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  • #463501
    Snow_tabby
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        Lately I decided to harvest fall/autumn leaves and even dried a few flower blossoms for art supplies. I find that they are a great source of free colours. I’ve even put some of the stuff to good use besides mulch.

        Does any one else love to collect free art supplies provided by nature?

        #713253
        La_
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            wild raspberry blight makes a great alyzarin type ink

            and clay, lots of clay to play with

            la

            _____________________________________________
            When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know Peace

            #713257
            CarlyHardy
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                I’ve tried autumn leaves before but unless treated somehow, they always lost their color. Haven’t tried sealing them with acrylic spray but that might work. I collect things all the time…right now acorns are plentiful. Pine cones, branches, dried weed pods. Oh and sticks make great markers when dipped in paint..very abstract.

                #713254
                Snow_tabby
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                    My favorite way of preserving leaves and flowers so far is the most simplest way. I just place them between old newspapers, top with cardboard and then weight them down with stuff in a nice dry room. I have the furnace on and the added darkness does a real good job of preserving them. So far most of my yellow leaves are pretty vibrant. A few get brown but that’s alright. Brown leaves are useful too. My red based leaves stay pretty much as is as for colour.

                    But here are some other methods I found online that people use in preserving leaves.
                    https://www.redtedart.com/how-to-preserve-leaves-6-methods/%5B/URL%5D

                    When dried enough I store them in a special folder marked fragile. Smaller leaves get placed in envelopes with in the folder. I keep the folder in a cool dark place weighted down of course. I just have to remember where I stored them though. ;)

                    #713252
                    gigih
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                        Lots of river rocks, love painting on them .

                        #713255
                        Use Her Name
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                            Bird feathers are nice to paint with. (To use as brushes).

                            No longer a member of WC. Bye.

                            #713258
                            CarlyHardy
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                                Fish prints…have a friend who does those.

                                #713259
                                Nerys51
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                                    I have some fresh thin willow and hazel branches in a vase with water and will be painting small leaves on thick paper to glue on these for Easter decorations.

                                    #713260
                                    ntl
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                                        Bird feathers are nice to paint with. (To use as brushes).

                                        Thanks for that reminder. I plan to use cobalt violet (toxic) on my painting. To avoid cleaning the brush, I will use feathers that I can toss. Just using them to glaze, so not hard treatment. I found 4 yesterday.

                                        #713251
                                        musket
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                                            It is illegal to collect the feathers of all migratory birds species, so be discreet.

                                            #713261
                                            ntl
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                                                Thanks for that reminder. I plan to use cobalt violet (toxic) on my painting. To avoid cleaning the brush, I will use feathers that I can toss. Just using them to glaze, so not hard treatment. I found 4 yesterday.

                                                Today (Tues 5) I finally used a bird feather for the glaze. It worked well. I used a glove, too.It was hard on the feather though the glaze was pretty fluid.

                                                no migratory birds. In fact, though I haven’t been out a lot yet, there doesn’t seem to be the numbers of pigeons we’ve had previous years. These are local bird feathers.

                                                #713264

                                                My favourite colour is red, and upon researching, this article that talks about red – from history, symbolism, and usage in art provided me with so much valuable information :clap:

                                                A plant they called madder, whose root could be transformed into a red dye, widely grew across Europe, Africa, and Asia. They also discovered a tiny scale insect called Kermes whose body was dried and crushed, resulting in a red tint. This is where the first versions of the color red was derived. Coolio, right? :thumbsup:

                                                #713265

                                                Heh. I’ve collected maroon dirt, yellow dirt, pale buff dirt. “Earth pigments” in fact. Mixing with acrylic medium gives a thick and crunchy sort of paste, even after grinding ’em in a pestle. A few experiments were exciting, and I’ll get back to them, but no pics to post yet.

                                                For a botany class once I pressed a lot of flowers. Many, perhaps most, of the organic pigments in the flowers and leaves changed a great deal over time. Some (lookin’ at YOU, beach peas) are sensitive to pH; others (western columbine) went from lovely scarlet to dull brown.

                                                Moral: check natural pigments for color-fastness. I have a few early dye experiments that have changed a lot just from indirect light indoors. And the changes are not very good!

                                                Dharma Trading in San Francisco, USA, offers a few natural pigments — including the madder and cochineal mentioned by reginareyesart. Linky: https://www.dharmatrading.com/dyes/natural-dyes-from-plants-and-insects.html?lnav=dyes.html

                                                ~~ Don

                                                #713256
                                                mudcat3
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                                                    I was walking around our new property and observed the black cherry trees were weeping clear sap. I remembered reading that before gum Arabic was available, Europeans made watercolors using cherry gum (sap) as a medium. Maybe I would try it someday just for experiments.

                                                    #713262
                                                    rafaartstudio
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                                                        Tropical sand and and coffee beans :clap:. Beaches and caffeine make a chill mix that gets me to the “High Yellow Note” :lol:. Just kidding :p.

                                                        Honestly, I used a pair of times the grains of sand on some paintings to create a particular texture. Not to mention the washes I have done with coffee beans, and the texture that I used from some nuts to roll over a canvas :).

                                                        Nature is beautiful and free to use!

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