Plant Pigment Watercolours
We are lucky nowadays to have a massive array of complex pigments and dyes at our disposal, both organic pigments such as Quinocridones, Pyrrols, Perylenes etc, and the increasing inoganic metal pigments still being developed – Sicopal Spinel pigments, Zirconium Vanadium pigments, the miraculous Yinmn blue and so on.
Of course before this, chemists were boiling and baking all manner of things to create colours, but going back further simple plants and rocks were used for colours as we know.
I have written a few posts now on my explorations which making pigments from foraged earths, and have recently been experimenting with laking plant dyes on to a substrate (a full write up about this will be posted soon), and I have recently picked up a couple of colours from the Schmincke Horadum Naturals range to explore.
I decided today to experiment with an idea, using some of these.
The pallate I used was as follows:
- Schimncke Horadum Naturals Indigofera – Natural Indigo watercolour/gouache (PNB1)
- Schmincke Horadum Naturals Dragons Blood – The resinous secretions of the Dragons Blood Tree (PNR31)
- Dr Round’s Safflower Lake – My own laked yellow pigment from Safflower in Sennelier watercolour binder (PN/A)
- Dr Round’s Vine Black – My preparation of artists charcoal in home made binder (PBk8)
- Dr Round’s Avocado Lake – My laked deep red pigment of Avodado dye in Sennelier Binder (PN/A)
- Dr Round’s Hibiscus Lake – My laked brown pigment from Hibiscus flowers, in home made binder (PN/A)
Here’s the results, on Daler Rowney Langton 300gsm Rough:
There’s a lovely organic feel to these. All the pigments granulate in very different ways – the Dragons Blood is almost strand like, the indigo deeply flocculatiing in places, the avodado heavy grains in an inky base, and the vine black thick and crusty and settling in to the texture of the paper. The limited pallete (something I am not so good at) gives a lovely feel to these.
I don’t doubt I will acquire more of the Horadum Naturals and review these in due course.