1ST BIG NATURALLY PIGMENTED PAINTING! <3

*to learn how I “make” natural pigments, you’re welcome to read my blog post

THE STORY

This time I was challenged to make a 80x80 cm big painting, in warm colours. I felt it was time to make a naturally pigmented painting. However, I played it a little bit safer. I used an artificial, colourless medium to make a thicker consistency of the paint and to make pigments stick better to the surface. It worked!

I started with no clue what the painting will look like. The only thing I knew I wanted to incorporate in the artwork was nature. The message I wished for the painting to speak was the human’s deep connection to the Earth.

For the first colour, I chose golden clay. I mixed the powder with some water and added a little bit of acrylic medium. I started with a bigger brush, and that’s what happened. My hand was following the intuition solely. Once some shapes were on the canvas, I could see what the painting was about - the root system or kidney’s glomerulus.

The next step was adding more colour. I wanted contrasts, and that’s how it ended up. I mixed dark red with a little bit of light grey pigment from Costa Rica to create a lighter colour. To me, it represents the heart muscle, being intertwined around the roots. The genuine connection between humans and nature. Isn’t it?

I wanted to create a more powerful contrast, and since all other pigments are either very earthy or blue, I took a risk and used black charcoal. In my opinion, the result was quite incredible. After I painted two layers of charcoal, the colour became totally black. It represents soil and heart tissue. That’s what I see and feel.

Since I like shiny things, I had to add something like that to make a painting more vibrant and add some relief. I used pine tree bark, which I picked during one of many walks in the local forest during the quarantine. Then I added glitter glue and golden powder. Not natural, but maybe one day, I find a natural solution also for the shiny parts.

I glued it on the photo and voila - the final result was here. I love it.

Natural ingredients I used:

• stones from the proximity of my home

• clay from the bank of local stream Črnušnica

• stones from Costa Rica - near the tropical research station La Gamba

• water

• charcoal from near my home and from Pokljuka plateau

• pine bark

• eco canvas