The Strangest Art Tool Yet

As I was cutting celery sticks for my daughter's St. Patrick's Day class party (yes, I was "celery mom"; you know that must have gone over big), I remembered a trick I have read about dipping the cut end of the celery stalks into paint to get the effect of a painted rose.

I decided to give it a try, pouring a few shades of pink craft paint onto some palette paper, and dipping the celery right in.  So far, so pretty:

I dabbed the celery into lighter pink first, and then into a brighter pink, and spread them all over a piece of white Bristol paper to check out the effect:

Then I made a couple straight lines of celery prints onto another page:

I added black lines with a Sharpie pen to define the rose petals, painted a green background with watercolor paints, and flicked some white watercolor paint over it all to make it a little more interesting:

I am amazed by the creative design that went into making joined celery stalks look just like a rose.  Go, God!

I stamped a few ATCs while I was at it:

I added some dots and cross hatches and got some good graphic effects:

What's next:  carrots?  green pepper?  onion?  I might just have to raid my vegetable crisper drawer to find some more strange art tools!