Iris Painting

Last month, we stumbled onto a new art project—painting with pigments from our garden. I’d love to tell you that it was premeditated but the truth is that I cut some irises for a centerpiece and put them in a vase with water. The next morning, there was a pool of ink on the counter. It looked black but when I touched it my fingers came away blue-purple. And just like that, a craft was born.

There are a few ways to make pigment, which I will detail in another post (we have many more garden crafts up our sleeve for the summer season!) but for now, just the irises. Because they were quite literally overflowing with pigment, collecting enough for a project was simple. I don’t know if this would work with commercial flowers given that they are treated differently than homegrown blooms. If you happen to have irises though, this is the incredibly simple process we used:

1. Cut irises on a 45 degree angle.

2. Place in warm water.

3. Let sit at room temperature (do not refrigerate as you would with roses) until the water has been absorbed enough that your fingers come away stained when you gently squeeze a petal. We didn’t realize our irises were producing ink until they’d sat overnight, though it’s possible they might do so after a much shorter time.

4. I’d suggest wearing disposable gloves and covering your workspace for this part. Remove one iris from the water and squeeze the bloom from the base to the ends of the petals over a cup or jar. Repeat with as many flowers as needed for the amount of ink you want.

5. Grab some paintbrushes, paper or canvas, and start painting! Note: you won’t need much water to dilute your ink as it’s already water-heavy. I’d suggest painting with a dry brush first and then dipping your brush lightly win water, squeezing out the excess, and placing back in the paint.

We only painted with one pigment as we were fresh from learning about the art of Sumi-e, in which black ink is used in spare strokes against a white background to create an impression full of movement and gesture rather than intricate detail. We’d had the chance to try it the week before and loved the process and outcome so much that we thought we’d use it as inspiration for our iris project.

Of course, you could also go all out and pull a full palette from your garden. Let your imagination go wild.

Happy journeying!