Video - Paint making with Cherry Tree Gum and Rose Water - Local, Natural and Eco-friendly Art

This video shows the wrap-up of my 2nd year of my PhD research. This past year has been all about cherry gum, and making my artistic practice more focused on my local environment. I've been looking for the the way that I recognise paradise in my surroundings, and with that, I have started to notice on a deeper level what can be found in my garden, and nearby parks, or even along the streets of London, on my way to the School of Traditional Arts. <br>I think this past year, which I have lovingly named 'the year of the cherry', started unconsciously when reading the book 'The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting' by Daniel V. Thompson. There he describes how in Medieval times anything that looked like gum Arabic (the standard binder to use for making watercolours) would also be called gum Arabic. And as a result also local gums from mainly Prunus-family trees (such as cherry, plum, apricot etc.) were used for making watercolour paints. This intrigued me, because I realised that using cherry gum would mean the next step towards a more holistic approach to art, where I can source things locally and have a more 'closed loop', as well as a more sustainable one. The thing is, that the usual binder for watercolour, which is gum Arabic, comes from the Acacia tree, and this tree doesn't grow in the Netherlands. Thus, I it has to be grown elsewhere and then has to be transported all the way from for example Senegal, causing both the use of (fossil) fuels for transport, as well as the need for packaging. So using local and self-foraged cherry gum would not only connect me more to my art, and make me more connected to the concept of paradise, but it would also mean a small step eco-friendliness. Curiously enough, a few months later, I saw cherry gum in actual use by Lucy from the Old Mill Palnackie in Scotland when I visited a dear friend there, and I think this is the last nudge that I needed. I started looking more intensely at those beautiful cherries that I suddenly noticed all around me, and was hoping to find some cherry gum soon.<br>Now, I'm not one to willingly harm a cherry tree for a bit of gum, so I was very hesitant to throw myself upon my own cherry tree in fear of causing it harm. And after reading that the production of cherry gum is actually a sign of the tree fighting off an infection, due to for example frost damage that may have damaged the bark, I started looking for damaged trees in my local neighborhood. Then, one day on my way to the School, I passed by some trees, and lo and behold, they were oozing gum from some deep crevices in their bark! Fortunately, I always travel with a pair of tweezers and a ziplock bag in my bag, so I was able to collect plenty to start experimenting.<br>It took me many rounds and tests to end up with the recipe that I use today. Not in the least, because my bag with my initial paint collection, as well as my first copy of the May cherry from the Tradescant's Orchard manuscript, was stolen in July of 2023. This meant that I had to start all over, and it took me a good while to do all my paintmaking again. Nine colours is a lot, especially if you're like me, and would love to improve the initial recipe, when forced to do so by circumstances.<br>One of the main twists I made to my initial recipe is that I now added a bit of honey and added rose water to the binder. Not for all colours, as I learnt that different pigments respond to the cherry gum in a different way. Some are drier than others, needing a bit more honey, and others actually benefit from the honey in other ways, because it adds a slight gloss to the resulting paint, making the addition of honey especially beautiful for glazing. The use of honey also reminds me of paradise filled with fruit trees. And rose water... it has become one of my favourite ingredients in paint making over the past two years. <br>After making all the paints, as I show you in the middle part of this video, I decided to copy the May cherry from the Tradescant's Orchard again, this time using my new and improved paints, compared to the ones that were stolen. I greatly enjoyed the process, and painting with cherry gum that smelled so heavenly of rose water and honey was a delight in itself.<br>Gilding the sap of the tree came to me when thinking about the things that we see, and the things that are hidden. So often, we can focus on fruit or blossom, but these are just the signs of life. The real water of life is hidden in the sap of the tree. That made me think of the words of Jesus Christ in the gospel of John, chapter 4, verse 14. The analogy struck me. Inspiration, literally the indwelling of the Spirit of God, from which creation flows. And there I had found my closing line.

