...painted with Marion berries...
I just wrapped up a two week vacation to Washington state. I'm in love with the Pacific North West and can't wait to move there...whenever that may be. Anyhoot, I was taking a walk in my parents backyard. Checking out all of the trees and nature stuff. My dad tells me that they have a Marion Berry tree. I trotted on over to check it out. Behold! A tree that I never took notice of, had some really dark, Raspberry looking like berries. Not sure if I wanna eat them, but I gotta pick them! LOL! So, I do and my fingers turn a red sorta wine color. (Yeah, I squashed some.) Long story short, I thought that they would make for a great painting medium. Here's how I started a Marion Berry painting.
I primed a canvas board with water color ground. It's the first time that I've ever tried it. Next, I did a quick sketch. (Found out I can't erase well on water color ground! LOL!) I decided that I liked the pencil sketch showing through. Lined the sketch with a fine tipped Sharpie.
I primed a canvas board with water color ground. It's the first time that I've ever tried it. Next, I did a quick sketch. (Found out I can't erase well on water color ground! LOL!) I decided that I liked the pencil sketch showing through. Lined the sketch with a fine tipped Sharpie.
Took the Marion Berries and smooshed them with a cork.
I added a teeny tiny bit of water, but really I don't think I needed it. I just smooshed some more berries. A small round tipped brush does the trick to apply my unusual medium...
At first, I'm excited. The color is beautiful....but then it slowly turns into a dark purple. Almost gray. Not a bad color, but that wine color was just so darn beautiful! So, I keep adding more...layering the color. My mom says to place it in the sun between layers. She seemed to think that it would dry the color into place. (...and she's not an artsy fartsy peep.) ...but you know what...it sorta works!
Now I've got several layers of different colors. The dark grayish purple becomes the shadows. The wine color shining through better. I also tapped on my paint brush to create splatters on the canvas. In and out of the sun to dry. The last thing I do to it is spray it with clear coat. I'm not too sure if the color will last. It seems to be holding up so far. Only time will tell.
I've got postal stamps affixed to the back of this 5x7 canvas board and addressed to my friend. It goes in the mail as is today.
Love the idea of using berries as a natural paint! I am really into natural dyes for wool, it would be interesting to see what else you could use for different colors! Great bird!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Maybe I should try blueberries....or hey! How's about some beets?!
DeleteI love the simplicity of your design... the berry-juice paint is fabulous!!
ReplyDeleteHope you also ate some, they are tasty!!
Thanks Jan! I did eat them. They were a snack and a medium. :)
DeleteI really like that painting, and the idea of painting with natural "paints", letting it dry in the sun might do something to the oxidisation process? And I had no idea there was such a thing as a watercolour ground, thank you for broadening my horizon ;)
ReplyDeleteFantastic painting, Mel! Those berries look like mulberries. I've never heard of Marion Berries. Lots of different kinds of berries can be used as ink. If you can find a stand of poke plants, the berries make a lovely deep pink colored ink. The poke berries are poisonous so don't eat them! It has been a couple years since I made the last batch of ink. I'll have to take a walk to the 'north forty' and see if the stand of poke is even still growing. Thanks for the reminder of using natural ingredients to make art!
ReplyDeleteLove it, Mel! It will be interesting to see how the juice color holds up. Give beet juice a try & post it. I bet it will give you a beautiful red:)
ReplyDeleteStunning design and love the use of berry "squeezin's." I, too, think they look like some type of mulberry.
ReplyDelete