In The Studio: The Making of Elements of Rest
I was asked by several of you to show more of my process of creating artwork from natural pigments. I have an older blog post on it HERE but decided to show you some of the behind the scenes of my current collection: Elements of Rest.
Collected rocks ready to be crushed and processed into pigment.
This collection came about from a deep need for rest and a lesson from the seasons (read about that HERE). It’s been a very therapeutic collection to create. The process of foraging for natural materials takes time. Processing the materials into usable pigments take time. Categorizing the colors, experimenting with color palettes, playing with textures…time, time, time. It is slow living at its finest. I love it.
And this is usually what happens: As I’m in my studio immersed in this time-consuming process, I look up from my work at some point and realize that over the weeks/months of creating, a collection has begun to take shape. A body of work containing a similar theme, story, or color palette now sits staring back at me wondering what I will do next. And that is always so exciting!
Processed and refined pigments ready to be jarred for later use.
For this particular collection I started out doing what I usually do: crushing rocks. I had a nice supply waiting to be processed and began sorting and selecting the ones I wanted to experiment with. Many of these rocks came from Georgia and had the most beautiful shades of muted reds, browns, and amber tones. Very earthy and neutral just how I like.
Jars of pigment ready to be used for paint.
Weeks into working on the Georgia rocks I sat one night staring into the glowing embers of a dying fire. It had finally gotten cold enough for us to light our fire pit and I stayed near it well past the point when I needed to go inside and head to bed. It was mesmerizing. The following morning when I went back to it, I pulled from the ashes beautiful black coals. Knowing already the type of gorgeous pigment I could get from these I gathered them up and headed into my studio. While I was at it, wood ash was also collected, because, why not!
So now imagine the stage I’d set— crushed rocks of earthy browns and amber, intense shades of black from smoldering coals, and deep grays from burnt wood ash. The cast was all here, and the canvas was waiting for its debut.
Wow I really love how I just metaphorically created a cast and play of natural elements!
*Pats myself on the back*
From notes and scribbles in my journal to a tangible piece of artwork.
But I wasn’t finished. Sometime before all of this foraging, and rock crushing, and wood burning I had started experimenting with the idea of creating natural stains out of rust water. I had started my jars of rust water weeks, no, months ago! I’d lovingly set them outside covered with little clothes to do their iron-meets-water-meets-oxygen thing… and then…*dramatic pause* completely forgot about them.
Seriously, guys I think I left those jars out there for nearly three months! Bad Chanell, BAD!
Wait! Before you judge me for my forgetful ways, the result of leaving that rust water to rest undisturbed for all those months resulted in foaming rust water. This layer of foam gave me the deepest, most saturated hue of rust I’d ever seen. Absolutely gorgeous!
I added this color to the cast.
In the Studio.
Thus, after months of my slow artistic flow Elements of Rest was born.
Don’t you love a sweet ending? Well, I guess the story hasn’t ended quite yet. The collection is nearly finished and will soon be shown in its entirety. You can subscribe to my newsletter HERE if you want to be updated on release dates and gain early access. I can’t wait to see these pieces gathered all together for their final bow (okay it’s getting corny I know, I’ll stop). You guys enjoy your week and I’ll be in touch soon.
xo
