Lake pigments continued

Tags

closetohome, colour, crafts, DIY, mordant, nature, plants, primitivepaints, scruffyartsupplies

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Now that I have a small first collection of pigments to play with before new plants can be tested next summer (I do have some old dried things I can try too), there are multiple ways to use them. They need some kind of binder, although I suppose you could just soak them in water. Alcohol? But even watercolours have binders added to add intensity to the colour as well as make it stick to your paper.

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Winding down

Tags

autumn, nature, seasons, video, weather

Rainy grey day today, a reminder that soon, soon, I’ll want to stay indoors for days on end, playing rotisserie in front of the wood stove, rushing through and not around the outside of the barn to get to my studio upstairs. Thinking in muted tones and drinking buckets of tea, layering up in wool sweaters and socks.

Only a week ago I was in the hammock on a beautiful warm, quiet day with that certain something in the air that is no longer summer – not the least an unusual gathering of birdies doing acrobatics over the garden. It took me a long while to realize that I had brought my phone for a change and that it does in fact make videos (because forget taking a still photo of the little speedsters).

More on local art supplies

Tags

close to home, colour, country life, crafts, DIY, dyeing, mordant, nature, plants

During an investigation into using dry pigments and beeswax for painting rather than oilpaints, which I’m not enjoying, I’d been reading about making lake pigments and thought it would be fun to give it a try. These are pigments from plants as opposed to rock/earth/metal based colours, and since I already had some remedies as well as dried plant materials for dyeing wool, it wasn’t too much trouble to give it a try.

Micro foraging for art supplies

Tags

close to home, country life, creativity, inner conviction, inspiration, intention, life, seasons, summer, weather

It hasn’t rained here in 3 months and has been unusually hot too, so most blooming things are over and done with if they have even survived. I’m glad I didn’t make a dye garden this year, as the cost of watering would have been massive.

Summer briefing

Tags

blogging, country life, crafts, creativity, exercise, fatigue, garden, gardening, health, intention, life, summer, weather, weight loss

While I’m cooking up that promised weaving post, I’m going to drag you through a bit of a general status update of life at the cottage.

Today’s yardwork

Tags

autumn, leaves, seasons, small stone, tinypost

Clearing the view through inner courtyard. Some day I may even renovate the rest of it.

August!

Tags

autumn, garden, life, orange, summer, texture, weather

How has summer been treating you so far? Here in DK, children will be starting school again soon, in other countries I know August is the big holiday month. Do you have plans or did they already happen?

Point and shoot 3

Tags

colour, country life, flowers, garden, nature, spring, weather

Despite cold winds and rain, nature persists in getting on with spring. Last weekend was fabulous which also meant catching up on some outdoors jobs before the next storm, but I managed an ultra short “blind” photo session (as in “I can’t see a bloody thing on the display in this light”) to remind me that sweater and woodstove days will eventually be over.

Today I noticed the rape seed fields are blooming, which means I’ll be scanning the skyline soon for a very longterm project that I’ve pondered for a while but finally begun to organize at least. Too windy and chilly today however and not enough sun. Hopefully it’s still happening when my back has recovered from last weekend!

How is spring coming along in your part of the world? (or autumn, if that’s the case)

Foliage of the week

Tags

autumn, colour, leaves, seasons, trees

– garden views for you today. I try to get my butt outside every time the weather lets up, even just for a short spell. And every year in October I just go nuts clicking at leaves, once I start I can’t seem to stop, 100’s of images and nothing to do with them! These are just the raw snaps, I hope to dive deeper into work on them later. Too many varied projects going on right now, so next task will be getting all my ducks in a row.

A day in the life of

Tags

country life, garden, life, nature, quiet, relax, seasons, spider, summer, tranquility, video, weather, wildlife, wordy wednesday

I’m blogging you today from my garden office, as we’ve suddenly been gifted with summer weather. So much of it in fact that I realize in a minute I’ll have to step inside for shorts and a lighter t-shirt!