Ok… I wasn’t sure I would publish this post because it’s actually so embarrassing- my absolute ignorance in the field of pigment-making. I know there’s a lot of people who have been doing this for a long time, that I feel silly even trying. It’s part of what deterred me for so long- thinking what’s the point when there’s so many people out there already doing amazing things. I’ll never catch up. I am also very impulsive. If I’m at the studio, I just want to paint. Studio time is sacred when you have to fit it between family, work and life…and I feel like outcome has become an important marker of that time. A finished painting is a physical validation of time spent. Anyway, that’s why this DYCP is so precious. The funding and accountability has told me to chill out, take your time, and don’t worry about outcome. So, I am slowing down and feeling less pressure to ‘keep up with my practice’- because this IS my practice.
Anyway, I finally made it into the studio to have a go at making pigment from the pine needles and seed cones I collected from the baby Giant Sequoia. I just wanted to dive in and play. Messy play. Follow what felt natural. And none of it did really. I forgot my recipe book. I was missing bits and bobs like a scale, coffee grinder, glass plate. I popped out for a coffee grinder, found some Perspex, and had to guess on measurements… Honestly if it can’t be a bit flexible, I won’t be able to keep up. I’m not very meticulous or scientific. There has to be some flexibility to the process, or I will not survive.
Without my recipe book (aka pigment bible), I perused some notes, blogs and youtube videos and tried to find my way. I ground up my gum arabic and dissolved over the hob, but I wasn’t sure about ratios because I only skimmed the blog posts… I mixed this with what I thought might be ‘1 part’ glycerine which is meant to keep the paint moist. Separately, I ground up my needles, then simmered on stovetop for about 20 minutes. However, in reflection, I should have simmered for an hour or possibly left over night to extract maximum pigment.
I then filtered the needle water through coffee filters (but after a few rips, I see the value of cheesecloths..) then added what I guessed to be about 10 g alum and 5 g bicarbonate of soda- but I think I guessed very wrong- and ended up with a volcanic eruption.
I now know to use a bigger jar and proper measurements; wait for reaction; pour off the clear liquid, then collect the pigment that will gather at bottom of jar. I know the resulting gloop doesn’t look very impressive and is rather minuscule for the amount of labour that went into it, but I was actually so proud of this, its comical. I had a play at painting with it, but soon realised I missed the mulling step as the pigment did not bind very well. I mixed with some clay to see what that felt like; having visions of buckets of messy muddy media that I can literally get my hands into at some point. I’m also saving all the waste like coffee filters and needle grounds which will go into some paper-making and biomaterial experiments.
As far as this first attempt being a test of flexibility, I’d say I am definitely going to have to be a bit more thoughtful with the process (remembering to mull baby mull) and precise with measurements- having my scale next time will help with this. That being said, there’s definitely a lot of room for experimentation.
Until next time!