Milk Paint, Painting (Unicorn!)

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Milk paint! This is my first attempt at doing what i call a "real" painting using only organic milk paints. I wish when I went to school for art we had been taught more about our art supplies and less about outdated techniques & critiques. I never needed the technique lessons (or wasn't interested), but certainly it would have been eye opening to see how toxic paints were made, and learn some alternatives to them.
This milk paint is tricky to use as an artist paint, because of the way it dries and has to be stored, and used within a certain time frame. I happen to paint fast, but anyone who likes to take their time will most likely have to mix the paint each time in small batches... which isn't hard, just add (alot of) SUPER HOT water and stir it up. it is time consuming - but that can be fun too... i mean, the famous artists back in the days of old made all their own shit, they didn't pop over to the mass manfactured art store!
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This painting is done on scrap canvas/tapestry type fabric, using only 100% organic milk paint. The video below shows the process.







Xoxoxox

Re-Painting My Cabinets With Milk Paint

I finally got around to painting the old cabinets that were here in the Luck Cabin, although they were not fancy/special I decided they were still functional & good enough to use. I even liked the color variations painted on them, but now that I have discovered the fun, bright and non toxic colors of milk paint I can hardly help myself--- i wanna paint EVerYthinG!
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BEFORE THE MILK PAINT :::::::
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The cabinets were originally all in one weird kitchen set up - which I broke up into two rooms so that the Luck Cabin could have a bathroom. I left the cabinets where they were on the walls and included them in the rooms they ended up in. :)

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PAINTING WITH MILK PAINT::::::

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I took all the cabinet doors off and painted them "salem red" (see top pic)- using the Old Fashioned Milk Paint Co.'s earth pigmented powders meant for covering up prior paint jobs, called Safe Paint. The safe paint is the same formula as the original & ancient milk paint recipe, with variations on the quantities of ingredients - this makes it so it is stronger, richer color, mold resistant, and can be applied over old toxic paints, glass, metal and plastic!

For my cabinets, I wanted a fun nature themed design added- so I decided to add silhouettes in "federal blue" against the brightness of the red. I used a sharp matte knife blade to cut them out of magazines and computer printed pictures.

Once I had them cut out I verrrrry carefully applied the paint through the cut out picture, making sure to hold down tight each little portion while applying the milk paint with a sponge brush. If you use something more stiff to trace and cut out your shapes you don't have to be as rigid, but with paper cut outs, the paper may stick to the paint, so it's important to go slow.

WaY Freakin' COooooL !!!

Each door has a different animal, and one has a tree! My bathroom is native animals and the kitchen is more exotic themed. :)

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AFTER THE MILK PAINT DRIED :::::::::

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LOve it! I can not really recommend this kind of paint enough - I dont know any paint that can do a job this beautiful that also has ZERO environmental effects on water, soil, nature etc... it is made from entirely natural sources, that I believe makes milk paint as clean and eco as it gets.

PS- I know my kitchen is kinda a mess, I swear I cleaned it up after I took this! ;)

Xoxoxoxo

Eco Art: Earth Clay & Rabbit Poo Part 2

This is NOT a big cookie ya'll! It's just more clay and rabbit scat.... and that's not chocolate chips I stuck on top there either, it's broken glass. But doesn't it look delicious, huh ? :)

I am loving making stuff out of the clay in the ground by my house and with rabbit poop! Only problem is I have run out of rabbit poop since I was just finding it out in the field (I don't have a rabbit.) I may have to walk down the road to the sheep, goat and Llama farms and ask for poo... will be a great way to meet some neighbors. ;)

I got a cool idea from Bort when he brought me some small circular hanging ornaments he had made from similar materials (sand, clay and horse dookie), but he had pressed glass into it! I really loved the look and idea so that is now the style I am working on.
All the materials for this project were utterly 100% FREE (as in no $ money $ spent) and no chemicals what-so-ever are involved. The glass was collected for recycling and was broken into pieces. Since I don't have any sand on hand to use, this project is considered COB and not POTTERY. (Thanks Panne for explaining the difference!)

Whatever it is, it's gonna be pretty when it dries solid and i can wipe off each pretty piece of glass! So far it sat over night and did not crack. The small places where i could tell it was pulling the day before I made sure to watch closely and fix early on.

YAY for earth friendly art!
XoXoxox

Eco Art: Glob Paints -Gluten Free, Chemical Free, Vegan!

Ya'll.... I am having a freak out! I have found gluten free, chemical free, vegan, food grade, 100% natural PAINTS!!! This is an idea I have been working on diligently for the last 2 years, compiling lists of pigments, experimenting with colors...... only to find someone has already figured out six of the best colors there are and they call them GLOB! Glob made their paint product so safe, you can use it on your body and flush it down the toilet with no environmental or health disasters.
I am so excited about these paint pigments being available that I have been running back and forth across the house announcing to anyone who will listen (cats and one terrified human) that I am going to be a painting diva-tron artist once again!
For my own plans to make pigments like this, I had planned on buying a dehydrator this spring for drying only paint pigments, then would grind them.... most my ideas are also food grade, but some are poisonous plants (like poke berries) we would not want to eat. The Glob Paints in the pic above are totally 100% food grade safe and affordable at 12$ for all six colors.... check out this diddy from their website:::

"You may have noticed that arts and crafts products do not list ingredients. Consumers rely upon "non toxic" certification, believing that their art materials have undergone sufficient testing to ensure the products they use are safe. Don't let these labels fool you.

