A few years ago I scattered some honesty seeds outside my studio. The next spring, the beds were full of purple stems. I covered tiny scraps of silk with the flowers and made ribbons. This year there are only one or two plants left.

This is the first pounding of 2024 onto muslin. The purple always shifts into blue on the cloth.

The Smoke Bush blooms in May. It is a versatile plant to print with and is effective even when the tiny yellow/coral flowers have fallen away. This print is taken from the plume when only the stamens hang on to the stem. They print such a deliciously stark inky black and have a surprisingly long life for a fugitive dye. I always think they look like birds feet trailing along the trellis of tiny stems.