Stardust

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Supernova Photographed by NASA

“Thou canst not stir a flower, without troubling of a star.”
- Francis Thompson

The most common pigment on earth is red ochre. It is also the oldest known natural pigment. We see it along with carbon from charcoal in the cave paintings of the late stone age, like those at Lascaux. Unlike colors made from animal or vegetable sources that would have faded over time, red ochre remains in the cave drawings done by our prehistoric relatives. This sedimentary color, rich in iron and taken from the earth serves to remind us of our interconnectedness with the stars.

When we paint with sedimentary ochres, we can say that we are painting with stardust. The element of iron in our soils is the result of the lives and deaths of many stars. Stars run on nuclear fusion - fusing heavier and heavier elements together as they burn through each element formed. Each time they …