In search of the origin of color. Ecordal, France. Sunset dust.

July 2022, Ecordal Ardennes, France

From the very beginning, when I started looking for information about color, the history of pigments, dyes, and colors in general, I have always come across ocher as the first primary color.

Not as the primary color in color theory, but as the first color that was used by man. The beginning.

Picture taken in EcoMuseum of Ocher- Lascaux cave painting fragment

« In the beginning … man painted his body, on the rock walls of his cave or the stripped trunk of the deadline tre. Thea gathered the colored earth with their hands from banks of sand and clay and bound it with saliva, animal fat or vegetable oils….» Ocher and Umbers

Inspired by Victoria Finlay and her travel through paintbox, I suggested to my husbands… - What do you think about road trip trau France for this year holidays? Well, we will not rest much, we will drive a lot, but we will explore even more…

I was pretty sure he will not go for it, as we were dreaming of sun flat frying and resting during our holidays. But in my supprice, he said - Sure! This is relly good idea! .. WOW, i was in shock! But as much as i was shocked i had to prepare pretty quick plan of all the jurney.

What we knew, was how msny days of holidays we have. And with that knowlage i had for that time, i had planned the trip.

We knew the trip will be long. We started in Norway near Oslo, so we were pretty much on the top of the map, and need to drive down, up to southern coast of France. This what I knew so far about Ocher in France, is that in France there are still places that are working till today, and its best way to go and visit and see in our own eyes.

Initially, the trip at the beginning, had one more stop, but eventually, we had to skip it due to I did not check which days of the week we will be where, and the place I wanted to see, was not open during weekend. Good lesson learn. :D

In first steps we were visiting friends, so it was good time and good that on the way. In total we made around 6000 km round trip, and I must say I have planned only one way trip. The trip back was already day to day planing. In generall 5 main stops, places for pIan visit, and 2 additionally vsisiting stops during the trip.

1. Ecordal.

Our first stop, as it was closest to Belgium, was the Ecordal Ocher Factory. The factory is located very close to Belgium border in the line of Ardennes.

It is very calm area, very charming, and in the middle of nowhere. Exactly what we wanted, to visit French villages.

Le Moulin à Couleurs' (the colour mill) still excavates Sienna.

It is France's second largest production site for coloured earth (approximately 700 tonnes per annum).

Hmm… I should be prepared better, and I was lucky, that owner, let me to see around, and give explanation to all my strange, and hopefully not stupid questions. It was not possible to enter the factory itself, it was during production process. The visits are possible only one day a week, with advance booking…😢 Nevertheless, I was extremely happy to get my first touch with ocher.🤩

Mr. Emmanuel Poix, explained, that they are one of 2 places left still producing earth pigment in France. The color mill has existed since 1866, and since then after few factory modernization process, the process is placed in same place.

The color mill extracts (containing a huge amount of iron oxide) clay soil from quarries in the Ardennes, property of Le Moulin à Couleurs, and other raw materials from other quarries of Burgundy (ochre), Germany (black), or even India (madras red). As Mr. Emmanuel mentioned, the soil they extracts differ essentially from the one in Roussilloun, due to amount of sand, their soil contains much bigger % of pigment, so this allows them skip cleaning process.

Easy identification by percent contains pigment is how easy your hands get stained by it.

Sienna and ocher before grinding.

The soil has different textures, just when you touch it.

Raw sienna comes from iron ore or ferric oxide found naturally in clays. Unlike yellow ochres, which are generally opaque, siennas are more transparent. Sienna was one of the first pigments used for painting and can be found in prehistoric cave art

The excavation of solid clay is done in 2 places, and one of them is in the north of Dijon.

Sienna carrier. Around 1,5 m high.

The process. * Picture of process from Le Moulin à Couleurs'

1. Extraction. 2.Drying, or calcination. 3. Grinding to obtain pigment.

The earth as well as ocher must be dried at 200°C minimum to remove moisture and dirt from the earth.

When burning the earth at 700°C, it changes its color. Under the influence of heat, natural sienna (yellow-brown) will turn to red burnt sienna and yellow ocher will turn red.

This calm place is surrounded by buildings painted with earthy pigments. Today main use, is for artist and inner and outer buildings wall paintings.

As Mr Emmanuel says, it is easy stays on wall for 14 years with good color fastness to light.

Factory is selling both earthy natural pigments as well the synthetic once.

Next stop. Le château de Lauris in Luberon!

XOXO

This calm place is surrounded by buildings painted with earthy pigments. Today main use, is for artist and inner and outer buildings wall paintings.