Catherine
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deleifd.bsky.social
Catherine
@deleifd.bsky.social
84 followers 140 following 99 posts
Makes jam. Has chickens. Co-author of ‘Groundwork: The art and writing of Emily Cumming Harris’. Pākehā/Rongowhakaata. She/her/ia. NZ
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deleifd.bsky.social
Tonight we’re giving an author talk at Unity Books Wellington at 6pm! Our presentation features our favourite research moments, artwork by Emily Cumming Harris & we're bringing our collection of rare hand-coloured books from the 1890s to display. www.facebook.com/share/1FN2pX...
Book cover of ‘Groundwork: The art and writing of Emily Cumming Harris’ and text advertising a free author talk at Unity Books, Wellington, 6pm, Wednesday 26 November 11 lithograph books from 1890 laid on a table. Some of the botanical plates have been hand-coloured by Emily Harris using watercolour paints A delicate sketch of a brown butterfly perched on a stem of forget-me-not-flowers, with handwritten text above & below it. This card is dated 1826 and is pasted in a Georgian and Victorian scrapbook that belonged to Emily Cumming Harris’s aunt, who lived in England.
November 25, 2025 at 9:50 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
The yellow pōhutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa ‘Aurea’) behind Chaffers New World in Wellington is in full bloom. Covered in bees this morning 💛
A yellow flowering pōhutukawa tree in bloom with the fire station building behind it Close up of the fuzzy yellow flowers in bloom on a pōhutukawa tree
November 19, 2025 at 12:21 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Walked up to the stopbank after seeing your post, thanks!
A sunset, with golden sky on the horizon and waves of pink cloud above
November 18, 2025 at 8:16 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Grew a rainbow of aquilegia 🌈
A hand holding a bunch of aquilegia flowers that range in colour from pink, red, yellow, pale yellow, lilac and dark purple
November 10, 2025 at 11:38 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
New Plymouth people - Michele & I are giving a talk about some of our book research highlights. 6pm, Wed 5 Nov, Taranaki Research Centre. Come say hi! #taranaki #botanicalart #newplymouth
The book ‘Groundwork: The art and writing of Emily Cumming Harris’ held up in front of Taranaki Mounga, which has white snow on its peak
November 3, 2025 at 1:53 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Was excited to come across these elegant pressed fern specimens in a file I looked through today, c.late 1800s/early 1900s. But I miss the time when I could order a file from NZ Archives & view it 45 mins later. Takes 3 days now.
An arrangement of different-coloured dried ferns on a page, spread out like the rays of a sun An arrangement of different-coloured dried ferns on a page, spread out like the rays of a sun An arrangement of different-coloured dried ferns on a page, spread out in different directions, with the tallest specimen in the middle pointing upwards A striking arrangement of different-coloured dried ferns on a page. They are centred around a middy-type specimen in the centre
October 17, 2025 at 6:25 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Such a stunning pukapuka! Am at the launch at Unity Books for ‘He Puāwai’ by @theobrominated.bsky.social 🌸🌼🪻Perfect Christmas present
3 copies of the book ‘He Puāwai’ with beautiful coloured flowers on the front cover
October 10, 2025 at 5:38 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
The Zinefest at the School of Architecture on Vivian Street in Pōneke is super cool. We had a blast buying zines, stickers & having little portraits drawn. Love the creativity ❤️ #wellingtonzinefest
Stallholders sitting behind stalls full of colourful zines, stickers and original artworks. There are lots of people looking at the stalls.
October 5, 2025 at 1:52 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
They looked like they were having a great time (and also puzzled by the woman in the bushes. Again.) Found this beauty too, who bit me with vigour as I gently re-homed him.
An upset male tree wētā in my gloved hand, biting hard on the glove with its large mandibles
September 12, 2025 at 2:33 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
I’m always doing something weird when @fromthemorgue.bsky.social is out walking his adorable dogs. Today I was removing ivy that’s smothering trees down by the awa. Little point doing predator removal if we’re not also restoring habitat #predatorfreenz
Two photos side-by-side. On the left is a tree trunk smothered in ivy and on the right the ivy has been removed from the tree
September 12, 2025 at 12:00 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Here’s the latest Wellington Wellkiwis tracking. My daughter had influenza B 2 weeks ago, looks like that’s (hopefully) starting to drop
Wellkiwis virus graph for 2025. Shows confirmed cases of influenza, covid, rhinovirus, RSV & other viruses and they were at their peak in second week of August.
August 31, 2025 at 8:41 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
Wish I could post videos here. Saw this cute baby seal swimming on the waterfront. It saw me, and then hopped on to a rock and clambered up towards me. I moved very quickly.
A baby seal with beautiful big eyes on the edge of the waterfront A baby seal sitting on the waterfront. It is wet as it has just jumped out of the water.
June 29, 2025 at 6:06 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Public thank you to @chaneyz85.bsky.social for being awesome at her job and helping us make a big research discovery! #findingmissingbooks #emilycummingharris
A hand-coloured plate from Thomas Kirk’s book ‘The Forest Flora of New Zealand’. It shows a plant coastal maire plant specimen with very large green leaves that has been coloured using watercolour. There is a note to the right in Emily Cumming Harris’s handwriting that says “Owing to the paper being thin and highly glazed, the leaves which cover a large surface will not take the paint well, and consequently have a striped and unfinished appearance.” A hand-coloured lithograph of a titoki plant specimen, that has been coloured using watercolour. The leaves are green, the outer part of the berries are brown and the betties themselves are bright red with black seeds in the middle. A hand-coloured lithograph that shows a specimen of kōwhai, with its leaves, seed pod and flowers. The flowers are a brilliant yellow.
