Step into the world of natural colour with Polly during an immersive two-day pigment-making course at her home studio in Rolvenden, Kent. Over the course of two days, you’ll create your own rich palette, leaving with a beautifully crafted set of watercolours, raw pigments, pastels and inks.
Working closely with materials gathered from the surrounding landscape, you’ll levigate ochres collected from the Kent and East Sussex countryside, extract luminous lake pigments from plants grown in Polly’s garden, and even transform bone from your lunch through calcination. You’ll also explore the alchemy of verdigris, producing a range of nuanced blue and green tones.
Alongside this, you’ll bring history to life by recreating a traditional oak gall ink using galls harvested on site, and craft your own simple tools for painting and mark-making, deepening your connection to both process and place.
On the workshop participants learn:
The historical origins of pigment
Responsibilities and health & safety of collecting natural materials and processing pigment
About different binders and mediums, including watercolour paint, egg tempera, egg glair, soft pastels and ink
How to produce earth and lake pigment
How to create different shades of lake pigment depending on the alkali used
How to calcine earth pigment into different shades
How to calcine bone into bone black and bone white
The process of creating verdigris and copper inks
How to make paintbrushes and feather pens
Recreate a traditional oak gall ink using galls
On the workshop participants take home:
Handout with notes and reading recommendations
Bespoke colour swatch chart
Hand-painted colour wheel
Watercolour paint
Soft pastels
Ink
Purified pigment
Handmade painting and scribing tools
The confidence to process colour and make your practice more sustainable
These two days would be great for artists, friends, and nature-lovers, or anyone wanting to learn something new and environmentally-friendly!
Tea, coffee and lunch are provided on both days - I will accommodate all dietaries as best I can.
IMPORTANT: Please bring at least four standard-sized glass jars with lids, a large Tupperware box or multiple smaller ones, and an apron. Everything else is provided but you are very welcome to bring paintbrushes and paper that you have a preference for.
The full address will be provided after booking. I can also recommend accommodation.
I am a 25 minute drive from the nearest train stations; Headcorn and Staplehurst, or I am a 1.5 hours drive from London.
