Ochre

Ochre Cliffs, Roussillon, France
(c) Lesley Powell 2014

I have recently returned from France, where I visited the village of Roussillon for the first time. Roussillon's claim to fame is its fabulous colored soils, which for decades supplied the entire world with ochre pigments. In fact, it was a scientist from Roussillon, Jean-Eteinne Asteir, who

developed the process back in the 1780's for making ochre pigment from the soils of his native region.

They say that Astier was fascinated by the local cliffs of red and yellow---and no wonder--look at these photos (un-retouched, mind you, no photoshopping necessary to make them blow your mind). The word "ochre" comes from the Greed "ochros", which means "yellowish". Ochre colors range from yellow to deep orange to brown. Ochre has been used since prehistoric times, and is an important element in artists' paints, common house paints, rubber, and other industrial applications. You can see in the village (below) that the earth colors were incorporated into the local building materials.

Village Houses, Roussillon
(c) Lesley Powell 2014

The original process used in Roussillon to produce ochre pigment involved removing the soil from open pits or mines. The raw earth consisted of 80 to 90 percent sand, and only 10 to 20 percent ochre. To extract the ochre, the soil was washed to separate out the sand. The remaining watery substance was siphoned into large basins that were carved in the ground. There, the ochre itself would eventually sink to the bottom, and the water would be drained from the top. The ochre would be left in the basins to dry even further. Finally it would be cut into bricks, and then crushed, sifted or fired in a kiln-type furnace to bring out various colors. (firing the ochre turns the yellows more red). Quite a process--it took a full year.

Pigments at the OKHRA Conservancy in Roussillon

Nowadays, of course, the ochre mines of Roussillon are closed. The pigment is made synthetically. But the old factory in Roussillon is finding new life as a conservancy, dedicated to educating people about the pigment and to preserving the history of the mines and factory. Not to be missed, not if you are in the area, not if you are a painter!

Making artists' colors at the OKHRA Conservancy

Stay tuned for my next post---our workshop group got to paint on location near Roussillon in an abandoned ochre quarry. An amazing landscape...