Liz Elton, Tender

295 x 300 cm, vegetable dyes from food waste, watercolours, compostable cornstarch, silk, seeds from medicinal plants, 2020

‘Tender’ is one of a series of landscape paintings concerned with environment and soil exhaustion.  The ground is compostable cornstarch (material made from corn or potatoes and used for food waste recycling bags), painted with vegetable dyes from food waste, water colours, water miscible oils, food supplements and earth pigments, and hand-sewn with silk.  It has seeds from plants considered to have medicinal properties embedded in it’s seams (seeds of plants that are also constituents of a herbal compost activator designed in the 1940s).  Delicate and fragile, ‘Tender’ references the thin layer of soil that life depends on, considering our relationship with land, nourishment and waste.  Liz  thinks about break-down, time, self-care and care for the earth, regeneration and hope. The work spills off the wall and may seem to breathe gently as people pass.  Liz has a BA in Fine Art, Painting from Wimbledon and an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea.

Website: www.lizelton.com   
Instagram: @liz_elton