Foraged black pigments and basin chalk on steel
In pursuit of colour Part one: Yellow Ochre The geography of colour is a concept by Jean-Philippe Lenclos, a French designer-colourist. Through his work he “deduced that each geographic region engendered in its inhabitants a particular taste for the colours they made for their housing, and formed part of their identity”. Although his work focuses on the use of colour in the design of the built environment, it does touch on something profound. That the colours we see and experience everyday through landscape and environment, unconsciously seep into us and form part of our identity. Could it therefor follow, that paintings or artworks, created from found or foraged colours significant to artist or subject, would capture something that mass produced colours cannot? Inspired by this thought, I am on a mission of sorts, to collect and create a library of pigments with which to create paint. The mission is that the pigments be a way of exploring ““Genius loci”, how distinctive character and atmosphere of a place, created in part through colour geography, can impact on the works subject through the collection of pigments. These pigments therefore must be from places that, through repeated exposure or family connection, are significant to me and/or the subjects of my work. To have a usable palette of colours for portraits, I need, as a minimum, to collect the “Zorn” palette, attributed to Swedish artist Anders Zorn, also known as the restricted palette. It is made up of white, black, yellow and red. This restricted palette is typically used for portraits or figurative works rather than landscapes. This limited colour approach is not only useful in the sense that it requires a disciplined approach to mixing colours and considering their relationships to each other within a painting, but it also seems to be achievable as a first goal in the creation of my pigment library. As well as the task of collecting enough pigments to create the desired colour palette, the other primary challenge is that those pigments be useable. This means that the must be mixable with an appropriate binder, which for me is either oil or egg yoke to create tempera. The yellow in the zorn palette is typically that of yellow ochre. Ochres are ancient pigments and amongst the very first to by used by humans. They are present in the oldest human artworks, those vivid and moving depictions of animals and humans that adorn the walls of caves and rocks across the world, with the oldest currently dated to 67,800 years old. Insert image Cave_of_Altamira_and_Paleolithic_Cave_Art_of_Northern_Spain-110113 Figure One: Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain, it is considered to be a unique artistic illustration of this period, in particular of the Magdalenian culture. Image credit : Yvon Fruneau, provided by UNESCO (unesco.org) as part of a GLAM-Wiki partnership Ochres are clay pigments made up an impure form of iron (ferric) oxide, and varying amounts of clay and sand, which can also be heated to produce other hues. Yellow ochre deposits are found throughout the world and have been used by diverse cultures throughout history. In the UK goethite (iron oxide hydroxide) occurs widely in Oxfordshire, and a pigment known as “Oxford Orche”, a mixture of goethite and clay minerals, was once obtainable from the Shotover Hills near Headington. Limonite, another iron-based mineral (although not a true mineral) is also found in the East of England. It can be found in the strata of “Clay with Flints Formation” but unlike more pure deposits of ochre the yellow hue is seen as staining or hard nodules within sandy clay deposits. Living in the southeast, digging some local “ochre” containing clay seemed like a good starting point to producing a yellow pigment. To use ochres as a pigment they must be prepared. This is a process that has changed very little over the centuries. To begin with the collected material must be washed to remove any organic debris. Then it can be ground down, and washed again, this time to remove impurities such as salts. Then it is levitated to separate the fine pigment particles from denser materials such as sand, then dried thoroughly before grinding. This produces a stable and lightfast pigment that can be used in all media. I have several books on historic art materials and processes. “The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting” contains a passage on the use of clays as a pigment, warning: “A small amount of colouring material will tinge clay strongly while it is damp, but will hardly show itself when the clay is dry…..Ochres to be good must consist very largely of the coloured salts of iron and not, as most earths do, feebly coloured clay” Undeterred by this warning, I harvested a sample of clay from my garden, which formed part of the extensive clay deposits that cover much of the bedrock of Essex where I grew up, and Hertfordshire where I now live. The colour of that clay rich earth has been a continuous part of my life and is so deeply engrained in my memory that it would be a shame not to add it to my colour library, even if it does turn out to be a “feeble”. Insert