245 more Pistachio shells. The continuation of painting Pistachio shells with in studio charcoal paints will go on all year. I usually paint some every day, sometimes 2, sometimes 20 or 100 and it is always a contemplative and productive practice. Also working on hanging mechanism and installation methods. Sgraffito (Italian: [zɡrafˈfiːto]; pl. sgraffiti) is an artistic or decorative technique of scratching through a coating on a hard surface to reveal parts of an underlying layer contrasted in colour. It is produced on walls by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colours to a moistened surface, and on pottery by applying two successive layers of contrasting slip or glaze to an unfired ceramic body.[1] The Italian past participle sgraffiato is also used for this technique, especially in reference to pottery.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgraffito                      

In the fall of 2025, I collected local walnuts and chestnuts and then fermented them for 300 days. Some I soaked in plastic buckets and others I soaked in aluminum pots, two different coloured inks resulted.

Organic beets grown at Cedar Isle Farm, Agassiz, BC. In the processing of cleaning and washing beets, unwanted leaves and stems are discarded. With this by-product, I am making a castable paper of sorts. 

The leftover remains of campfire, charcoal. How was it made? There is no Retort (metal container) to deprive the presence of oxygen from the firing. Does pouring water on burning wood in the open air, instantly deprive the wood from oxygen? Or does the campfire charcoal happen when covering the burning wood with sand or soil to put out the fire? I have now collected charcoal from several summer campfire sites and am in the process of making paint from it to paint my used teabags.