blocks before. I had played with them before. But this time, something felt different.
After writing and publishing Wild Stillness, my book centred on nature connection, slow awareness, and using the natural world as a doorway into creativity and inner reflection, I saw the blocks through new eyes. Holding a carved wooden block in my hand and pressing it onto paper, fabric, or clay no longer felt like just an art technique. It felt like a practice.
A quiet, tactile way of slowing down. A way of letting shape, texture, rhythm, and repetition become part of the creative process.
I began collecting Indian wooden blocks from markets, roadside stalls, and artisan makers, delighting in the adventure of finding them and the beauty of the prints they created. I loved the process — the feel of the wood, the simple act of pressing and lifting, the surprise of each impression appearing on the surface.
But, I felt that something was missing. Finally I realised… I loved the practice, but I did not feel connected to the printed designs themselves.
During one stay in India, after being away from Australia for many months, I found myself deeply missing home. And home, for me, is the Australian bush. I live in the Adelaide Hills on a property surrounded by 46 acres of native bushland, with gum trees, seed pods, birdsong, rough bark, dry grasses, blossoms, and the quiet, spacious beauty of the Australian landscape.
As I printed with Indian blocks, I began to long for the plants and textures of home. I wanted to hold that connection in my hands too — to see gum leaves, banksias, wattles, seed pods, and Australian wildlife translated into the same beautiful, tactile form.
That was the first seed of Wild Impressions.
I began working with a skilled block maker in India to create designs inspired by Australian native flora and fauna, and slowly a collection began to emerge: Australian designs brought to life through the traditional art of wooden block carving.
Wild Impressions now bridges two places I love deeply. The blocks carry the inspiration of the Australian landscape, shaped through the hands and craftsmanship of Indian artisans. They bring together my love of nature, my years in India, my connection to the Australian bush, and my belief that creativity can become a slow and meaningful practice of presence.
Each block is more than a tool for printing.
It is a small meeting place between cultures, landscapes, hands, and heart.
A way to remember home.
A way to honour craft.
A way to slow down and let nature leave its impression.
Bringing together Australian nature, Indian craftsmanship, slow creativity, and the joy of making with your hands.
