Who are your plant friends?

This is what I’ve been thinking about lately. In the wide world of natural pigments there are so many materials to befriend. Humans have looked for pigments for hundreds of thousands of years, as long as we have existed. We found it in the ground as ochre and other kinds of minerals, in burnt wood as charcoal, in berries, leaves, bark, roots, seeds and then insects and mushrooms, mollusks, and seaweed. There are pigment explorers these days who find colors to use from toxic mine tailings and guns.

I choose to keep it simple. I just use leaves, stems, and flowers from plants that grow on our property and that I see every day. I think of it as a limited palette that allows me to go deep. I can observe specific plants over time, see their growth, and how they print on different months and even days. I do not keep a record of what I notice though. It’s more like I’m getting to know a friend and listening to their stories. 

I also only pick and print the plants that attract me or are calling to me. Which means there are many I haven't tried. People who visit the studio and observe my process often ask if I have tried such and such a plant. I say no, there are so many to try I haven’t gotten to that one yet. Which is true. But the wider truth is, that plant they have named is not calling out to me but might be calling to the visitor. We all have our own relationships with plants.