Emily Donovan

I am a painter who experiments with natural colors and pigments with a variety of resist techniques.  I love to explore the outdoors, nature being a big influence.   My paintings are created on paper with handmade dyes using methods and recipes, centuries old. Each work is hand-dipped into baths to capture and absorb color while using mordants and modifiers to ensure that they will remain true. There is a bit of chemistry, research about plants, and seasonal cycles in my process to find the origins of color. Natural color from plants and insects is a tradition that all cultures share worldwide!   I love this about the process.   Some paintings may capture memories about the day materials were collected, the floral and fauna I’ve come across, and a little nostalgia for times past represented in abstract dresses.  In my work, I want to celebrate the environment and age-old traditions in color that are passed from one generation to the next.