First nothing. Waiting. Hoping, not sure how to look. Then all of a sudden it came rippling through the misty water in the half light. This seemingly impossible solitary mammal. Turning for food perhaps. Or to avoid the deceptively beautiful green water plants that courted danger? Surprise that it was small. And that it really did look like the platypus that it was. But how can it be, surely defying evolution. Did it really have no stomach, lay eggs, and secrete its milk through its whole body? I could indeed believe it had existed alongside dinosaurs.

The wonder was that it still lived here, now in its frail environment. I wanted to use several layers of different marks using screen printing to somehow show where it lived but how you have to wait to see if it will appear or not. I wanted to show the ripples of water pushed aside and over the top of this irresistible being. I really wanted to not show the creature at all, instead to depict the elements of the place that it lives. Perhaps the shadow of the body under water. But how could I not show everyone the wonder that is the platypus? My efforts only started to work when the animal was one of my first layers rather than the last.

On top of a textured background I created the platypus from 2 colours, followed by 4 layers creating water, light and plants around and on top. The complete platypus now clearly visible. And so too for us last summer our patience and hope was rewarded each dawn and dusk at Peterson Creek in Yungaburra, Queensland.

A new bestiary and herbarium for at risk species by artists from Northern Print.

“Endless Forms Most Beautiful” is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to support visits, new printmaking and school’s programme for this project.

Northern Print artists bring together traditional printmaking and the natural world with a series of new prints highlighting the diversity of species that are categorised as ‘at risk’.

The ‘endless forms’ include marine life; plants; birds; insects and mammals with many familiar and much-loved species as well as less known and intriguing creatures that have captured the imagination and hearts of Northern Print’s artists.

This exhibition of 45 new prints has been made following a series of visits to our region’s natural history collections and habitats and represents the tiniest tip of the iceberg of our natural world under threat.

The artwork includes a range of approaches and printmaking processes – including heritage craft skills also deemed at risk including letterpress and mould-made papers