Tansy on Cotton

Tansy on Cotton
Flower pigment, pen and ink on cotton, 8x9.5

This pounding is of tansy in my garden.  It blooms in yellow atop tall feathery fronds.  Used in teas, it is one plant I needed to keep away from cattle - as it can affect their milk (or so I was told).  Since we live in the country, that meant keeping it away from the fences and edges of the yard.  We no longer run cattle, but I still keep it far from fence lines!  The blooms are tiny yellow ball shapes in clusters, which here turned to the brown shades.  I wonder if cutting fresher blooms would result in more of their true yellow color seeping into the fabric.  I found that with sunflowers, I needed to cut them and pound them immediately, or their petals would release very little color.  Each flower is a new experience - and who knows the next blooms will bring!  This is Day 17 in the 30 day painting challenge and the 990th painting in 990 days!! Woohoo!

Roses on Cotton

Red Roses on Cotton
Flower pigment, pen and ink on cotton, 8x9.5

I learned several things with today's flower pounding experience.  The rose that was almost red to fall apart had the strongest and most defined pigment.  The fresher ones were just too juicy.  So, the next time I have roses ready to fall apart in the vase - I will pound them instead of tossing them!  Today, I am using unbleached muslin, which is thicker than the cotton I used before, and the texture is coarser.  It works well, but I wonder how something like batiste would work......it is natural cotton, but quite thin. Perhaps the pigment would be stronger just because there would be less fabric to bleed into to produce a good image.  The best part of this project?  I pounded the flowers ahead of time, allowed them to dry (with 4 others), and then took them with my to ink in the car as I waited for the boys to get out of school!  It is a fabulous project for waiting time, because there is no clean up, other than capping my pen and setting the cotton aside.  Much easier than shutting down my "in car watercolor studio" at the bel of release!  This is Day 16 in the 30 day painting challenge and my 989th painting in 989 days :)

Crape Myrtle Sprig

Crape Myrtle Sprig
Flower pounding, pen & ink on cotton fabric, 8x9.5

Today, I am experimenting with flower pounding!  I have wanted to give this a try for years.  The first step is to pick some flowers and lay them on a natural fiber surface, cotton in my case.  Then, after covering the flowers with wax paper, I pounded them on a wood surface with an actual hammer!  I brought a large rubber mallet to use, but it did not force the stain out of the petals like a real hammer did.  Next step - allow fabric to dry.  I left half the crushed flower pieces on until dry, and then scraped them off with a plastic putty knife and stiff, short brush.  Next - and most daunting, was to define all petals, leaves and stems with an india ink pen.  I chose sepia color, to add to the vintage feel of this project.  Once this was done, I went into those lightly stained areas with just a bit of color, using my Tombow brush pens in matching colors, on their sides. This was SO much fun - I now want to run out and pound every flower in the yard!  This is painting number 13 in the 30 Day Painting Challenge, and 986 in 986 days for me :)