Self-Sufficient Garden for Artists

Quietly and secretly, they found me: the plants flax, woad, weld, madder, and many more, and with them, the idea of ​​forging new paths with a garden of self-sufficient artistry. A few years ago, I decided I no longer wanted to paint with acrylics, and the search for alternatives began.

At the beginning, the question was, much like with food, to know what I was using to make art, I should produce it myself. This started a rollercoaster ride of gathering knowledge from incredible universes and then gaining corresponding experience, slowing down, surrendering to the cycle of nature, accepting it, trusting it, and becoming more serene.

The availability of the paints, which I make from plant-derived pigments with a casein binder (experiments with potatoe starch are evident), has naturally changed, and with it, my way of creating art. The search for alternatives began. And when the idea came up to grow and produce the canvases myself, my appreciation for old linen and this wonderful plant that makes it all possible – flax – increased infinitely.

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Since everything takes a considerable amount of time, and the path to my first large, self-grown, spun, and woven canvas is still long, I'm currently buying very old and wonderful handmade farm linen, which already carries a story within it and thus receives further appreciation. And it's a good feeling, with my newfound friend in transience in mind, that my art, after removing the staples from the wooden strips, could be composted and the cycle could close.

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"Art and nature are holistic and thus possess the power to guide us back to our origin, so that we can consciously, peacefully, and wholely shape life in unity despite diversity." (Angela Olbrich)