Making Paint III - Red Earth Leura

The other day I made paint from a rock I found while climbing in the Blue Mountains. Since you need ground up pigment in order to make paint, I had to break up the rock in a mortar and pestle before getting started. This took a while and proved difficult to get evenly ground pigment. Lagridge Refined Linseed Oil was used as the binder. The end product was gritty and a bit dry, very similar in feel to the original rock.

Materials

Materials

Rock - 'Red Earth Leura' (from Leura, NSW) - 2 tsp

Langridge Refined Linseed Oil - 1 1/4 tsp

Mortar and Pestle

Colander

2 Palette Knives

Small Measuring Spoons

Muller and Glass Plate

37mL empty Paint Tube

Art Spectrum Odorless Solvent - for clean up

Paper towels

Photo Documentation

The store bought materials were purchased at Parkers Art Supply in Sydney. The rock I used was found in Leura, New South Wales Australia. I found the result to be similar in feel to the Old Holland paint, the bits of rock were even a bit larger than the Old Holland Prussian Blue. It will be interesting to use this color when making a painting about my experience in Leura. The paint is literally the same color as what was there. I wonder though how it will work into my memory of the place while depicting it.
Once again, I have a chart going to catalog how the paint ages after being tubed.