Laura Bethmann

I'm a watercolor painter who gardens, prints plants and writes books

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Nature Print Paintings:
Garden Variety and Food for Thought

Nature Prints are direct impressions of life. Freshly picked bits of Nature are carefully inked or painted, then printed by hand to reveal their life-size forms, unique characteristics and textures. Nature printing provides the groundwork for these mixed-media compositions on paper. The energy and depth of the nature prints are amplified with the inclusion of watercolor washes or color pencils.

The origin of nature printing is unknown. It's an ancient technique that appears in a Leonardo da Vinci manuscript and was practiced by herbalists, physicians and botanists. The spontaneity, immediacy, and true organic qualities of the simple nature print charges my creative pep! Once I start printing it's hard to stop, so I usually work on several images at a time. No two are ever the same.