It was in the year 2005 I was still a graduate student finishing up my Ph.D. program in Australia when I was introduced to this exotic fruit called Avocado. I had never heard or seen this fruit before that, and honestly I never really liked the taste of it either but gradually over the years my taste buds developed a liking for avocados. If someone had asked me then what I did with food scraps? I would have simply replied—well,…
How to create handmade watercolor paints from foraged pigments. What is better; paints made from foraged natural pigments or mass-produced store-bought paints? Everything is derived from nature, unfortunately, today we are living in a world that is driven by consumerism. Imagine walking through a forest or climbing a mountain, and foraging for pigments to make your own paints just like how it was done in the bygone era, instead of going to an art supply store and purchasing a mass-produced…
The last leg of our summer holidays last year was spent in south-eastern Styria, locally known as the Steiriches Vulkanland (Volcano land). This region was a hotspot for volcanoes – but that was 17 million years ago. Today there isn’t any lava spewing out or any scorched black earth. Nature has done its course and created a beautiful lush green landscape of rolling hills. The hillcrests in this region are covered by forest and the valleys are dominated by farmland,…
I live in the lovely city of Graz, Austria. Every morning I go for a run or ride along the river Mur, which flows through the center of Graz. I had never noticed the diversity of flora and fauna alongside the river until I adapted to my new avatar as an artist a couple of years ago Even though I have always loved being in nature it is only when I started sketching outdoors that I began to observe and…
Make your own children’s watercolor paints from plants! As, I learned and grew more into natural, toxin-free, and sustainable living; I was quite set on creating alternatives to traditional, non-natural toxic paints for my artwork. I wasn’t always an artist, I reconnected to this dormant artist within me four years ago, and since then I have only been working with my own natural and non-toxic handmade watercolors. For obvious reasons, I’m not thrilled when it comes to store-bought children’s arts…