shades of flowers….. colors of life…..

a flower’s life-span is usually a short year…. from seed to fertilization to sprout to bud to colorful flower to falling petals to wilting…. there is so much….. and so much color and many shades of each….

in the act of reproducing a few older images, I began thinking particularly of natural, non synthetic color…. painting or imagining the flowers by understanding their color….how they grow or decompose or cycle through shades of color….

so I tried painting w. a few natural dyes in the mix…. the effect is both complicated and wonderful…. often the ink or paint that colors the paper changes noticeably over time (as the painting is being completed) w. absorption and dryness (oxygenation)…. giving a lasting impression of inexactitude of nature….

images of roses (2019) using mostly non synthetic dyes (left, natural food coloring; right, mulberry tinctures) w. dried magnolia petals and paper made from recycled fabric.
impressions of piece, “Mulberry Branches (2019,)” all non synthetic color (ink from stain of mulberries w. non petroleum based oils and other natural tincture,) comparing absorption and color on cotton paper.
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