It may go by another name, or perhaps many, but I couldn’t find anything that really fit it, so in trying to identify a categorization system I also found a name. More on that another time. For now, I want to take a moment to describe exactly what it is.
By Dictionary.com’s definition, to Scrye(or as they spell it, Scry), “Foretell the future using a crystal ball or other reflective object or surface.”
In a way, I would like to think this is much the same, but instead what we are doing is dipping our heads deep through the surface of the flow and experiencing creativity, divinity and just a bit of peace.
For me, to Scrye is to paint with flowers.
Now looking that up online leads to many results, but none that I could find that were anything like what I was doing. They all involved placing dried leaves into a painting or using leaves and branches to make a pattern or as a brush.
No, what I meant was actually painting with flowers.
I started by raiding Lisa’s garden, with her permission of course, egads if I hadn’t, though she does keep a close eye on me, lol…you’ll understand why soon enough.
I plucked a petal from something, I don’t recall what it was, and started smearing it on an old hard piece of canvas I had bought at a yard sale this summer. I believe it left a purple smear. While having played with oil paints this summer I had discovered at least, that medium, blended in most interesting ways. Why not the colors from a flowers petals, leaves and other parts?
Before you know it, I was begging Lisa to bring me flowers from all around, smearing them, making mental notes and then moving on. I soon did what I always do and started too make sense of the chaos before me, even though it is the chaos that I most wanted to paint.
Once caught up in the moment, I joined the flow and explored. The first results are somewhere nearby, maybe even posted below, nothing exciting, somewhat mediocre really, but I could see there was potential.
From there I did a couple of somewhat random paintings with the flowers I had liked best from my first experiments and although it was pale, the results, swirls of color, were enchanting.
Next I started a couple of different attempts at making a palette book, I am using a paper one now, but really need to get a book of canvas pages to do it right. Every petal behaves differently depending on the substrate it is applied to. It was during the palette book stage that I needed a system of classifcation and thereby stumbled across the name I would come to call it.
I, too, have been wondering how to do this — One year I was making potpourri from the flowers in our yard, and noticed the “dye” on my fingers…This is the first place I have found any kind of information. Tell me everything!
I was wondering if you have found a way to make the dye “permanent”?
Keep it up!
Leona Weaver
I am using a clear acryllic spray to coat finished pieces, which so far appears to be working. I have not noticed any fading in the color from the pieces I did last year that have been coated. Other pieces that haven’t been coated seem to be holding their color as well, but are more prone to accidents from moisture. Thanks for reading!