Earth Pigments Masterclass: Why a Working Palette Still Starts Here

For at least 40,000 years, on every continent where humans have made images, painters have reached for the same family of materials: iron oxide earths, green earths, and the bituminous browns. They remain the foundation of every disciplined oil painter’s palette today — not because the old ways are romantic, but because they do work that modern synthetic brights cannot do. This Technical Studio Session explains why: the mineralogy behind earth pigment behavior, what the Colour Index actually tells you about what is in your tube (and what it doesn’t), why so many tubes sold as “Green Earth” contain no celadonite or glauconite at all, and how to anchor a working palette to materials that have outlasted every replacement ever proposed for them. Live with George O’Hanlon, Thursday, July 30, 2026.