June 27, 2025 at 4:31 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
In need of tōhu & good news stories, so was pleased to see 7 kōtuku ngutupapa / royal spoonbills along the awa this morning. Usually only see 2 or 3 #teawakairangi #predatorfreenz
Seven white birds on long thin legs standing on a rocky river bed, with their heads tucked under their wings
June 5, 2025 at 10:45 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
It looks even weirder today! #aotearoa #fungus
A red fungus with four ‘tentacles’ with black goo smeared on them. It has a hole in the centre.
June 5, 2025 at 4:04 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
First time finding Devil’s Fingers fungus / Clathrus archeri / octopus stinkhorn, thanks to a hot tip from a friend ahead of all the heavy rain. Tiny, alien-looking & very smelly
A red fungus with five outstretched ‘arms’, resembling a starfish, with a hole in the centre. This specimen is smaller than the palm of my hand.
June 4, 2025 at 1:00 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
Found some very cool specimens of Tūtae kēhua / basket fungus / Ileodictyon cibarium while checking our Predator Free trapline along the awa this morning
#predatorfree #teawakairangi
Two white basket fungi growing next to each other. They are shaped like a mesh ball with a lattice pattern. A large basket fungus specimen growing out of the ground. It is white and has a lattice-like shape.
May 29, 2025 at 10:27 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
Groundwork is in excellent company at Te Āmiki in the National Library, right next to @carenwilton.bsky.social 😆 #emilycummingharris #botanicalart #womenartists
May 27, 2025 at 1:06 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
And here are three watercolour images from Emily's unpublished book 'New Zealand Mountain Flora', which she made between 1894-1910. There are 28 watercolours and accompanying text in the collection of the ATL - hopefully one day it can be published in full
#botanicalart #emilycummingharris #art
Three images from Emily's unpublished book 'New Zealand mountain Flora'. The cover image depicts an artist's palette, with the words 'new Zealand Mountain Flora' on it, and a genitan plant twining through and around it; the second watercolour shows flowers from Taranaki Mounga, including blue-tinged lobelia, yellow ranunculus and white celmisia. In the background Emily has lightly sketched the mountain; the third watercolour shows a cut specimen of Rubus parvus, with bright red berries and white flowers, that look similar to blackberries. Emily lightly sketches hills and mountains in the top left hand corner.
May 17, 2025 at 11:03 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
In 1890 Emily published three lithograph books: New Zealand Flowers, Berries and Ferns. In the mid-1890s she started hand-colouring the books and we have found many different editions that show her fantastic differences in colouring - like these astelia berries
#lithograph #botanicalart
Three different hand-coloured astelia plates from Emily’s book ‘New Zealand Berries’ that show her startling colour differences: she paints the berries in different stages of maturity, ranging from bright yellow, orange and yellow, and various shades of peach, orange and amber
May 17, 2025 at 10:54 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
Here are three watercolours by Emily that are in the collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington. She depicts mahoe berries, flowering rātā and the brown flower bracts of kiekie
#botanical art #watercolour
Three watercolours paintings by Emily Harris, that are in the collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library. They depict a beautiful branch of purple mahoe berries nestled amongst green leaves; a bright specimen of red-flowering rātā against a blue and brown watercolour background; and a cut specimen of kiekie with long, brown flower bracts that resemble corn cobs, surrounded by green leaves
May 17, 2025 at 10:44 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
Happy Worldwide Day of Botanical Art! Today I’m celebrating Aotearoa / New Zealand artist Emily Cumming Harris (1837-1925) and her beautiful paintings #botanicalart #botany #newzealand #woman #artist
An 1870s photo of Emily Cumming Harris, showing her with hair tied up & wearing a black dress with white collar. The image also contains two watercolour paintings by her from c.1879: Chatham Island forget-me-nots with large green leaves and delicate blue flowers, edged with brown ferns and there is a little copper butterfly on the left-hand side. The second painting depicts an autumnal scene of a branch of golden-orange taupata berries, white akeake seed pods reaching up next to the branch and a delicate blue background painted in watercolour
May 17, 2025 at 10:37 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
Not often the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul is totally packed. Tonight’s Supertonic performance of Mozart’s Requiem was sublime - beautiful orchestration & choral singing 💜 #supertonic
A cathedral full of people and the interior lit with pink and purple lights
May 17, 2025 at 11:41 AM
deleifd.bsky.social
How did we write a book about art when one of us is blind? Michele & I discuss ‘blind seeing & beyond’ in our Spinoff article: thespinoff.co.nz/books/03-05-... Thanks @clairemabey.bsky.social 🌱
Screenshot of the Spinoff website showing our book cover, with orange taupata berries and white akeake seed capsules, and the headline ‘Blind seeing and beyond: how we approached Groundwork’
May 2, 2025 at 7:33 PM
deleifd.bsky.social
A red rose and blue cornflower have been painted directly on the page and real fern leaves have been pressed and glued on in an oval shape around the flowers A little brown butterfly perches on a stalk of blue forget-me-not flowers. There is writing in Danish above and underneath the sketch that reads: ‘Fravarende, kiare Veninde! vil denne litle blomst gientage et Hjertets Onsree? Jra Deres meget hengiune’ A brightly-coloured Atlas moth painted in watercolour on thin paper that has been glued onto the scrapbook page. The moth is red, brown, yellow and black and really striking. It was originally on a rectangular piece of paper and the lower half has been cut as a rough semi-circle. A watercolour sketch of small plant with white flowers is painted directly on the page. A yellow butterfly ‘cut out’ has been pasted on one flower, and a green hummingbird ‘cut out’ pasted on the other. Cream recto.
April 30, 2025 at 6:06 AM