Hello!

I've been thinking about where to start if I want to discuss my eco prints and I believe it should be the basics!!!

Such as:

• What is an Eco Print?
• How do you prepare for the process?
• What is the process?
• How do you get a final product?

All valid questions for anyone wanting to know the how!

1. What is an Eco Print?

An eco print captures the essence of a plant.

Meaning the eco printing process transfers the pigment found in a plant onto a surface, such as watercolour paper or fabric.

2. How do you prepare for the process?

You will need mordanted paper, a heat source, a container which to boil your eco print, Depending on what surface you are printing on, lets say paper, you will need to mordant the paper first beforehand. Alumium Sulphate (ALUM) is used as a mordant. The forumla is as follows. Add the correct amount of ALUM to a tray of warm water. Add your paper then fill with more water so it covers the paper. Let soak for an hour. After an hour drain then dry. Now the paper is ready to use!

3. What is the process?

As an artist,  I find that my mind is always generating new ideas for paintings or projects. As you can imagine it can get a little overwhelming at times. I've found that over the years life gets in the way and projects and paintings are set aside for future creative sessions.

After a while, I have accumulated quite the collection of unfinished paintings and projects. I feel like some are impatiently waiting for their return and others seem to be quite content in their repose.

The painting above is entitled, Danish Poppy, which I started in 2019. I remember being very excited to work on it as it was following another large scale painting to of a poppy (Purple Poppy), which I felt so energized by...I thought yes, keep it coming!

Unfortuntely it was one of those, life gets in the way situations and it was left at the way side while I dealt with other things.

Yes my friends, it's day has finally come! It's on my easel once more and over the next little while when time allows, Danish Poppy will be my focus painting!

A little philosophy I have gleaned over the years...

Ebb and flow is an important concept to adopt as an artist.

I struggle many times with trying to push when in reality I needed to flow. It can't always be a crazed busy and productive time. We need to rest and recharge. Filling our bucket so we can get back into the hot mess of creating!

I'm flowing with the energy of my new site, new inspiration and the feeling that this is all in alignment!

Cheers,

z

Hello!

I'm glad you found your way here and decided to explore eco printing with me! It's a very satisfying process which forces you to just go with the flow. No matter how well you know your natural pigments, like what colours a magenta cosmos will yield (it's blue green with orange and yellow in the centre), you will still be pleasantly surprised at the final result.

Artistically, abstract art is not within my comfort zone. I prefer painting images as you see them, so more realism rather than abstraction, though I love to play with the colours to enhance my subject matter and add a little je ne sais quoi!

    The eco printing process is one which allows me to be more abstract

It's in the abstraction and loss of control that the magic happens. This is what pulls me in and keeps me coming back for more! Be warned, eco printing is very addictive!

I hope you will come back for more. This blog will feature process shots and reviews of past prints I've created. As well as exploration of the eco printing process by discussing observations on natural pigments I commonly use to create my pieces.