Och Aye Apothecary

e, Shamans and wise women. Having lived with her son in a rented lodge in a 300 year old beech, oak and birch forest in the Scottish Borders, with a spring fed dam and river to swim in, her knowledge and connection with trees has deepened. Her recent move to Portobello in Edinburgh has given her the opportunity to bring herself out of the hidden realms and into a visible state of being, and is looking forward to gaining inspiration from the local people, and environment which she now calls home. Having always lived close to trees and rivers, her passion has developed into a unique understanding of how people extract medicine from trees, both here in her homeland of Scotland, but also from around the world. This knowledge has led her to integrate this passion into her specialist field of creating tree tinctures, oils and flower essences. All of her essential oils are distilled by herself using a copper alembic vessel in the ancient traditional Arabic way of using steam distillation, unlike popular brand names who create essential oils using alcohol and quick measures that do not respond to plant matter. Katerina makes her kombucha with medicinal properties, inviting customers to connect with their Tree in the Celtic Calendar. Katerina is committed to bringing awareness to the unique edible resources that our own trees can provide, for example using tree nuts to make flour and using birch syrup to consume. With regards to the oils and flower essences that she makes, Katerina says
“After years of experiencing RA and healing my own unbalanced hormones, I now wish to help others feel ‘sensual’ to support their own ‘essential’ state of being in mind, body and soul, through the use of the natural remedies that I make for myself and my family”
This passion for trees is also ever present in her artwork, which can be clearly seen in her huge art canvases of the Human Figure. Including the Chakras, taking her figure through the senses of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Ether, the Ayurvedic way. Katerina uses plants, seaweed, sand, crushed bone and rocks in her art. She uses dye from rust from the wooden groynes heading out to sea. Seaweeds are used as print marks, as well as drying and crushing to extract their powder which is then made into paint. Using her own inks satisfies her interest in the organic physical and ethereal body. Her drawing sticks are made with spices and tree resin. Katerina has a visceral and tactile way of working, finding freedom in the seeming incompatibility of oil and water. The process is what is important, Katerina says. Her work evolves, as images reveal themselves, unique yet related, creating serendipitous works of art.