Art Made from Natural Materials

For the past few days I’ve had to make a detour from my Detour for a Thirsty Raven painting. Because my art is made from natural materials, it means I have to take the time to replenish my supplies from time to time. So, I’ve been washing pigments and making paint. Besides, the layers of paint already on the board needed to dry anyway, before I can add more layers.

Permanent Natural Colors

Some art made from natural materials is ephemeral. Almost all of the plant-based pigments I’ve tried fall into this category. I’d have a much larger range of colors, at least in watercolor if this was an avenue I wanted to pursue. But I like the idea of my colors being the same in 100 years as they were when the brush stroke left them on my canvas when I created the artwork. And so, I use the earth pigments with staying power for the bulk of my work.

And sometimes the art is itself is made from materials gathered in nature, but simply arranged and not processed into another form. I use facets of both in my artwork, but for the paintings, it is a process that transforms the material into a pigment that can then be used to create a painting. When I am making something else, like sculptures or decorating my paint tins, I often use botanical things like preserved leaves or twigs and grasses as part of the art or presentation.

Palette of Permanent Color

Here’s the colors I made this week. These are oil paints. I make the paints with linseed oil, and when I’m using them on the canvas/board, I mix with walnut oil. All of my cleanup is done with oil, too, since I am trying to avoid the harsh chemicals like turpentine or thinners.

I’m going to need black, mainly, to finish the raven in my current painting. But it’s a mess to make the paint, so whenever I make one color, I usually make as many as I can. This way I can get all of the mess-making done and cleaned in one day.