May 2024

Tree Time, May 2024

Related Exhibitions

    Tim McGlaughlin from my MAIWA ink-making course and Jason Logan from Toronto Ink Company said you can make ink from anything. So I made an ink painting of my kitchen window using only inks made from stuff in my kitchen. Yellow onion skins, black rice, a penny, salt, vinegar, cochineal bugs (source of red food dye #1, but I made it from scratch), and chickory.

    stuff from my kitchen.
    The blue-green is copper after soaking in vinegar and salt for 2 weeks. A little acrylic resist for the drapes.

    That was February 2022. I spent the next two years making ink from trees, flowers, berries and bugs, and learning how to use them on canvas. The seven TreeTime pieces are the result. For the story of the trees I used as a central image and why, check out the Artist Talk under Exhibitions/Tree Time. It’s one of three stories that together explore Time, Trees and Change.

    If you are interested in purchasing or showing any or all of these pieces, or an artist talk and workshop about natural inks and their use, write to me at keira@keiramcarthur.ca. I’d love to connect & share about these living colours.