Lake pigments continued

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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

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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).

Plant pigment

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close to home, colour, crafts, DIY, garden, mordant, nature, plants, primitivepaints, scruffyartsupplies, summer

Five years ago I did a brief test of concentrated plant dye baths to see what they were like as watercolours. I didn’t add anything to it as I recall and I’m not sure where my sample is now!

More on local art supplies

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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.

Graze

Tags

frost, morning, nature, seasons, sun, sunrise, walking, weather, wildlife, winter

Last time I spoke to you at 8 am, it was dark as a witches’ cauldron. Now this:

Just in from my morning walk and met up with the little band of deer that spend a lot of time in my big horse paddock.

First frost

Tags

nature, seasons, weather, winter

Spectacular morning, absolutely no wind for a change and everything coated in powdered sugar. I love the crisp air of a morning like this – now I just need to introduce wool socks for my wellies and hope for more photo ops on a day when I don’t have early appointments!

My failed nettle-along

Tags

crafts, fiber, fiber prep, nature, nettle-along, nettles, plants, yarn

The lack of interest last year allowed me to slack off on the subject, and the nettles I gathered are in fact still on the rafters in bundles. I partially blame blogging as a difficult forum for debates and sharing, as well as my lack of expertise obviously.

As luck would have it, I’m now off the hook – Motherowl invited me to a Facebook group a little while ago, created by Allan Brown who has considerably more experience in the matter as well as a lovely video describing his process. In a very short time thousands of people have enrolled from all over the world, quite a few Danes too! So the interest is clearly there and I look forward to learning more. (even though I detest FB)

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)

Wintertime

Tags

autumn, country life, nature, relax, seasons, time, winter

Daylight savings over, it now gets dark at 5 but for a while longer it’s easier to get up in the morning at least. When I was serious about horseriding this was a time of anguish for me, as I couldn’t make it out before dark unless I geared up around 2 pm. Out here it’s dark when the sun goes down, not even a single street lamp, so we feel the seasons more than in the city – although I remember November in CPH being decidedly glum, so perhaps not.

Well, did she make it then?

Tags

autumn, CFS, colourways, determination, drive, fatigue, health, intention, life, longread, nature, plants, relax

I left you last Monday saying I wasn’t quite up to speed in the sleepiness department. Spent the afternoon trying peppy music (I usually prefer spending the day in silence) and preppy activities such as winding yarns for dyeing, and cutting up an old fiber board for taping papers onto while painting. Thank goodness for power tools, brrrrm, zoom, done.

Then I was extra careful not to vaccuum up any of my good pens with the saw dust, but proceeded to do just that of course, getting it stuck somewhere inside the machinery. That extrication process took longer than all the rest, but such happenings are just part of any normal day around here. Gets your pulse up.