Art pigments (colors) are commonly made from petrochemicals, and the actual hazards of these materials are not always known. In the US, chemicals that have never been tested for toxicity can be labeled "non-toxic." The rationale? There is no data to prove otherwise.*

Arts and crafts paints are exempt from consumer paint lead laws, and often contain lead, cadmium, and host of toxic ingredients* like formaldehyde (a carcinogen), one of the most common paint preservatives.

New environmental regulations and consumer demand has contributed to the numerous low to no VOC (volatile organic compounds) and environmentally friendly house paints now available.

Unfortunately, the artist market is far behind.

Paints may not only be hazardous to the consumer, but also the environment. Certified "non-toxic" pigments can still be toxic to fish and other wildlife.

GLOB™ products are sustainable and biodegradable, making them safe to wash down the sink and into our water supply.

Go ahead, Glob it on™!"

You best believe, I am going to glob it on... I am going to glob it on everything!

XoXo

Eco Art: Homemade Charcoal & Scrap Paper Drawing

Yay! I am all excited about this eco art project...mainly because I was able to work in the larger size I am comfortable with, but also because the whole thing was free (free charcoal made in the wood stove, free scrap paper from a shipping box!) I made a lil' video for ya'll of the step by step process of the drawing itself... take a lookie down below!




XoXOXooxx

Eco Art: Self Portrait in Charcoal

This portrait is just a teaser, cause tonight I am working on a much larger charcoal drawing using the charred wood from inside my wood stove (which I am burning wood in for winter heat.) The drawing here though was a quickie self portrait I did while thinking deeply into how I can make fine arts truly part of my life again with the same joy I had when using the easy to access toxic art supplies I used to buy. Art by virtue of it's rebellious political stance really should naturally lend to a more earth friendly, recycled, upcycled and natural formation - AKA maybe a lil' less purchasing of mass manufactured supplies and more learning how to create our very own art supplies. Free is always good for the 'starving' artist anyhow. :)
This self portrait took only a few minutes, and was done on trash paper that had been stuffed in a box that was delivered to the house here... which made it 100% free and eco.
Can't wait to show ya' the next one...
xoxo

Eco Art: Black Charcoal & Egg Paint

Woo! I have another color to add to my non toxic art-senal. Black, one of my long missed dark colors I used to liberally apply on my toxic acrylic paintings back in the day. I have not only missed the color itself but I have also missed the thick goopy opague quality that acrylics gave my art work. Last night I learned how to powder charcoal from the wood stove here, and turn it into paint!

1.Using a rock and a wood surface the charcoal was carefully crushed into a power by rubbing the stone over the charcoal... this was actually fairly easy and didn't take long at all.
2. After powdering the charcoal I took the powder and added it to an egg yolk (just the yellow part of the raw egg).
3. Stirring it together with bamboo stick (you can use a spoon, knife or anything laying around) it immediately turned black and was a thick dark paint ready for use!
I tested a blop on some scrap paper and it was good to go!
I made a paint brush by cutting a small bit of my hair out and tying it to a stick with a rubber band, then applied the paint to this scrap piece of wood (end piece from a lumber mill). The wood was rather rough and my brush was too soft for the rough wood, so the paint could not go on smooth - the surface in which you paint has ALOT to do with how much paint you will have to use and how it will look when applied (same reason why canvas is ghesso'd before use). The thing that was really cool about the black egg paint was you can easily scrape back into it and draw using the 'negative' technique (like scratch board). I drew this simple owl into the paint, while testing out how the egg & charcoal would apply, work, and especially how and if it would dry correctly after!
While waiting for it to dry i smashed some poke berries on the surface and stained the wood with it- using a little water to spread it around. One of the amazing things about the charcoal/egg paint is that not only did it dry rock hard, but it keeps a bit o' shine to it... in other words it does not really dry to a matte finish, it has gleams of light reflecting off the surface. Very cool!
This (new for me) discovery of using powder in egg yokes for thicker colors is awesome... you can most likely apply other natural & non toxic powdered colors like various spices and herbs (turmeric, paprika?) , and I would love to dehydrate native dye plants growing in the woods here and make my own organic egg paints for free with a wider range of colors!
When this project below finishes drying what i want to write above the 1970's looking owl is "Kiss me Stranger". :)
XoXo

Mixed Media Eco Art & Project Fail

Here is my latest eco art project video! It is in a much more primitive style, but only because the handmade paper I recycled from junk mail was realllllly hard to draw and paint on. To make the picture I used charcoal from the wood stove, poke berries, coffee grinds, nasturtium flowers, yellow dock leaves, magazine clippings & pine sap for a 'glue'. The project was already difficult because the paper could break easily if pushed on hard (and i get a lil' rough with my art)- but in the end the project was a total FAIL because i coated it with an oil and wax mixture! The oil turned the paper dark and gray and bled the other forms and colors into each other. I do think wax would be great alone though for the stiffness and lasting quality- especially to seal in magazine collage pieces, which were only stuck in place with the pine sap. :)



XOXoxo

My Gourd Family!

