Berries & Coffee

If you were to go randomly sniff  an artist (not that you would),  they might reek of  linseed oil, turpentine or developer. While these smells may turn off most people, to an artist, it's a special scent that puts one in a dreamy state of euphoria. Today however, I do not smell like the typical artist. In fact, I smell delicious. I began prepping for my next assignment, which is properly titled, "Alternative media". My professor has encouraged us to move out of our comfort zones (goodbye, watercolors! :(  ) and create a masterpiece using odd sorts of media that one would not normally use.
I chose to dye my paper using coffee and berries, because painting using an open flame scares the crepe out of me.
To do this, I  had to make a batch of coffee (sooOooOoo hard!).
Then, I soaked the paper in the coffee.

Next, I picked my berries. Out of the nifty bag in the freezer.

The different batches of berries were then boiled...

And mashed and strained..

I put part of the juice in a container to use later with my paintbrush. Then, I removed the paper that was soaking in the coffee, crinkled it, and placed a portion of it into the berry juice.

After a little while, I took the paper out, smoothed it, and let it dry. I am very happy with the results.

Extreme close up!!

Now I am going to let the paper finish drying while I google antique anatomical illustrations. I want to try to recreate some scientific/medical illustrations and mix them with my nature theme. Sounds crazy, but we're supposed to be pretty "out there" on this assignment, if you know what I mean andithinkyoudosoletsjustleaveitatthatokgreatthanks.

Pray that I don't eat my project. Remy already tried. I caught him on the balcony, next to the drying papers mid-NOM NOM.