I had been doing some research about gardening, flowers, vegetable gardens and the like, when I stumbled upon an article about creating paints from petals. This has honestly been the most exciting thing that I’ve come across in quite some time. Having no available paints and based in a location that does not easily permit online deliveries, it felt like the stars had aligned. I passed a relaxed afternoon testing out my colours and creating little paintings, here’s what I did:
Painting with petals
I sought out fiery red Tulips, an array of buttery yellow wild flowers, as well as some bright purple flowers that are apparently the three leaf clover.
Pouring over boiled water, just enough to cover the petals, I left them for several hours, overnight worked best. I stored the petals in glass jars with an air tight lid.
Don’t be disappointed if the colour of the water looks a little pond-like, by adding lemon juice or bicarbonate of soda, you can alter the colours. Each flower therefore has 3 possible colour options.
With a little research I’m quite sure that you can discover which flowers give out the strongest pigment, however I was making do with what I had in the garden and honestly I was pleasantly surprised.
The colours I produced, although bright in their jars, were mostly very faded on the paper, giving very soft pinks and reds, which worked well for me. I want to point out that I was also making do with a homemade paintbrush, I would like to think that the quality of my paintings might improve a little with a decent watercolour brush, but we won’t know for the moment.
Since the colours are natural, they will fade over time but the enjoyment came just as much from the process itself, searching out the flowers, experimenting with the colours and finally creating a little work of art straight from the garden! I think I will hang them on the walls whilst we’re in lockdown, who knows maybe we’ll be out before they fade.
Emily x x x