Βάλσαμο ( valsamo, St Johns Wart )
45cmx 52cm
Rust, binder, acrylic, oil, chalk, charcoal on linen
2023
The base of the flower grows pregnant and ripe, rendering the medicinal use of the petals redundant but bearing the seeds for next year's crop.
Valsamo in Greek but St Johns Wart in English. This little yellow flower flowers in May-July and finishes at the beginning of June. My friend's father took me on the back of his motorbike to pick them. He makes a balm (the literal translation of Valsamo). Historically, it was named sword balm for the quick healing of sword wounds. He takes his Valsamo and makes an infusion with olive oil, leaving only the flowers in oil in the sun for a month, turning the oil red. and then making a balm with lavender and beeswax used for wounds, bad joints, and dry skin.
But another use is as a “mood booster” antidepressant during the winter. You use the dried flowers as a tea infusion. But this shocked me as I had never heard of flowers as an antidepressant. A strange situation of saving the flowers of summer for consumption during winter. Since finding out about valsamo, I have heard about some other flowers, all yellow. One is Greek mountain tea, a light yellow herbed flower flowering from June to August. The other is witch hazel blooming in the middle of winter, a ray of light in January and February.
In this painting, something is eating a seeded pod of Valsamo.
45cmx 52cm
Rust, binder, acrylic, oil, chalk, charcoal on linen
2023
The base of the flower grows pregnant and ripe, rendering the medicinal use of the petals redundant but bearing the seeds for next year's crop.
Valsamo in Greek but St Johns Wart in English. This little yellow flower flowers in May-July and finishes at the beginning of June. My friend's father took me on the back of his motorbike to pick them. He makes a balm (the literal translation of Valsamo). Historically, it was named sword balm for the quick healing of sword wounds. He takes his Valsamo and makes an infusion with olive oil, leaving only the flowers in oil in the sun for a month, turning the oil red. and then making a balm with lavender and beeswax used for wounds, bad joints, and dry skin.
But another use is as a “mood booster” antidepressant during the winter. You use the dried flowers as a tea infusion. But this shocked me as I had never heard of flowers as an antidepressant. A strange situation of saving the flowers of summer for consumption during winter. Since finding out about valsamo, I have heard about some other flowers, all yellow. One is Greek mountain tea, a light yellow herbed flower flowering from June to August. The other is witch hazel blooming in the middle of winter, a ray of light in January and February.
In this painting, something is eating a seeded pod of Valsamo.