Happy New Year, dear readers! Do you remember me? A thing or two has happened since the last post I made about earth pigments in 2018. Suffice to say, it’s been a whirlwind. But here I am! I’m back! I am excited to be returning to Material Things, and to use this as a conduit between all the most important things: you, me, painting, the stuff of our world, everything that has already passed, and everything yet to come.
Read moreEarthly Link – all about earth pigments
Winter is slowly slipping out of our grasp, the new realities of 2018 are finally settling into place, March is already upon us, and oh my goodness I need a second to catch up. A moment of reprieve, a source of grounding, and yeah, probably a double whiskey neat. The earth itself, what with gravity and all, is the most grounding thing I know. With Capricorn season far behind and Taurus a month away yet, I’m feeling the need to refocus and establish this grounding for myself. How, you ask? Earth pigments, of course. Let’s talk about them.
Read more"I find security in the inexhaustibility of the unknown" – the long and winding road of learning materials
This knowledge [of painting materials] simultaneously brews inside me and constantly evades me. It’s not something I have, but seek. And through all of this seeking, it’s become harder and harder for me to write about what I’m learning. Why? For a while, I couldn’t tell you. Now I think I know. The more I have learned about paint and its long history and many characters, the more I realize I don’t know. Maybe this is actually a coming of age story. I remember the question crossing my mind, “what place does my voice have when there’s so many people who know so much more?”
Read morePurity Complex – the history of pastels and how to make them
Pastels are, without contest, the purest medium you can use. Although pastel may technically be considered a drawing medium, it’s often referred to as a painting medium because of how generous and workable the soft, chalky marks are. I say “pure” because of how minimally the binder visually shapes the pigments. When you look at an oil painting, the luscious oil has just as much presence as the pigment itself. Pastels don’t operate in this fashion. The pastel binder has very little presence, only asserting itself enough to hold the pigments into the shape of a stick and to loosely adhere them to the surface. Essentially, the pigments are able to operate chemically and optically with very little influence from the binder itself. Now, I don’t say “pure” as a qualitatively good thing or a bad thing– don't be wooed by the notion of purity as idealistic. For my work, the physical presence of the binder and its countless possibilities for manipulation is pretty essential, as we've been over before. I personally find pastels to be a bit too loose and difficult to have autonomy over. But man, do I love to make them.
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