Organic Matters

Judith Kruger

2008-10-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

Judith Kruger is a modern master of the ancient art form of Nihonga, Japanese mineral pigment painting. She paints with pulverized minerals, which are mixed with a warm hide glue (and sometimes seaweed) binder and layered in varying particle sizes onto stretched handmade Japanese paper. She uses a combination of sized and unsized paper to achieve different depth within the work. Metallic leaf is often incorporated within the layered works, reminiscent of the prized byobu (folding screens) of centuries past.

Judith employs a purely traditional Asian palette, which is derived from 100-year cured oyster shells, sumi, malachite, azurite, tiger’s eye and cinnabar, to name only a few. She prepares her materials using the same methods as historic works dating back from the Heian period with strong influences from the Momoyama and Edo periods.

However, being an American living in the 21^st century, she is taking the liberty to “break the boundaries” of the medium. Depth, transparency, beauty and luminosity are her mantras throughout a meditative, multi-layered painting process conveying both the complexity and serenity in our natural environment without direct representation.

Judith currently teaches Nihonga at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is also launching her Judith Kruger Studio fine mineral pigmented, hand-crafted tableware collection nationally, a collaborative project with artisans in Japan and India.

You can see more of Judith's work on her website.

India Flint

2008-07-31T12:11:00.001-07:00

India Flint is a textile artist who works with natural dyes, rust, mud, the sun, and flowers and leaves to create color and design on cloth. She layers her techniques to get rich hues and complex patterns.

She has a new book just out titled Eco Colour, available only in Australia, or through mail order in other parts of the world. It's a fabulous book with beautiful photographs and invaluable information for anyone interested in creating color naturally.

Tom Irizarry

2008-05-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

Tom Irizarry is a Brooklyn, NY artist who grinds his own pigments for oil paints from verdigris, azurite, lapis, and other minerals. He combines the ground pigments with linseed oil and soft and hard resins, and even makes his own gesso.

"Breathes Minion," oil on canvas, 18" x 14":

"Crimsoned East," oil on panel, 12" x 9":

"Amorous Tempest," oil on panel, 12" x 9":

You can see more of Tom's work on his website.

Joel Ferraris

2007-08-25T16:45:00.000-07:00

Joel Ferraris is a Hong Kong artist who creates artwork from rubbish.

"Manicured Canyons and the Howling Winds of Homesickness," made from phone cards.

"Using phonecards to depict a modern but crowded city skyline, which is clearly recognizable from a certain distance, underscores the gravity of how foreign workers were forced by circumstances to work abroad and how they value their families back home."

"Digital Dreams v4," mixed media on CD cases:

You can see more of Joel's work on his blog.

Cassandra Tondro

2007-01-15T16:37:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd take a minute to update you on my own work using natural materials. These are a few of my favorite pieces from my "Decomposition" series. The mediums used are natural dyes, Earth pigments in a soy milk binder, and organic stains (mold) on raw cotton canvas.

Passage, 56" x 42":

Codex, 52" x 38":

Journey, 54" x 40":

Abyss, 54" x 40":

And of course you can see more of my work on my website!

Michael Price

2007-01-15T16:14:00.000-08:00

Michael Price is a British-born New York figurative artist who grinds his own pigments for use with various binders to paint on canvas and paper.

"Michael Price paints with natural and mineral pigments. He has published his research about the preparation protocols of these pigments for use as oil paint. His oeuvre presents a ground-breaking alternative to the modern usage of synthetic colour. These paintings reveal the exquisite beauty of natural and mineral pigments and the contemporary chromatic possibilities of the lost world of the Renaissance palette. The pigments include: lapis lazuli, azurite, cinnabar, malachite, stibnite, purpurite, cerussite, vivianite, pyrolusite, orpiment, realgar, the natural ochres and root madders."

Tyger, Tyger burning bright:

The Lapis and the Opus:

The Meditating One:

Bryce Canyon:

Michael also teaches workshops on grinding and using natural pigments. You can see more of Michael's work and find information about his workshops on his website.

Mick Fredrickson

2006-08-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

I saw Mick Fredrickson's work in the September 2006 gallery issue of the Surface Design Journal, and went to check out his website. He uses an ingenious technique of applying pigmented pulp onto a support to create his paintings. The pulp is the same as pulp used to make paper, but Mick is using it as a binder.

"Pulp Painting is how I describe my new series of work. I paint on canvas with finely beaten, pigmented pulp made from flax. The pulp is applied in a variety of ways; brushed, extruded, but I most often apply the pulp using trowel-like broad blades much the way oil paint is applied with a palette knife or in a method similar to the way stucco is applied to buildings here in the Southwest. I achieve textures and treatments I was never able to achieve with paint."

