DIY: natural paint from sunflowers

In Van Gogh’s footsteps

Picture the scene. It’s a hot afternoon. Wrapped in a cheerful summer dress with a big sun hat, you’re sitting on a veranda painting with watercolours. You don’t need to be Van Gogh to enjoy this, but you can walk in his footsteps by using naturally coloured paint. With this watercolour paint made from sunflowers you can create your version of the vase with 12 sunflowers - or something which is more your own style, of course. 

DIY: compleet natuurlijke verf van de zonnebloem Mooiwatbloemendoen.nl

To make an ink pot of watercolour paint, you will need:

How to make it

Step 1

Pick the yellow petals off the sunflower and grind the petals up with a pestle and mortar. You can also use a grinder.

Step 2

Scatter the finely ground mixture in a sealable jar, and add the same volume of water. Leave to stand overnight.

Step 3

Pass the pulp through the sieve. You will be left with an ink pot of watercolour paint. If you want the paint to be more concentrated, boil it briefly. However, this will make the paint browner. 

Now you can get to work with your brushes! For the example we used watercolour paper to which we applied various samples of the sunflower paint, as well as East India and red ink. 

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