本视频展示了我博士研究第二年的收尾工作。过去这一年，我的研究核心皆围绕樱桃树胶（cherry gum）展开，同时我也致力于让自己的艺术创作更贴合本地环境。我一直在探寻如何在周遭环境中感知“伊甸园”的真谛，也因此得以更深入地观察我的花园、周边公园，乃至在前往伦敦传统艺术学院（School of Traditional Arts）的沿途街巷中所蕴藏的景致。
我将过去这一年亲切地命名为“樱桃之年”，这份缘起实则始于阅读丹尼尔·V·汤普森（Daniel V. Thompson）所著的《中世纪绘画材料与技法》（*The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting*）时的无心之得。书中提到，中世纪时期，但凡外观类似阿拉伯树胶（gum Arabic，水彩绘制的标准黏合剂）的物质，都会被统称为阿拉伯树胶。因此，当时人们也会使用主要取自李属（Prunus）树木——比如樱桃、李子、杏等——的本地树胶来制作水彩颜料。这一点令我深受触动，因为我意识到，使用樱桃树胶将是我迈向更完整艺术创作路径的关键一步：我可以就地取材，构建更具“闭环性”的创作体系，同时也能让创作更具可持续性。
但问题在于，水彩颜料常用的黏合剂阿拉伯树胶取自金合欢树，而荷兰并不生长这种树木。因此，这类树胶必须在其他地区种植，再从塞内加尔等地长途运输而来，这不仅会消耗运输所需的（化石）燃料，还会产生包装废料。因此，使用本地采集的自制樱桃树胶，不仅能让我与自己的艺术创作产生更深的联结，也能让我更贴近“伊甸园”的理念，同时为环保迈出微小的一步。有趣的是，数月后我在苏格兰拜访一位挚友时，见到了来自Old Mill Palnackie的露西（Lucy）实际使用樱桃树胶的场景，这无疑是推我行动的最后一剂动力。自此我开始更细致地留意周遭随处可见的樱桃树，期盼能早日寻得樱桃树胶。
但我绝非会为了树胶而刻意伤害樱桃树之人，因此起初我对砍伐自家樱桃树的想法十分犹豫，生怕损伤了树木。后来我了解到，樱桃树分泌树胶实则是其对抗感染的信号——比如树皮因霜冻受损引发的感染，于是我开始在住所周边寻找受损的樱桃树。某日在前往传统艺术学院的途中，我途经几棵树木，竟发现它们的树皮缝隙中正渗出树胶！幸运的是，我包里总随身带着镊子和自封袋，因此得以收集到足够的树胶开启实验。
我经过多轮实验与测试，才最终敲定了如今使用的配方。这一切的波折皆因2023年7月我的颜料收纳包失窃，包内不仅装有我最初的颜料样品，还有我手抄的第一版《特拉德斯坎特果园手稿》（Tradescant's Orchard manuscript）中的《五月樱桃》插图。这意味着我不得不从头再来，花了相当长的时间才重新完成所有颜料的制作。要制作九种颜色的颜料本就耗时耗力，更何况我本就希望能优化最初的配方，此番境遇更是迫使我不得不重新出发。
我对初始配方做出的主要调整之一，便是在黏合剂中加入了少许蜂蜜与玫瑰水。但这并非适配所有颜料，因为我发现不同颜料与樱桃树胶的适配性各不相同：部分颜料质地偏干，需要添加更多蜂蜜；而另一些颜料则能从蜂蜜中获得额外益处——蜂蜜能为成品颜料增添细微光泽，尤其适合晕染技法。蜂蜜的使用也让我联想到满布果树的伊甸园，而玫瑰水则是我近两年制作颜料时最喜爱的原料之一。
正如视频中段展示的那样，完成所有颜料制作后，我决定再次复刻《特拉德斯坎特果园手稿》中的《五月樱桃》，这一次使用的便是失窃颜料的升级版新配方。整个创作过程令我倍感愉悦，用带着玫瑰水与蜂蜜馥郁香气的樱桃树胶作画，本身便是一种享受。
关于为树汁镀金的灵感，源于我对可见与隐藏之物的思考：我们常常将目光聚焦于果实与花朵，但它们不过是生命的表象。真正的生命之水，实则隐匿于树木的汁液之中。这让我联想到《圣经·约翰福音》第4章第14节中耶稣的话语，此番类比令我深受启发：灵感，本质便是上帝圣灵的内住，一切创作皆由此流淌而出。至此，我也找到了视频的收尾之语。