Image: Figure two, clay harvesting Figure two: Clay harvesting and processing Image credit: Charlotte Pratt Fearful that the clay would yield a “feeble” pigment, I also searched the field margins on my regular walking routes for soft minerals that looked like they contained iron and was pleasantly surprised to find several pieces that seemed suitable. To test the suitability of each sample I performed a streak test. The streak is the colour of a mineral when it is finely powdered. You can easily test a mineral's streak by scraping the mineral across the back of a white unglazed tile. The mark that is left on the tile is the streak. Following the streak test, I selected two samples to begin with. One was a particularly richly coloured and left an orange streak. One of the lighter samples left a lighter brown, orange streak on the tile. Insert Image: Figure Three Mineral samples Figure three: Mineral samples Image Credit Charlotte Pratt To create a usable pigment the samples first needed to be washed. Dirt and debris was removed from the outside with a stiff brush, then the samples crushed into a course powder using a pestle and morter. Each crushed sample was placed into its own jar and the jar filled with water, then stired vigorously. This helps to remove any excess salts or unwanted contaminants. This process is repeated untill there is no visable froth on the top of the water. After drying the samples are further prepared through livitation. The dry rough ground samples were placed in a jar with water then stirred thoroughly, ensuring all particles are wetted. The mixture is then allowed to sit for a few minutes. Due to gravity, heavier, coarser particles sink to the bottom, while finer particles remain suspended (or "levitate") in the water. The water containing the fine particles is carefully poured off or removed with a syringe/pipette and collected in a separate container Insert Image: Figure Four, sample processing Figure four: Processing mineral samples through washing and levitation Image credit: Charlotte Pratt The levitation process removed a lot of sand from the sample, particulary the lighter ones. The fine pigment was left to settle in water, then the excess water removed and the pigments were then dried. Once dried they could be ground finally using a pestle and morter or a ball mill, and then seived through a 325 mesh to create the final pigments. A 325 mesh screen corresponds to a nominal particle size of 44 microns or 0.044mm, which is in my opion the largest size that still makes an acceptabley smotth paint. After processing I had four colours, two from the clay and two from the collected mineral samples. I mixed each with a small quainty of oil to test the final colours. Insert Image: Figure Five, mixing with oil Figure five: Mixing the final pigments with linseed oil to test colours, top left raw clay, top right rich sample, bottom left clay roasted to 200c, bottom right light sample. Image credit: Charlotte Pratt Insert image: figure six, final colours Figure six: The final colours, mixed with linseed oil and tested on a gesso board Image credit: Charlotte Pratt I was pleasently surprised by the quailty of the colour produced. Many mass produced oils, except those at the top end of the market, have lots of bulking agents to make the paint go futher. The colours produced by these foraged and pure pigments have a rich deep quailty and have certainly captured something of the landscape, the raw clay in particular is very reminsitant of the hazely brick earth from which it was collected. The raw clay has produced a rich and warm yellow brown, with a hex code of #ce8d10 hex #ce6d10 is composed of 80.8% red, 42.7% green and 6.3% blue and in CMYK, it is composed of 0% cyan, 47.1% magenta, 92.2% yellow and 19.2% black, paint colours with a simlar composition are described as golds, desert yellows and saffrons, making this the most simlar to a yellow ochre pigment. The other pigments have also yelded pleasant colours although more brown then yellow. The clay roasted to 200c has given a deeper rich red brown. The rich mineral sample has given a warm and rich orange brown, and the light mineral sample has given a simalr shade but with a greener cast. Inset image: figure seven colours with hex codes Figure seven: Colour samples created with colour picker tool, wityh hex codes Image credit: Charlotte Pratt Sources Web https://edu.rsc.org/resources/prehistoric-pigments/1540.article https://www.jeanphilippelenclos.uk/en/geography https://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/how-to/art-theory/the-zorn-palette-an-essential-guide https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/Harpenden https://encycolorpedia.com/ca8d16 Books Matejak J (2022) Oil Painting: Contemporary guide to realistic oil painting, underpaintings, layered techniques and direct painting methods for beginners. Jan Matěják Eastaugh N, Walsh V, Chaplin T, Siddall R (2004) Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary of Historical Pigments. Routledge. Kremer Pigmente Historical Ink Recipes. Kremer Pimente GmbH & Co KG Thompson D V (1956) The materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting. Dover Publications
