I hunt for the pigments found in nature. Yellow and red ochres are found in iron-rich soils, often near riverbanks or exposed rock formations. I hunt for red to mustard yellow earthy rocks. To make black I use charred animal bones (moose bone for a dark intense black).

I prepare the pigments by cleaning the rocks that I find or purify the charred bone. I grind them down with a mortar and pestle. I use a glass muller and a granite slab to reduce it further to powder.

why this matters

By refusing store-bought paint I remove myself from the cycle of mass production and reclaim artist autonomy. Each brushstroke carries the land, the elements, and the effort of my hands-creating art is truly connected to nature.

honoring the moose a sacred process

When I prepare the bones of the moose, I am reminded of the sacred bond between humans and the natural world. The moose, a majestic being, has walked this earth with grace and strength, offering its life so that others may thrive. In its bones, there is a story—a story of survival, of connection, and of the cycles of life and death that bind us all.

To work with these bones is to enter into a relationship with the spirit of the moose. It is not just an act of creation, but an act of reverence. Each step—the gathering, the charring, the grinding—is a prayer, a way of honoring the life that was given. This is not just pigment; it is a living memory, a bridge between the past and the present, the physical and the spiritual.

In this process, I feel the presence of ancient wisdom, a shamanic thread that connects me to those who came before. They, too, understood the sacredness of the animal, the land, and the materials that flow from them. They knew that to create is to participate in the great web of life, to weave our own stories into the fabric of the earth.

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performance art film

This is a short preview of a film I collaborated in, it shows the birth of this character i’ve been working on…it’s like pulling him out of the forest of my subconscious into the conscious or city realm. His journey is an ongoing story that is unfolding in real time.

Painting