organic art – melissa mary jenkins art

I set out to write this blog post before the snow settles on the ground here in Canada. We did experience our first snowflakes of the year last night, so I finally felt “the push” to post this recipe. I first heard about transforming grass into ink when I watched an online Zoom lecture by Marjorie Morgan. Marjorie is a natural ink maker, artist, printmaker and environmentalist. I highly recommend watching this workshop if you are interested in learning more about Natural Inks. Making Ink with Natural Materials Zoom Lecture/Demonstration for Greenfield Community College on 9/23/20!

Making Ink with Natural Materials by Marjorie Morgan

Now let’s talk a bit about what makes grass green. To break it down simply, grass leaves collect energy from sunlight through photosynthesis. The photosynthesizing chlorophyll in the leaf gives grass its green color. The grass ink recipe that I will share with you today creates a vibrant green ink that is such a beautiful and simple way to begin your natural ink journey.

Ingredients and Materials:

fresh grass

water

a blender (I use a Magic Bullet that I keep for ink-making only)

a funnel and coffee filter or a panty hose sock or a piece of cheesecloth/fabric and an elastic

a glass jar with a lid

a spoon or fork

paper (try different types i.e. watercolour paper and/or natural paper)

brush and/or eye dropper

a rag

pencil/pen and label

clove (optional)

Instructions:

-Grab 2 handfuls of fresh grass.

-Put the grass in your blender and add a little bit of water.

-Turn your blender on and blend until you get a rich green liquid. If the grass is struggling to blend, you may need to stir it up and blend more or add a little bit more water (it will smell like a freshly mowed lawn).

-Cover a glass jar with a filter of your choice: a funnel and coffee filter, a panty hose sock or a piece of cheesecloth/fabric secured with an elastic.

-Pour the ink into the glass jar through the filter.

-Using a paint brush, your fingers or an eye dropper, experiment with your new green ink on paper. You may wish to spray water onto your paper and then add drops of the ink and watch the ink travel into and across the water.

-When you are finished painting with the ink, label the glass jar, put the lid on and refrigerate.

The ink makes a rich dark green (that darkens as it dries) and lasts surprisingly long. Keep out of direct sunlight to prolong the colour on paper. You may wish to add a clove to your jar to help preserve the ink.

“The sound was rich, wild and resonant.”

This line from Hazel Prior’s novel Ellie and the Harp Maker sparked in me an entire series of paintings.

The rich part of this series is the black ink that I handcrafted from creating my own lampblack. Lampblack is a black pigment made from soot. Using this black pigment, I composed a recipe to form a rich, black archival ink that is a delight to watch flow across the page.

The “resonance” series is built around the concept of resonance.

lexico.com defines resonance as:

The quality in a sound of being deep, full, and reverberating.
The power to evoke enduring images, memories, and emotions.

“The sound was rich, wild and resonant” resonated or struck a chord with me because sound and music is such an integral part of my process. I listen to “flowing” music that reminds me of water as I spread the ink on the paper. Fluidity of my mind and body is essential to ensuring that the thread that I lay down doesn’t appear jagged. When I add in the many tiny marks, I listen to folk music and add the marks to the beat of the songs. This helps me to enjoy the tedious task and, in a way, become a part of the rhythm of the painting.

I also resonate with the wild aspect of this line from Prior’s novel. Being outside in the wild completes my soul. Another line from Ellie and the Harp Maker that I resonated with is: “A walk in the wilds is what I need.” It is as though the “wild” speaks to me through the sound of the wind through the trees saying: “you are complete.” So much so, that my paintings reflect the wilds around my studio. As I lay down the ink, I envision the rolling hills and the trees that dot the horizon as marks on the page. The lines of thread are the paths I take through the hills and forests as I resonate in the wild.

It is my hope that this new series that I have entitled RESONANCE urges you to quietly reflect on “small truths”:

“The kinds of truth that art gives us many, many times are small truths. They don’t have the resonance of an encyclical from the Pope stating an eternal truth, but they partake of the quality of eternity. There is a sort of timeless delight in them.” -Seamus Heaney

May this artwork compel you to “partake of the quality of eternity.” May it help to quench that space in our souls that can’t be captured, like a glorious yet fleeting sunset. May it help you capture that magical emotion that we wish to enclose with our hands and hide in our hearts. And may you be inspired to discover the wilds of your world.

The “resonance” series will be released in my Etsy shop Wednesday, May 27 at 12 pm EST. Use the coupon code RESONANCE to receive a 10% discount.

Tag: organic art

How to Make Green Ink with Grass and Water

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