This year I am celebrating a new partnership with Natural Earth Paint. In this partnership, several exciting things are unfolding, including a series of writing. I wanted to slowly introduce myself to this new audience with an intimate piece about the meaning of working with natural earth paints in my studio.

Recently, I was asked to share my thoughts on pigments in my work in the format of eight beautiful questions. Sharing an exchange of thoughts with Ginni Seehagel of Seadar Shop, an artist, writer, and walker who seeks and finds joy in the world as it is, was a gift of light and appreciation for the Earth.

Natural Earth Pigments are lush, they hold color in a unique way, not like any other. They are textural and reflect fragments of light, revealing the true beauty of iron. They are deep, full of secret beauty. They hide in earth crevices emitting energy waiting for discovery.

As you begin to collect natural earth pigments, you may find it helpful to do a couple of local tests on the rocks you have collected. These tests can help identify the materials you are collecting, as well as build an understanding and a language for the characteristics of natural earth pigments.

Locating deposits of color is the first step in finding and collecting natural earth pigments. Once you find an area that lacks Earth coverage, you’ll start to see an array of colors emerge in the form of rocks and soils.

As you begin collecting natural earth pigments, it’s important to remember to protect the landscape. I have formed a relationship with the earth that I cannot really put into words. It didn’t grow overnight but over a long time of interest and curiosity. Collecting earth pigments sustainably and ethically requires mindful actions. Through your process, I encourage you to build a long-term dialogue with different spaces. This builds trust and intimacy within multi-species communities.

Finding and collecting natural Earth pigments is a gift. It hones your senses to the environment around you, connecting you to the landscape in ways you haven’t felt before. Finding natural earth pigments is about being aware. To a degree, there is a science to it, but having an innate sense of curiosity will springboard your search for natural earth pigments.