Pigment and Place.
I bought and thoroughly enjoyed Eleanor Nairne’s book Brutal Beauty about the work of Jean Dubuffet. Dubuffet appealed to me because he rejected traditional art and favoured the use of unorthodox materials, texturology and assemblage. I found myself mesmerised by his paintings of the life of soil.
Further along my journey, I went to an exhibition at Knepp of Peter Ward’s work. Peter makes earth pigments and uses these in his art work. I had been thinking about experimenting with creating pigments myself, as I was trying to find ways that allowed me to capture the landscape. As well as communicating with Peter directly via Instagram, I read several of Peter’s books and found them informative and inspiring.
This spurred me on to take a short online course to develop the skills needed to process earth into pigments. I also bought and read Found and Ground by Caroline Ross, which acted as a great ‘how to’ guide. Finally, I went to Cass Art in Brighton and asked the very helpful staff for some advice on binding agents and paper. Another flurry of amazon parcels brining various tools required!
After that, it was a lot of trial and error. Soon, the process became ritualistic and has become the most enjoyable aspect of my practice.
It felt really significant, to have taken such a large risk as to actually make my own medium. The act of gathering, grinding and processing the earth put me in direct contact with the landscape. I was no longer simply walking through it and observing it, I was kneeling, touching it and transforming it. By transforming the outer landscape, I was transforming myself in what turned out to be the most significant way.
Each walk that I have been on and subsequent risk, process, medium has resulted in new pathways (spreading out like rhizomes). My journey has been far from linear but it has been a layered, rhizomatic map of self-discovery. It is a kind of wayfaring. With each experiment, I have gained confidence, new skills and a better understanding of who I am as an artist. Without the journey, the liminal spaces, the dead ends, the trials and experiments, I would not have found the practice of making earth pigments and I would not have been able to confidently tell someone that I have a practice as an artist.
As I uncover the earth, to transform and use as an act of expression, I uncover myself.
Nairne, E. (2021) Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty. London: Prestel.
Ross, C. (2023) Found and Ground. Kent: Search Press Limited.
Ward, P. (2023) Expressions of an Intimate Ecology: An Ongoing Conversation with Earth Pigments in Southwest England. Devon: art.earth books.
