During the academic years of 2022-2024 I've been exploring the expression of the concept of Paradise as it presents itself onto my local & 'here-and-now' context. After reading in the book 'The materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting' by Daniel V. Thompson, that in Medieval times sometimes other tree saps, like from the prunus tree, were used and labeled as if they were gum acacia, and after seeing this in use at the 'Old Mill Palnackie' studio as a way of making paint with local materials, I decided to explore this option, as an expression of a local Paradisiacal way of working in art. The saving on packaging, as well as transportation, and the quality of the paint, make this binder a very viable alternative in paint making for a climate where trees from the Prunus family grow. This video shows a very quick overview from start to finish. The paint that took me 2 full days to make, rendered into 50 seconds.
At the end you see me using the cherry paint in a miniature that I've been working on for the past few months. Preparing and purifying the pigments and making all paints by hand takes a lot of time, but using local materials helps me connect to the theme of my art on a deeper level. The use of the cherry gum for a binder in watercolours, that also uses local honey and rose water, can only be described as heavenly, both in terms of fragrance, and in its translucency and the general feeling of 'painting that smells like freshly baked cookies'.
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