You can see more of Mick's work on his website.

Linda Fries

2006-07-25T19:55:00.000-07:00

Linda Fries uses hand ground pigments for her abstract paintings.

"My paintings are made with hand ground earth pigments. For the past several years I have been committed to creating art in the most natural way. I have developed a landscape/abstract painting process using only nature's ingredients. I collect my own pigments from the earth. I grind these colored soils by hand and mix them with a plant-based medium to make paint. Some soils are finely ground, while others are left in their original rugged state.

The colors are exactly as I have found them, untouched by any additives or mixing. While the manufacture of most modern art materials can and often does produce toxic or potentially harmful substances, the use of natural earth colors recalls an earlier, more basic way of making art. By painting with these earth pigments, I avoid adding new and often unknown chemical or ecological dangers to our environment."

This is some of her work.

Earth Weave 2:

Canyon Series 1:

Earth Series (Hill) 38:

You can see more of Linda's work on her website.

Maggie Remington

2006-07-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

Maggie Remington creates her Earth Paintings onsite, using pigments dug from the site and a glue binder. She lets her paintings dry on the ground, and they don't dry flat or square, becoming sculptural objects.

"I search for my earth colors, studying the landscape and getting to know a place before I dig (always with permission). A southwestern road- or trailside can furnish a glorious batch of natural pigment: gold, green, blue, orange, brown, silver, black, red, pink. I collect dirt, mud, sand, and rock that I crush and mix. Then when wind and weather are right, and I've found the right patch of ground for laying out unprimed unstretched canvas, I'm bent over for about two hours applying color and texture with my hands or weeds, branches, or brush. The piece may then take up to three or four hours to dry enough-to a consistency like a tanned hide-before I can move it. A completed work can suggest, simultaneously, huge forms seen from long distances or small things much magnified. My earth paintings are celebrations of nature: river beds or mountain ranges seen from ten miles up, a canyon's geology, the anatomy of a trout jaw, an amoeba extending a pseudopod, the diagram of a molecule. They provoke reflection and evoke responses to a place and deep healing. They are spiritually expansive and healing; both in the making and the viewing."

These are some of her Earth Paintings.

Log Hill, SW, CO:

Casa Tonanta Tlayacopan, Mexico:

Tiyaweh Trails, Montrose, CO:

You can see more of Maggie's work on her website.

Lorena Babcock Moore

2006-07-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

Lorena Babcock Moore grinds her own mineral pigments for her shamanic artwork, and suspends them in a traditional egg tempera binder. The picture below is of the pigments that she uses in her work:

"I have been collecting and using mineral pigments since 1990, and my palette now includes over 40 colors. I grind the rocks in a mortar and pestle and mix with eggyolk-water medium for watercolors and traditional egg tempera paintings. Using tiny brushstrokes, colors are applied one at a time in many thin glazes. This time-consuming process has much in common with pencil drawing. The pigment layers are both transparent and reflective, the colors subtle and complex. Paintings have a luminous intensity that cannot be duplicated in any other medium."

These are some of her mineral pigments in egg tempera paintings.

Going Home:

Island Guardian:

Spirit Sister:

He Who Breaks the Dark:

You can see more of Lorena's artwork and iron work on her website.

Vijali Hamilton

2006-07-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

Vijali Hamilton is a large-scale Earthworks artist. She created an Earth mandala that she calls "World Wheel" -- twelve monumental stone sculptures and ceremonial performances circling the globe on the 34th latitudinal parallel. These sculptures and performances were created by Vijali in collaboration with each host community. The World Wheel focuses on spiritual ecological issues activating an awareness of the interrelatedness of all life. Through active participation with local artists, performers and community, World Wheel addresses the people's deepest personal and social concerns, working creatively with them to resolve cultural conflicts. World Wheel provides a transformative experience for the community.

The World Wheel took seven years beginning in Malibu, California and continued on to the Seneca Reservation, New York -- Alicante on the Mediterranean Sea of Spain -- the Umbrian Forest of Italy -- the island of Tinos in Greece -- the desert of Egypt -- the banks of the Dead Sea in Israel and Palestine -- a tiny village in West Bengal, India -- a cave in Shoto Terdrom, Tibet -- a national park in Kunming, Western China -- on the banks of Lake Baikal, Siberia. In October of 1993, the culmination of this journey was in Japan at the ancient Shinto shrine of Tenkawa.