In pursuit of colour Part one: Yellow Ochre The geography of colour is a concept by Jean-Philippe Lenclos, a French designer-colourist. Through his work he “deduced that each geographic region engendered in its inhabitants a particular taste for the colours they made for their housing, and formed part of their identity”. Although his work focuses on the use of colour in the design of the built environment, it does touch on something profound. That the colours we see and experience everyday through landscape and environment, unconsciously seep into us and form part of our identity. Could it therefor follow, that paintings or artworks, created from found or foraged colours significant to artist or subject, would capture something that mass produced colours cannot? Inspired by this thought, I am on a mission of sorts, to collect and create a library of pigments with which to create paint. The mission is that the pigments be a way of exploring ““Genius loci”, how distinctive character and atmosphere of a place, created in part through colour geography, can impact on the works subject through the collection of pigments. These pigments therefore must be from places that, through repeated exposure or family connection, are significant to me and/or the subjects of my work. To have a usable palette of colours for portraits, I need, as a minimum, to collect the “Zorn” palette, attributed to Swedish artist Anders Zorn, also known as the restricted palette. It is made up of white, black, yellow and red. This restricted palette is typically used for portraits or figurative works rather than landscapes. This limited colour approach is not only useful in the sense that it requires a disciplined approach to mixing colours and considering their relationships to each other within a painting, but it also seems to be achievable as a first goal in the creation of my pigment library. As well as the task of collecting enough pigments to create the desired colour palette, the other primary challenge is that those pigments be useable. This means that the must be mixable with an appropriate binder, which for me is either oil or egg yoke to create tempera. The yellow in the zorn palette is typically that of yellow ochre. Ochres are ancient pigments and amongst the very first to by used by humans. They are present in the oldest human artworks, those vivid and moving depictions of animals and humans that adorn the walls of caves and rocks across the world, with the oldest currently dated to 67,800 years old. Insert image Cave_of_Altamira_and_Paleolithic_Cave_Art_of_Northern_Spain-110113 Figure One: Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain, it is considered to be a unique artistic illustration of this period, in particular of the Magdalenian culture. Image credit : Yvon Fruneau, provided by UNESCO (unesco.org) as part of a GLAM-Wiki partnership Ochres are clay pigments made up an impure form of iron (ferric) oxide, and varying amounts of clay and sand, which can also be heated to produce other hues. Yellow ochre deposits are found throughout the world and have been used by diverse cultures throughout history. In the UK goethite (iron oxide hydroxide) occurs widely in Oxfordshire, and a pigment known as “Oxford Orche”, a mixture of goethite and clay minerals, was once obtainable from the Shotover Hills near Headington. Limonite, another iron-based mineral (although not a true mineral) is also found in the East of England. It can be found in the strata of “Clay with Flints Formation” but unlike more pure deposits of ochre the yellow hue is seen as staining or hard nodules within sandy clay deposits. Living in the southeast, digging some local “ochre” containing clay seemed like a good starting point to producing a yellow pigment. To use ochres as a pigment they must be prepared. This is a process that has changed very little over the centuries. To begin with the collected material must be washed to remove any organic debris. Then it can be ground down, and washed again, this time to remove impurities such as salts. Then it is levitated to separate the fine pigment particles from denser materials such as sand, then dried thoroughly before grinding. This produces a stable and lightfast pigment that can be used in all media. I have several books on historic art materials and processes. “The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting” contains a passage on the use of clays as a pigment, warning: “A small amount of colouring material will tinge clay strongly while it is damp, but will hardly show itself when the clay is dry…..Ochres to be good must consist very largely of the coloured salts of iron and not, as most earths do, feebly coloured clay” Undeterred by this warning, I harvested a sample of clay from my garden, which formed part of the extensive clay deposits that cover much of the bedrock of Essex where I grew up, and Hertfordshire where I now live. The colour of that clay rich earth has been a continuous part of my life and is so deeply engrained in my memory that it would be a shame not to add it to my colour library, even if it does turn out to be a “feeble”. Insert Image: Figure