Sourcing pigment the slow way

The ochres in my current work bring me back to the warm, mineral tones I remember from growing up in Morocco. Color can carry a sense of place before it becomes a subject in a painting. These earth pigments feel connected to that memory in a way a manufactured match does not.

I choose to source them slowly rather than order synthetic color in bulk. That choice takes more time and costs more, so it is not a shortcut or a neutral production decision. It is part of the way I want the work to begin: with a material that already carries associations for me.

I am not trying to make every painting a literal picture of Morocco. My work brings together identity, family, heritage, resilience, and transformation. The pigment is one part of that conversation—a color that can hold a memory without needing to explain it on its own.

When I use earth and mineral pigments, I pay attention to how their warmth sits alongside the other layers. I want the color to feel at home in the piece, not added only as decoration. The connection is personal: a way for the place I grew up to remain present in the materials I use now.