YAY! Welcome to my little gourd family, of all shapes and sizes...all persuasions, all sorts of possibilities, opportunities and freshly picked for an eco bird house future. I have only grown gourds one other time and they didn't turn out this awesome! These guys rock so hard that I felt proud to have helped birth each one (with the help of nature.) I am hoping i can dry at least a few out successfully and without using creepy chemicals - it is very common for all gourds to be bleached and such to kill the mold that will naturally grow while they are drying. I am going to try out my good ole' standby of apple cider vinegar and baking soda.
Look some of them are seriously bigger then my head!
Has anyone else dried gourds without using bad chems to help it along?
XoXo

Eco Art: DIY Paper From Junk Mail

Hey! Here is a video of my new eco savvy paper making project- I took old junk mail that is overflowing my recycle bin and tore by hand/cut it up into tiny little bitty pieces to make new art paper with. I wanted my paper to be pretty thick and textured, so that I could paint easily with my Poke Berry paints.
The video will show you the easy steps you can take to making some of your own eco art paper right at home for free!



XoXo

Making Mixed Media Eco Art (With My Mom)

Hey Ya'll! Guess what---> I have a mom! And she likes color, painting and art too. She is in North Carolina visiting from my home town of New Orleans, and brought over some art paper and graphite pencils so we could have craft time together. :)
We turned it into eco art time though, by adding in bunches of natural and non toxic materials to create more elaborate fine art projects.
We added in smooshed poke berries, marigold & nasturtium flower petals, and coffee grounds for paint - we used this with graphite pencils & magazine clippings, then finished them off with a chunky coating of food safe wax (used for some canning processes). My mom was wishing for more colors, especially blue - but I have fallen in love with the bright yet monochromatic selection I have found in nature so far. This was the first time I used old coffee grounds and I love the weak subtle brown I got just from adding a little water to it.
Here are my finished pictures below! I am really excited about how they came out, and now have even bigger ideas for even bigger mixed media paintings, made from completely wild, organic, non toxic, and natural materials.... (I am even working on making my own paper from dumb junk mail- I can't wait to share it with ya'll when it's done.)
Both the scenes I did ended up being nature/ mountain landscape type paintings...
(below are some close up pics so you can see how the wax works over the drawing, collage and painting details...)
I bet Bob Ross would totally love my happy tree! Yay!

XoXo

Eco Art: DIY Paint Brush (For Kids and Adult Artists)

Nope, I did not suddenly adopt a child- I just borrowed one for a little while - and her name is Isabella. Isabella is 5 years old and caught onto this project really quickly. We decided to have painting time and make all our own art supplies from things we have around already, by picking poke berries for paint (the Declaration of Independence was written in it) and then making our very own eco paint brushes! I think it is really important for children right now to know that not everything they need has to come from an aisle in walmart, Toys'R-Us, or even an art store for that matter - nature holds the key to many a great invention and definitely way more fun.

What You Need:

• A Stick
• Hair (from a human or horse)
• Rubber band (or string, strip of fabric etc...)
• Knife (optional)

Me and Isabella walked around looking for a good stick to use for the brush handle, choosing whichever size would be easy to hold, or match the kind of brush you like to use when painting. Once ya have your sticks, you have the option of using a knife to wittle down one end to a point - this sometimes makes it easier when trying to paint a finer line.
Take a clump of human or horse hair (hair thick enough to paint with) and hold it to the end of the stick you will want to paint with. Choosing the amount of hair, is just like choosing the brush size.
Simply use your rubber band to hold the hair in place by wrapping it around a few time tightly. You can also use string or cotton fabric to tie it on snug.
Once you have the hair tied on, simply take some scissors to shape the hairy brush head- you can make it flat by cutting straight across, or you can make a fine point by cutting at an angle on each side coming to a point.
This is the face of success.... Isabella made a few paintings on recycled paper and some rocks!I will share more on making natural paints and dyes super soon - cause it is plant dye season!

Xoxooo

Crafting A Green World: Eco Art Supplies Exsist!

I feel like I just found a unicorn! Trying to find a one stop shop for eco art supplies is like finding a needle in a hay stack. Even if you have some earth friendly crafting supplies here and there in big chain stores, what we all yearn for is that one store that has a delightful eco minded collection and nothing else toxic to dig through. It’s such a buzzkill to have one recycled paper pad in a store full of stuff so nasty and smelly and noxious that I am hurrying out of there for some fresh air......

Read the rest of this article HERE.