Sustainable painting with natural pigments
Natural mineral pigments
Color comes from substrates and muds of lakes, deserts, forests and jungles, and from rock formations: rusty, marble, rocky, stony and charred tones ground into paint.
Plant-based mediums
Pigments are bound with plant-based mediums instead of petroleum-derived acrylics, reducing reliance on synthetic materials in the studio.
Sustainable supports
Paintings are built on sustainable stretched canvas, cotton canvas and wood panels, chosen to lower the footprint of each piece.
Layers, textures, doodles
Layers of paint with different transparencies and textures, finished with doodles that morph into humans and animals over nature and society.
Made by hand, from the earth up
Ana brings natural pigments to life by representing current social and environmental issues with paint made from natural pigments and plant-based mediums. Her projects are presented on stretched canvas and wood panels.
She makes layers of paint with different transparencies and textures, finishing with doodles that morph into humans and animals over nature and society.
Paint from nature
Plant-based medium, natural mineral pigments
From mud to painting
Gather
Earth, mud and mineral matter are collected and prepared, keeping the tones of the places they come from.
Grind and bind
The material is pulverized and mixed with plant-based binders to make paint by hand.
Layer
Transparent and textured layers are spread over the canvas like a living soil.
Draw
Scribbles, faces and entities sprout from the surface: doodles that become people, animals and landscapes.
Where the palette comes from
Ground minerals
Pigments are pulverized before being bound into paint
Muds and soils
Substrates and muds of lakes, deserts, forests and jungles
Rock formations
Rusty, marble, rocky, stony and charred tones
The ocean at home
Coastal ecosystems that recur as subject and responsibility
Pictorial geographies
In the works of Ana Violeta, the spirit of the earth, the sidereal and the ancestral converge. She uses natural pigments from substrates and muds of lakes, deserts, forests and jungles, as well as rock formations. From them she obtains the shades of the primordial Gea, the interstellar space and the colorful caves of the Stone Age. With them she creates fertile territories, cultivates landscapes and sows abstract beings.
Her pieces are pictorial geographies composed of both organic and inorganic elements, the same that make up our body. They carry the expressive force contained in the origin of life, in the intact humus and in the soul of everything that exists on the face of the Earth. From primitive sludge, which spawned the first organisms on the planet, the author makes art.
Those muds of all times keep a special alchemy that the artist discovers and transforms into something beautiful and, as a ritual, spreads on the fabric like a living soil from which scribbles, faces and entities sprout. This pulverized material shows its fascinating rusty, marble, rocky, stony and charred tones. Those tiny particles agglutinated on the canvas remind us that they are essentially seeds of stars, galaxies and entire universes.
The cyclical has been represented by prehistoric artists out of a strong need to connect with Mother Earth, its colors and what inhabits it. The creator is inspired by the palette of ancient wall paintings that illustrated the animal instinct and intellectual intuition of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals: anthropological, archetypal, shamanic, magical and unconscious artistic expressions. From the rock made unbreakable dust, and from the most remote caverns of the psyche, Ana Violeta paints with neolithic tones the emotions of this turbulent world.
I believe that we can repair the damage that present and past generations have done to make this earth sick.
Frequently asked
Who is Ana Violeta Horta?
Ana Violeta Horta, also known as Ana Violeta, is a Mexican-American eco artist. She creates sustainable paintings with natural mineral pigments and plant-based mediums, and her practice is informed by 20 years in the sustainable energy industry.
Where is Ana Violeta based?
She lives and works between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico, in the Chula Vista area of the San Diego–Tijuana border region.
What makes the paintings sustainable?
The paint is made by hand from natural mineral pigments bound with plant-based mediums, and the works are built on sustainable canvas, cotton canvas or wood panels. Sustainability is built into how each painting is made, not only what it depicts.
What themes appear in the work?
Environmental damage and repair, social systems and power, border identity, motherhood, chronic illness, and humanity's relationship with nature.
Does Ana Violeta accept commissions?
Yes. Commissions, project requests and general inquiries can be sent through the contact page or by email to ana@anavioleta.art.
How can I ask about artwork availability?
Each artwork page shows its current status. For works marked as available, at gallery or inquire, use the inquiry link on that page or write to ana@anavioleta.art with the title of the piece.
Have a story that should be painted with earth?
Commissions follow the same process: natural mineral pigments, plant-based mediums and sustainable supports, sized for your space.