After completing the first World Wheel, Vijali created a second World Wheel, circling the equator forming a nine-pointed star with its center as the center of the earth. The first site is in the Andes of Ecuador. The following sites are Ecuador Amazon, Brazil, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Australia, South Pacific Ocean, Kiribati, culminating in California.

"The motivation for the World Wheel came from an experience in the mid 70's when my perception of ourselves and the world shifted, and the Unity of life stood revealed. The next few years were a search for a way to live within this web of life that connects all life. Specific ideas for the World Wheel came to me in a dream; I saw myself carving sculptures out of the living rock and involving people from many culture in a process of ritual in a giant circle around the world. The circle itself represents Unity in the sense that each spoke of the wheel has a quality that is unique, distinct from every other spoke of the wheel and yet it is from these differences that harmony arises, from these differences that the whole is created."

You can see more of Vijali's work on her website.

Greg Patch

2006-02-09T23:09:00.000-08:00

Allow me to introduce you to Greg Patch, encaustic artist extraordinare. Encaustic can be a rather toxic medium, but Greg uses wax crayons and blocks imported from Germany that contain "food container safe pigments."

Greg's technique is an interesting combination of drawing and painting. "I apply it with hard wax crayon and block. An action of drawing and a wonderfilled childlike satisfaction! Though once I've drawn in a basic image I spend the majority of time in creating each piece mixing, blending, burnishing, adding more, the plastic substance on the surface into the final image."

He has also worked with encaustic in the more traditional method of heating the beeswax and applying it hot. "When I first started working with beeswax I was using 'encaustic,' with oils and varnishes. I've made my own, collecting earth pigments from the earth/ground and mixing with beeswax. I 'finished' a few paintings this way but interestingly the next day when I looked at them they had bloomed and the 'painting' was no longer there, just a cloudy white. The alkalines and acids in the soil had recreated. They were beautiful, in a way, but beyond my intent! I'm sure if I continued working with cloudiness intentfully I would have come up with some interesting things, there is a certain instability to it, becoming living surfaces, changing with the weather, and the heat and humidity of the day."

These pieces are all beeswax and pigment on watercolor paper.

Into Wave 1:

Spring Hillside:

Blue Orange Copse:

Red Violet Waves:

You can see more of Greg's work on his Green Art Studio website.

Kimberly Baxter Packwood

2006-01-17T19:22:00.000-08:00

Kimberly Baxter Packwood is a fiber artist living on the prairie, in Ames, Iowa. She is the owner of The Prairie Fibers Company, a supplier of natural dyes and other fiber arts supplies.

Kimberly uses several unique methods of creating designs on fabric. One is a technique she calls compost dyeing, which involves burying fabric in a compost pile for a period of time. Another technique is fermentation dyeing -- wrapping plant materials in fabric and sealing them in plastic for several weeks to several months

She then uses these fabrics in quilts -- piecing, layering and stitching. Here are four of her recent fiber art pieces that use compost- and fermentation-dyed fabrics.

Prairie Potholes II:

Pale Horse:

Sandstone I:

Sandstone II (Petraglyph):

You can see more of Kimberly's work on her fiber art website.

Liz Plummer

2006-01-14T08:51:00.000-08:00

Liz Plummer is a fiber and quilt artist living in South Wales in the UK, and she has been experimenting with creating color and patterns on silk using rust.

Here is Liz's explanation of how she got started with rust dyeing:

"I started it really as a result of a discussion on the Quiltart list, when I realized that I had some bottles of vinegar left from an abortive attempt at using 'real' nappies when the kids were babies! And my husband was away so I could snaffle some of his rusty tools without him knowing!! So accidental, really... And soaking stuff in vinegar is so much easier than all that hassle with soda ash or mordants."

These are two of Liz's recent rust pieces on silk:

This is a quilt she created from a rust piece:

And a closeup of the quilt:

This is one of the tools that Liz uses to rust her fabrics -- a rusty bucket:

She wraps fabric around the bucket, or other rusty tools, and lets the rust transfer onto the fabric.

You can see more of Liz's rust and quilt work on her blog and her website.

Welcome!

2006-01-13T16:09:00.000-08:00

I started this blog because of my interest in natural and nontoxic art materials. I have been an acrylic painter for many years, and I find it increasingly difficult to ignore the environmental problems of the planet. As a result, I have begun to experiment with various natural materials in my art, and I want to showcase the work of other artists who are also working with natural materials.

My own experiments have involved using mold to create patterns on canvas:

And painting with dry Earth pigments in a soy milk binder:

Other artists are using all sorts of materials including rust, wax, plants, clay, and minerals. I look forward to sharing their work with you.