Fleur has pointed out these hearts while we were out sap gathering today. We have some fine redgum trees just behind our house and we use a little knife to prise out the sap that has oozed out of the trunk.
Usually it has set quite hard so I dissolve it in some metho and shake it every few days until it is a sticky consistency.
We also have some blackboys growing on the property and some Tasmanian bluegums and we gather that too. Each one is a slightly different colour but you can make it as rich as you like by adding more coats. I play around with paint and pastels underneath the sap to see what colours come up.
The "Silver Princess" painting has a few colours under the sap and I squirt metho on randomly afterwards which shifts the sap in unpredictable ways a bit like when you add salt to a watercolour.
I did quite a few experiments with sap along the way and only some made it into the final piece.
