🌎🎨 Earthpainting Tutorial

Natural pigments as alternative to oils and acrylics

After we moved to the Bay, I was connecting the dots between health crises of oil painters I knew. Brilliant artist and my painting mentor while at UNC-Chapel Hill, Kimowan Metchewais, had lost his life suddenly and early. My friend’s oil painter dad had brain tumors. A housemate’s oil painting mother more recently lost her life to a sudden and unexpected cancer.

As I experimented with going zero-waste, I felt compelled to bring the framework to my art practice. While building relationships with local ecologies, I wanted to portrait them with materials that wouldn’t harm them. I wanted to spill my paint cup in the forest without a toxic impact. Somehow, I came across Natural Earth Paints; a painting company producing sustainable natural pigments with a wide-array of fine and children’s art supplies in tow.

It took about four years before I felt comfortable with the medium. I started using walnut oil with the pigments, but didn’t like the goopy texture and the drying time in between layers was way too long for this impatient Aries.

Next I tried using their gum arabic as a binder for the pigments, and it stuck! Natural gouache painting replaced my poisonous oil paints as well as the petroleum-based acrylic paints, which I often used for back-painting.

Rather than risking me, my child’s, or the local forest’s health with oils and putting micro-plastics into our water supply while washing my brushes, I found a rhythm and beauty with natural pigment and gum arabic painting.

Today I share the practice with you, habitat audience! Feel free to leave questions and comments about the materials and practice.

Included is my Earthpainting materials list with links, instructions for preparing to paint + a 20-minute ASMR-vibes painting tutorial video.

Happy Full Moon in Aquarius!

My natural pigments & gum arabic in spice jars, deviled-egg tray palette set-up