extinction hematite : january ‘20
Tilke Elkins, this month’s pigment contributor, says: “This pigment is a purple ochre from the hills near Oakridge, Oregon, found in summer 2013 as a single great clump which had rolled into the middle of a narrow dirt logging road. The clump was quite varied, with dense, redder sections and areas with many tiny crystals. Purple ochre supposedly has the same chemical composition as red ochre, an anhydrous ferric oxide mineral. So why is it purple? One suggestion is that the shift in hue towards blue is a result of larger particles, which shift the way the light moves through the mineral. I’m not sure of the geologic history of this particular stone, but I’m fascinated by theories that hematite formed a couple billion years ago when cyanobacteria produced a glut of oxygen that caused mass extinctions and nearly killed off all life on the planet.”
contributor : tilke elkins
Tilke Elkins is a visual artist and writer who lives near the banks of the Willamette River in Springfield Oregon. Tilke has been exploring the world of wild pigments since 1999, the year she discovered that alfalfa chlorophyll could be mixed with rice starch and used as a printing ink. Resonance with powerful ochre sites as a teen left a deep impression, and in 2008 she stopped using synthetic pigments altogether and began an in-depth exploration of ‘wild’ pigments — those found by foraging outside in urban and remote wild places. She paints on large reclaimed wood panels, foraged objects, and outdoor surfaces.