two, clay harvesting Figure two: Clay harvesting and processing Image credit: Charlotte Pratt Fearful that the clay would yield a “feeble” pigment, I also searched the field margins on my regular walking routes for soft minerals that looked like they contained iron and was pleasantly surprised to find several pieces that seemed suitable. To test the suitability of each sample I performed a streak test. The streak is the colour of a mineral when it is finely powdered. You can easily test a mineral's streak by scraping the mineral across the back of a white unglazed tile. The mark that is left on the tile is the streak. Following the streak test, I selected two samples to begin with. One was a particularly richly coloured and left an orange streak. One of the lighter samples left a lighter brown, orange streak on the tile. Insert Image: Figure Three Mineral samples Figure three: Mineral samples Image Credit Charlotte Pratt To create a usable pigment the samples first needed to be washed. Dirt and debris was removed from the outside with a stiff brush, then the samples crushed into a course powder using a pestle and morter. Each crushed sample was placed into its own jar and the jar filled with water, then stired vigorously. This helps to remove any excess salts or unwanted contaminants. This process is repeated untill there is no visable froth on the top of the water. After drying the samples are further prepared through livitation. The dry rough ground samples were placed in a jar with water then stirred thoroughly, ensuring all particles are wetted. The mixture is then allowed to sit for a few minutes. Due to gravity, heavier, coarser particles sink to the bottom, while finer particles remain suspended (or "levitate") in the water. The water containing the fine particles is carefully poured off or removed with a syringe/pipette and collected in a separate container Insert Image: Figure Four, sample processing Figure four: Processing mineral samples through washing and levitation Image credit: Charlotte Pratt The levitation process removed a lot of sand from the sample, particulary the lighter ones. The fine pigment was left to settle in water, then the excess water removed and the pigments were then dried. Once dried they could be ground finally using a pestle and morter or a ball mill, and then seived through a 325 mesh to create the final pigments. A 325 mesh screen corresponds to a nominal particle size of 44 microns or 0.044mm, which is in my opion the largest size that still makes an acceptabley smotth paint. After processing I had four colours, two from the clay and two from the collected mineral samples. I mixed each with a small quainty of oil to test the final colours. Insert Image: Figure Five, mixing with oil Figure five: Mixing the final pigments with linseed oil to test colours, top left raw clay, top right rich sample, bottom left clay roasted to 200c, bottom right light sample. Image credit: Charlotte Pratt Insert image: figure six, final colours Figure six: The final colours, mixed with linseed oil and tested on a gesso board Image credit: Charlotte Pratt I was pleasently surprised by the quailty of the colour produced. Many mass produced oils, except those at the top end of the market, have lots of bulking agents to make the paint go futher. The colours produced by these foraged and pure pigments have a rich deep quailty and have certainly captured something of the landscape, the raw clay in particular is very reminsitant of the hazely brick earth from which it was collected. The raw clay has produced a rich and warm yellow brown, with a hex code of #ce8d10 hex #ce6d10 is composed of 80.8% red, 42.7% green and 6.3% blue and in CMYK, it is composed of 0% cyan, 47.1% magenta, 92.2% yellow and 19.2% black, paint colours with a simlar composition are described as golds, desert yellows and saffrons, making this the most simlar to a yellow ochre pigment. The other pigments have also yelded pleasant colours although more brown then yellow. The clay roasted to 200c has given a deeper rich red brown. The rich mineral sample has given a warm and rich orange brown, and the light mineral sample has given a simalr shade but with a greener cast. Inset image: figure seven colours with hex codes Figure seven: Colour samples created with colour picker tool, wityh hex codes Image credit: Charlotte Pratt Sources Web https://edu.rsc.org/resources/prehistoric-pigments/1540.article https://www.jeanphilippelenclos.uk/en/geography https://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/how-to/art-theory/the-zorn-palette-an-essential-guide https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/Harpenden https://encycolorpedia.com/ca8d16 Books Matejak J (2022) Oil Painting: Contemporary guide to realistic oil painting, underpaintings, layered techniques and direct painting methods for beginners. Jan Matěják Eastaugh N, Walsh V, Chaplin T, Siddall R (2004) Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary of Historical Pigments. Routledge. Kremer Pigmente Historical Ink Recipes. Kremer Pimente GmbH & Co KG Thompson D V (1956) The materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting. Dover Publications