I’m always on the lookout for new sources of earth friendly pigments for my encaustic medium. A friend sent some beautiful red earth from Sedona, AZ that I couldn’t wait to try in a new piece. The red earth is in the bottle behind the mortar and pestle. You can also use dried clay pigments.

First, I used a fine mesh screen to sift the earth and remove large bits of debris.

Then, I ground the earth into a very fine powder with my gorgeous mortar and pestle (I’m in love with it!). You can continue to sift and grind to a super fine granule but I wanted a little size to the pigment for this piece.

Once I ground the earth into powder, I dipped my brush in clear encaustic medium and pushed it into the earth pigment to pick up color.

Then, I dipped the brush in clear encaustic medium repeatedly until I had the color I wanted.

I applied several strokes of pigment. I like the various sizes of pigment.

Here, I fused the pigment and as it settled into the bottom layers of wax, they separated and softened. I love it!

Here’s a detail of the fused pigment. I think it’s gorgeous.

I added a few more strokes of color.

Voilà! The finished piece, “Tulip Sunrise.” I’m really happy with how the red earth pigment and variation in texture adds depth to the piece.