Flowers to Paint

Research and experiment

It all starts with 44 birthday roses: can they be preserved in any way and turned into paint? Drying, grinding, cooking and extracting results in the first colour swatches and the fascination grows bigger. All the (wilted) flowers that Miriam comes across are processed and categorized. Searching for the best way for each species to paint with. Not only colour, but also texture plays a part in this. And above all it becomes a quest to capture and cherish emotions and memories. How can you retain something that is transitory?

Funeral flowers

So much love and attention goes into the flower pieces for the last farewell. All picked out with the loved one in mind. After the funeral things go quiet. The flowers can be taken home and offer some consolation and support for a while. But after some time it doesn’t look as nice.. the flowers wither and the vibrant colours change to brown. Instead of throwing them away, relatives can also choose to use the flowers for a personal painting. Each flower (and leaf green) is separately processed into paint or ink. This way nothing is lost and the flowers get a second life.

Painted memory

According to the wishes of the next of kin, a very personal painting can be made with the flowers. A portrait of the deceased or another special memory can be captured on linen. Miriam has made a painting in memory of her own father with, among other things, leaves of a Judas tree; the tree under which her father's ashes are scattered at a chapel in Crete. And the leaves of the water lily from the pond that her father dug himself also play a role in this painting. The painting shows the chapel and the Judas tree on Crete. A place the family still regularly visits to celebrate his life.