Human use of pigments to express ourselves may be—literally—a watershed moment in evolutionary time. Perhaps among the first to be used were iron oxides (ochres) such as at France’s famous Lascaux. Archaeologist Tammy Hodgskiss wrote: “People may say ochre is the earliest form of art and symbolism, but there’s more to it. Ochre shows how our brains were developing, and that we were using our environment. It bridges the divide between art and science.” In this deep dive into the science of artistic pigments and look at our earliest history as artists, we will also learn to create beautiful images in our field notebooks and nature journals using natural earth pigments such as ochres (yellow, red, purple), manganese, lapis lazuli, graphite, and more.

View the full video and resources on the Tutorial page > HERE <