.: Living Palettes :.

I  truly enjoy watching my children imagine and create with the things that are around them.  This creativity seems to be nurtured while playing in nature.  I remember while I was growing up I would find red rocks and grind them up against the driveway trying to make pink powder that I would then add a bit of water to for face paint.   To my delight, my children also had a similar playtime learning experience.  I enjoy sitting close by yet far enough away to let them explore and let their imaginations soar.  My daughter started collecting flowers this summer that she would mash into paint, using rocks as her tool to grind up the flower petals,  leaving a pigment behind on her fingers.  While we were visiting the peace garden we bought her a mortar and pestle to nurture this new found craft.  The moment we gifted her with this new tool to aid in her important work she went scouting for flowers, and would spend time both outdoors and in carefully mixing the petals into a fine pulp slowly adding water to complete her beautiful water colors.

After much time of figuring out this process on her own, I thought I would join all of my children in on this beautiful project of mixing up our own flowery colors.  With basket in hand we went off in all corners of the gardens in search of a full rainbow palette of color to begin our process.

Once our basket was full of all of the fresh materials we would need for our paints, I showed the  children how to  sort each flower into a palette to make it easier to see what we had to work with.

Next they started tearing small pieces of each color of flower to add into the mortar.

Then the sweet alchemy began, mixing and macerating colorful petals which would soon be a beautiful liquid streaming across our pages.  While mixing the petals, the children would slowly pour water into the mix as needed to aid in the paint-making process.

 

We made a swatch of each new paint that was created.  Red was made from Bee Balm. It was the first paint created of the day and it was a success!

Red Bee Balm and Orange Day Lilies made for fine paints! We later strained the petals, squeezing them through a small tea strainer  and adding more water into glass jars for our final paints .

A mixture of purple balloon flowers and other various purple petals made for the deepest watercolor, the hues from the purple pigments were exquisite.

 

Having fun with our new paints, a little sign made to try out the colors, purple orange red and yellow!

To have this special watercolor play come alive via the flowers brought a new energy that helped us to savor these fleeting gifts of summer one more time...