The Permacolor Project is about to begin...

Christel Highland

Haven, 2012

Egg Tempera on Rice Paper

The pieces are all falling into place, which is how I determine if a project is destined to live or not.  Whether it grows and lives beyond me is why I'm going to blog about this process...because I want other artists to use the methodologies I'm about to explore.

Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself, and I should explain exactly what it is that we're doing (I already have two lovely assistants!  I'll introduce them later.)!  The idea for the Permacolor Project came out of my desire to paint with non-toxic materials, very simply.  But it's more complicated than that.  When I'm painting, I'm depicting places where man collides with nature- and I want nature to win.  I think of these spaces as out of our control, just like nature.  Images of shadows and reflections on filthy river water and pavement, roots pushing up a sidewalk- that sort of thing is what I find fascinating and beautiful and wild- and it never made any sense to depict these things with acrylic paints or oils filled with toxic materials.  Furthermore, I live in my studio and so do my children, and I also happen to be a health nut who very rarely eats meat or drives a car...you get the picture.  That said, I get tired of looking at what I might jokingly term hippie art.  I want to create sophisticated works with natural materials.

When I began, it was as simple as using charcoal or espresso mixed into egg tempera and then applied to rice paper.  My first show was of about six of these tiny paintings at a restaurant- a very fine one- The Rieger Hotel Grill and Exchange here in the Crossroads.  That little showing opened quite a few doors for me.  Nothing like hosting meetings for your next shows at the coolest restaurant in town!  My work with paper has become quite large and strategic, incorporating fabric for strength, but I felt it was time to embrace the root of this technique, which is inspired by painters like Vermeer, Caravaggio, Velázquez, and Fragonard.  I think about these painters when I'm mixing my paints, and now it's time to try my hand with their techniques.  Of course, I'm terrified- another sign that I should do that very thing.

Thus, began the Permacolor Project, which was awarded funding through University Missouri-Kansas City.  Together with the assistance of my poet, actor, minister, collaborator and friend, Janet photographing the process, and Clare taking notes, a student at UMKC who I've conned into the process with a promise of bestowing dyeing techniques, we will document the colors I achieve with natural materials bound by either oil, egg tempera, or milk paint, and make the formulae available to you.

So, this is my formal invitation to you to follow the process.

-Christel