Transparency - the art blog of Pam Fortner

Earth pigments and the Sense of Adventure

Fri, 3 Feb 2012 16:37:54 -0700

When I started my trek into the Land of Earth Pigments, I really had no idea where it would lead. I’ve learned that many an artist has been there before and... they left hundreds of years ago. In fact, with the discovery of the first synthetic purple dye in 1856, most artists never came back to the Land of Earth Pigments. There really was no need, as synthetic pigments have proved to be superior in so many ways - they don’t fade, they don’t change color, they’re brighter, they’re consistent, they’re reliable, they come ready-made... etc, etc, etc.

So why are earth pigments with their inconsistent nature so appealing to me? Because painting with them is an adventure!
The adventure lies in the finding of the pigments in the “wild” and in how I process the minerals and clays into paint. But, the best part of the adventure is when I paint with them.

Each pigment ‘acts’ differently - some of them are smooth and flow well when I add water - some of them are more like a texturing medium than a paint - some of them are brightly colored and some are very subtle.

My current favorite is Iron Pyrite. It is dark, dark grey and very grainy. It creates a rough - somewhat ‘sparkly’ - effect when placed on the paper with a palette knife. I then use a large wet brush to spread the pigment around. This ‘wash’ starts out as a cool grey, but it warms up over the next few days as the iron in the paint begins to rust. I need to work quickly to finish the painting at this point, so that I can stop the rusting process by sealing the piece.

This wonderful dark grey paint has reawakened my love for the minimalist style found in Asian brushwork. I find that I add only 1 or 2 additional colors to my pieces before embellishing the piece with those mysterious hexagons.

I am having so much fun on this adventure... and it is paying off. My piece entitled “From the Earth” has been accepted into the Colorado Watercolor Society - State Exhibition. If you happen to be adventuring in Golden Colorado during the month of March, stop by the Foothills Art Center to take a look at it!

You can also go to my website to see the results of many of my adventures. Remember, all pieces are for sale. Contact me at pamzart@comcast.net for information.

Playing in the mud

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 12:30:23 -0600

I recently began an exploration into the types of pigments that were used by ancient peoples to record ceremonies and important events. These records, called pictographs, have lasted centuries and can be seen in places like Lascaux, France or Kakadu, Australia. The material used includes charcoal, ochre and other minerals. Often the materials themselves and the locations where they were found are sacred , but there are other sources of natural pigments that can be found by those who look for them.

I found 3 sources in my parents’ and sister’s back yards! The red mud of North Carolina, while notoriously difficult to grow things in, is a wonderful pigment. I packed bags full of it into my luggage (much to the TSA’s chagrin) and brought it home from vacation.

Playing with this mud has been great fun. After grinding it very fine using a mortar and pestle, I began experimenting to see what it could do. I’ve added it to different acrylic mediums and used the powdered pigment by itself. The results have been quite exciting. While the consistency of the material is pretty much the same, the colors are different from location to location - I have a light reddish brown, a surprisingly bright reddish orange and a dark brownish red.

Here today...

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:37:22 -0600

Whenever I start a new series of work, I never know how it will be received. The piece above is a detail of a piece entitled Spirit of the Forest. It’s the first in a series of 3. The other 2 pieces are entitled Spirit of Fire and Spirit of the Stone. Details of each piece can be seen below...

Settling down...

Wed, 25 May 2011 11:03:46 -0600

As an artist, I am always reevaluating my work. There are so many things that I can do - so many different directions that I can take - that it is difficult to ‘settle down’.

I made a decision in the Fall of 2010 to take steps toward my audience. I decided that my work needed a frame of reference - something that the viewing audience could relate to. I decided to draw from my intense love of the outdoors and the patterns of nature. I alighted upon landscapes.

The piece above is one of 6 ‘landscapes’ that I’ve created since then. You can see all of them at www.pamfortner.com

The process of painting has become the foundation of my work. I’ve realized that if I’m not enjoying what I am doing, then it is time to stop. The processes used in creating my latest body of work have become a real joy. Each piece is composed of layers of paint, heavy texture material, paint, light texture material, paint, paint and more paint. I sand the paper, scrub the paper, spray the paper with water and alcohol and generally “play” throughout the whole course of creating a piece of artwork. My goal is to create a piece that invokes feelings of an old photograph - something that is more than a pretty picture - something with “character”. I think I may have succeeded...

Let me know! Give me feedback by contacting me at pamzart@comcast.net

Something different...

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:54:41 -0600

I am always creating something or I am thinking about creating something. I see potential art works in everything - the chaotic coil of a climbing rope that has fallen to the ground - the pattern of fallen leaves on the driveway - the way soap suds stick together - the shapes in the sand created by ocean waves. All of these designs are gathered into my brain and transferred into my sketchbooks. Eventually some of them gain enough power to come out and insist upon becoming a piece of art.

At these times, I try something completely different.

At the end of the summer, I visited my family back east. We spent 4 days on the beaches of South Carolina. These beaches are different than the tropical beaches I had visited recently. They’re moody. The water is a different color. The sand is a different texture. The sky and the air have a different feeling. They’re more commercial, more crowded and less wild.

I took a break from family and found myself sitting by the water with my sketchbook. I became fascinated by the patterns in the sand that were created by the water as it dripped off of my arms. The patterns were captured in pencil. They had a lot of power and emerged soon after I returned home.

As I created the piece above, I recalled the moody colors and patterns that had inspired me. I began with a beautiful piece of translucent Japanese paper. The ink drawing came quickly. I drew with more abandon than usual. The paint was applied to the back of the paper which allows the swirling fibers in the paper to be more visible. The result illustrates how I felt on that day.

I have more sketches in my sketchbook which are gaining the power to call to me. I think I’ll do a series...

To see more of my work, go to www.pamfortner.com

To contact me, go to my website and click on Contact Pam.