Pls I'm a visual artist interested in creating paintings on trees that are still alive. Would I be causing harm? I just wish to use them as support for paintings. No harm intended though. Thank you.

Alice

I admire your respect for the nature with your request for knowing if
you would affect the trees painting on the leaves.

You want to do an art friendly with nature. Congratulations!

My opinion is that if you do not use toxic substances for the plant and
if you only paint a rather small fraction of the total leaf area you
will not affect the plant.

Trees are living organisms. The trees need the leaves for the
photosynthesis; the process that convert CO2 and light energy in
carbohydrates. Those carbohydrates are fundamental for the normal plant
growth and for a myriad of functions in the plants.

The leaf area in a tree is normally very high; some leaves are very
active in photosynthesis and the old ones are not so active. Moreover
the leaves are very important in the transpiration process, the
evaporation of water from the leave surfaces that permit the plant to
regulate the temperature and transport substances (mineral nutrients,
etc) from the soil to the upper part.

If you do not affect a significant area of the leaves, the plant will
not be affected too much.

Good luck with your project, always taking care of the plants as you
are; a clever action.

Regards,

Eduardo

PS. In a previous delivery of my email, the address of Alice Apeyuan
that appear in the original message do not exist.

El 2016-05-18 15:55, Alice Apeyuan escribió:

Pls I'm a visual artist interested in creating paintings on trees that
are still alive. Would I be causing harm? I just wish to use them as
support for paintings. No harm intended though. Thank you.

--
Dr. Eduardo Ortega
Profesor
Lab Fisiologia Vegetal
Universidad de La Habana
Telefono (53) 78 70 9411
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eduardo_Ortega1
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eduardo-ortega-aa697b87

Eduardo,
Thanks for your reply. My intention though, was to paint on the trunks or is it stem? Of the trees and not the leaves. Is your answer still applicable? Will the trees still be harmed?