Burnt toast as medium and content. edible art. bi·o·de·grad·a·ble practice. carbonizing-decarbonizing the studio. the art of making. the making of art. struggling to comprehend my place in this world.

Eggs and Coffee and a side of toast! 
White paint made from eggshells and charcoal coffee grounds make a rich black ink in these small scale experiments, each circle 5" diameter

Work in progress : Coffee Paint on grass paper experiments, 5 " diameter each

Landscape #1
Cast lawn grass paintings - Experiment #1, fermented grass casting with circle sieve, overlapping edges and drying out in sun. Painted with studio made, charcoaled spent coffee black ink and eggshell white paint. This technique is allowing me to paint on a warped and 3 dimensional surface for I am letting the "paper" dry naturally without weighing down as usual practice.

Landscape #2
These experiments are lending themselves to more 3 dimensional landscapes than I ever imagined. The cast grass paper reacts to the sun and the different binders in such unpredictable ways. It is also an unforgiving method of production for every mark cannot be erased or altered.

Collaborations with the neighbour's lawn mower and the sun. Fermented lawn mower clippings in the sun, blended them and cast with a sieve and or colander and then let the "paper" dry naturally, that is without weighing down and letting it ripple and twist as it liked

1. Bucket of fermenting grass clippings 2. Sieved paper let dry naturally 3. Cast grass in cookie aluminum moulds  4. Cast grass into plastic container lids and cookie moulds

Collections : Fir Cone collected in my backyard for charoaling ink experimentation. Blue Willow Pottery collected for its historical, aesthetic qualities and alternative possible functions.

My backyard fir cones are turning out to be one of the best, darkest and finest materials to play with. The sheer intact beauty of the carbon left behind after charring, is extraordinary. And the fine powder left after processing is also beautiful to work with.

One Cup of spent and charcoaled coffee grounds to make paint with.....

Paintings in Progress, charcoaled coffee grounds paint on Mulberry paper, various sizes

Taking apart owl pellet found in our backyard, to charcoal and make bone black paint.

Deer ribs found on beaches of Haida Gwaii - Various bones found and charcoaled from owl pellets

Making  charcoal and bio char every morning. Turned off the gas furnace and heating the house with our wood stove only until October. Every time we make a fire in our living room wood stove, we make charcoal, from owl pellets, spent coffee grounds, bark from backyard trees, grape vines from backyard, bamboo, thistle seed pods, found fish bones, toilet paper inner tubes, pine cones and acorn caps.....

Spent and charred coffee ground drawings, image made by scraping grounds into shapes. This charcoaled material ended up having fluffy and light qualities, a very airy substance to play with and such an abundant cultural and agricultural subject. Researching and learning about SONA Drawings, Kolam Cultural Traditions and the Tibetan Buddhist Sand Mandalas.

I am currently experimenting with charcoaling Mimosa Tree Seedpods and Chestnut Husks, in our living room wood stove. After the charcoaling process, I grind the materials into fine powders, mix them with my Soya Milk binder and paint on Mulberry paper. The banner on the right is made with 12 Chestnut Husks and the banner on the left is made with 12 Mimosa Seed Pods. In addition, the whitish strokes have been made with Eggshell Paint which am learning how to make and use. And the brownish ink is made from avocado pits.
The imagery, unconsciously, pays homage to Art Brut, Jean Dubuffet, Chaco and Maya Pottery, Bridget Riley, Keith Haring, Laszlo Maholy Nagy, Paul Klee, Nazca drawings, road maps, Haida and Salish art Forms, my own Mapuche Ancestors and everything I have ever looked at, really looked at, because everything has made an impression.

Back and forth image making, painting on and scratching off, on 8.5 x 11 watercolour paper

Katazome (型染め) is a Japanese method of dyeing fabrics using a resist paste applied through a stencil, typically a rice flour mixture applied with a brush or a tool such as a palette knife. Unlike yūzen, stencils are used repeatedly to make a repeating pattern. Pigment is added by hand-painting, immersion dyeing, or both. The area of the fabric covered and permeated by the paste mixture resists the later application of dye, thus creating undyed areas within the fabric.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katazome

Learning about Katazome techniques and materials, stencils, resist rice paste, soya milk binder, Mulberry paper, etc. so that I can apply to my carbon project.

Work in Progress, painting made with chestnut husk charcoal paint and white chalk on Mulberry paper, 3' x 7'

Process - inkblots on Mulberry paper (4feet x 1.5feet) painted with charcoal paint made from one chestnut husk and one happy chicken egg yolk.

Quantifying  process and progress.
One charcoaled chestnut husk + one egg yolk +  1 tblp water/vinegar = 1 oz. of black ink/paint