Concerned with the period in the late 1800s and early 1900s when many traditional pigments were chemically analysed and synthetic versions were made. I am currently researching the pigments concerned, madder, indigo, the ochres, carbon blacks, oak gall ink and the synthetic versions, and wondering about both the science and the thought processes behind them ,and how they relate to now, to our relationship with the earth, with our past, and ideas of continuity and departure, passing things on, fertility of biology and of ideas, distillation, purity, and methods of production. There are a lot of questions floating about in these pieces.
This is a project in development. the way I work is to collect information, and ideas, to be making work while in the process of collection, some of that work makes it out in the world, others stay in the studio, taking their role as learning pieces, some end in the bin! SO I collect and collect, information, ideas, experiences, and then resolve over time into a collection, I think of this process like the sea, stirring things up in a storm, collecting all the particles in the water, then settling into a calm when the deposits can settle on to the sea floor in a new order, and some things are deposited on the beach and left outside, until the whole process stats again..
One of the features I like bout ochres dug from the earth and indigo, madder or oak gall from the plants of the soil is their individuality, their variance, their unpredicatblily, a kind of variation and at the same time these qualities also give them their traceability to where they were dug up or where they were grown, and in the case of indigo, not just where they were grown bu the place the plant originated from. The process of standardisation through chemical distillation means that the chemical pigments are reliable, consisten, permanent, uniform and rootless.
Finding titles, tiles of work and tiles of projects sometimes arrive unbidden, and other times appear along the way. This is a project in progress, please take time to check in from time to time for new thoughts and images, and message me on the site for details. where no titles have been posted it is because they are percolating...Happy New Year....
This is a project in development. the way I work is to collect information, and ideas, to be making work while in the process of collection, some of that work makes it out in the world, others stay in the studio, taking their role as learning pieces, some end in the bin! SO I collect and collect, information, ideas, experiences, and then resolve over time into a collection, I think of this process like the sea, stirring things up in a storm, collecting all the particles in the water, then settling into a calm when the deposits can settle on to the sea floor in a new order, and some things are deposited on the beach and left outside, until the whole process stats again..
One of the features I like bout ochres dug from the earth and indigo, madder or oak gall from the plants of the soil is their individuality, their variance, their unpredicatblily, a kind of variation and at the same time these qualities also give them their traceability to where they were dug up or where they were grown, and in the case of indigo, not just where they were grown bu the place the plant originated from. The process of standardisation through chemical distillation means that the chemical pigments are reliable, consisten, permanent, uniform and rootless.
Finding titles, tiles of work and tiles of projects sometimes arrive unbidden, and other times appear along the way. This is a project in progress, please take time to check in from time to time for new thoughts and images, and message me on the site for details. where no titles have been posted it is because they are percolating...Happy New Year....
Natural Pigments: vine black, bone black, ochres, madder
Trails
Hand mixed oil using madder and bone black on plywood
2019
Looking For connections, Hand mixed oil using golden ochre, carbon black and madder on ply wood,
2019
Travelling through, hand mixed oil on plywood artist surface, 80x80cm 2019
Meander, hand mixed oil on plywood artist surface, 80x80cm 2019
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Studio
Synthesised pigments, oil on canvas: synthetic indigo, Mars orange
I have been working with a series of pigments new to the studio, synthesised ochres, usually prefixed with Mars, from the original series of paints that were made from synthetic pigments, synthetic indigo, alizarin which is a synthetic form of madder, carbon black, a generic synthetic form orf bone black, vine black or lamp black, these are pigments that date from the 18-1900s. They were made by a process of distilling out the colorant in the natural pigment then working out how to make a chemical equivalent. Unlike some other pigments, especially the ago dyes which gave new colours, and arose especially from the oil industry these were mimics of natural ancient pigments. Interesting current work is going on making ochres and ink blacks out of industrial waste that has its basis in this understanding of ochres being basically forms of rust, iron oxide, and of carbon black, being forms of carbonised organic (OH) materials through burning .
Magpie Shoes,
Hand mixed oil paints made with synthetic ochres and synthetic indigo
120x120cm
2020
Alizarin, Hand mixed oil on canvas using alizarin and carbon black,
91x91cm
New Routes, Hand mixed oil on canvas using synthetic indigo and synthetic ochre, 91x91cm 2020
Works on paper: Mixed natural and synthetic pigments in combination
Works on paper : Collage, sewn with yellow bookmakers linen yarn, using traditional pigments ochres and carbon black, oak gall ink, hand made gouache, Chinese ink on traditional hand made Japanese papers
Telephone02084445173
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sarahneedham@artfromlondonmarkets.com
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