Gathering earth pigments
During my residency in Cornwall, awarded by
Visual Arts Scotland,
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust and Porthmeor Studios, I met artist
Peter Ward. After seeing an interesting painting of his at the
Tremenheere Gallery,
Penzance, I contacted Ward to ask about the medium of 'earth pigments'. To my delight he offered to show me the best pigment collecting sites along the South West Coastal Path.

We walked at various points along the coast - Bottalack, Geevor, Gunwalloe and Levant - gathering earth and stone, always being mindful to take only what there is plenty off.
The run off from historic tin and copper mines has informed the colour of the land here, some of which contains the smallest element of arsenic.
Talking about painting with earth pigments compared to the colour of commercial oil paints, Pete says "it is more a holistic appreciation of material presence which encompasses not just colour but texture, smell and a provenance of time and place, of formation and decay, of ecology, history and Nature itself."
I love this tactile, material element of paint and was excited to learn the process.

After breaking up the stones and earth, we spent time grinding and sieving before mixing the powered pigments with mediums to create paint!
The range of colours was fascinating, and I'm looking forward to using more of these pigments now I'm back in my Glasgow studio. See this page for examples of paintings made using these pigments!





