Yesterday I found myself in a very odd place. All the renovations in the yard and garden that I mapped out for myself had been completed. I have planted shelling peas and sweet peas but it's too early to plant most of the other things I want to grow, so I'm in a holding pattern. This gave room for other desires to kick in. One of them was to see if I could muster some eco dyed papers.
I approached the project with caution, knowing that It would probably not be all that spectacular as I have very few plants to work with right now. This is a precarious place to begin, as an artist's confidence is very easily shattered. At least this artist. But there I was with time on my hands and a few little blossoms here and there to experiment with. So I dove in.
Compared to what I usually gather to do a batch, this was definitely a 'light run'. I did find some pressed flowering plum leaves from last year to add to the mix, so that was nice. However, my instinct was correct, the batch was far from stunning. I only had just a handful of flowers to use, and nothing very dramatic came from them. But I am comforting myself with the knowledge that the 'first run' is now over and I'm looking forward to better things. It may be many weeks before I attempt another one. I need to let my creative disappointments heal up.
(Lordy, what a pansy you are.)
Do you have any pansies? I could have used some pansies yesterday. A couple of big purple ones might have brightened things up in this batch.
(No I don't HAVE a pansy. I LIVE with one.)
Oh.
So here are a few papers from the batch:
Mr. P came by with the mail while I was unpacking the bundle out on the porch. He said the image on the paper above looked like a dragon. I rarely see these images myself. My mother and brother also point out all manner of fantastical things when they look at the papers. But now that I look closely, I think there are two dragons in this one!
This is bulbous bluegrass that grows all over the place here in the Spring.
This lilac blossom only resists color and reveals the shape of its petals. Too bad it doesn't show its beautiful colors, never mind its mind altering fragrance. But in the alchemy of eco dye, you take what you can get.
For now, I'm just longing for a beautiful Grandpa Ott morning glory to work with. THAT is going to be quite some time from now. Patience required. As usual.
