Eco-Dyeing: Creating Prints from Leaves and Blossoms

Create stunning botanical prints using ferns, leaves, and flowers. After explaining the technique, Katharine leads a walk (uneven ground — a lawn) at Spiritwood, her hobby farm where everyone collects plants, which she identifies. Back in the studio, we arrange plants inside prepared watercolour-paper bundles, bind them securely, place them into a water bath — and then have lunch  (bring your food). Then we remove the bundles from the bath, open them up — and admire Nature’s Alchemy!

Katharine Fletcher is a fanciful dreamer who interprets the magic and mystery she perceives amid nature. She is an avid printmaker where she incorporates her eco-dyed plus Gelli-plate monoprints into mixed-media artworks. She enjoys creating handmade journals with her prints plus her handmade papers and embraces art journaling as part of her daily practice.

Katharine lives at Spiritwood, her hobby farm adjacent to Gatineau Park north of Quyon in West Quebec, with her husband Eric Fletcher. Because Spiritwood borders the conservation sector of the Park, their property is a sanctuary for wildlife, where wildlife thrives. The couples’ extensive perennial and vegetable gardens provide a rich resource for pollinators – as well as for Katharine who gathers botanicals for her printmaking and other mixed-media arts.

In her art, Katharine asks us to consider, cherish and protect biodiversity and the Wild Ones whose lives depend on healthy habitats. She is proud to be a member of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Ottawa Valley Chapter’s DRAW – Dumoine River Art for Wilderness, where her art helps raise awareness of the protection of the Dumoine River’s watershed.

She is the author of five books, variously published by McClelland & Stewart, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, and Globe Pequot Press

Special considerations:

We will be using Katharine’s studio, where we will have access to electricity, water, protected tables and chairs.

Workshop participants must be able to walk unaided. Wear comfortable shoes for strolling for approximately an hour in the gardens: this entails walking on a grassy lawn and alongside vegetable gardens in a field, while identifying and collecting plants. Katharine strongly recommends sneakers and socks. Note that the studio itself has running water and a large comfortable space — however, the toilet is in the farmhouse.

Accessibility: there are steps to get inside the house and once inside, there are no stairs, so it’s easy to get to the bathroom. Three shallow steps with a sturdy handrail in the garage permit easy access to everyone who can negotiate stairs.

Bring your lunch and any snacks you need. If it’s nice, we can picnic outside/sit on the deck. Spiritwood’s spring water is delicious – but do bring your own drinks if you wish.

• Suitability:  Absolute Beginners, Beginners, Intermediate, Experts
• Finish in Class: Yes
• Supply: $15. paid to teacher at class
• Teacher provides: Tablecloths. Watercolour paper pre-folded to fit press. Wooden “presses” and twine to create bundles. Rusted iron, alum-vinegar-and-rusty water to enable the eco-printing process. Towels, gloves, scissors.
• Student to bring: Apron. Lunch.  Comfortable shoes for walking on uneven ground. Notebook and pen/pencil. If you have garden secateurs (shears) bring them! Also? Your spirit of playful experimentation.