Arouna
Barbara Brodegger
I have been a freelance painter for years and a permaculture designer since my training in New Zealand 20 years ago. International speaker and art educator in schools, educational centers and summer schools. Life on La Gomera. Research into the island's natural pigments - encounter with "red ocher" as a painting medium and magical tool in nature.
Exploring the interface between art and nature is my work as an ecologist and artist. The intention is to raise awareness of the original sensory perception. I create this by using natural painting materials such as natural pigments, resins and oils. This is a consciously chosen path towards a new appreciation of the natural. A counterpoint to the “Plastic World”, a groundbreaking pilot project to perceive the earth in its entirety.
As a permaculture designer, I work with nature and bring in creative impulses. As a geomancer, I am sensitized to the perception of existing energies and can therefore focus on both art and design to create what wants to develop from what is there.
My Work...
I sit on the coast, listen, observe, and look deep inside. Until I sense the genius, the spirit of the landscape. Then I go into the mountains, look at their beauty, and am so grateful. I ask which stone wants to become the color. All existence has individuality and wants to be addressed. Not all stones communicate immediately, some prefer to hiss, creak, squeak or crackle.
That is then their answer.
The blue semi-precious stones malachite and epidote and the old recipe for Egyptian blue expand my palette of earth colors. The complex Renaissance technique with an underpainting with egg tempera and fine glaze layers of resins requires experience and patience. However, the actual charisma of the pictures comes from the genius loci, the spirit of a landscape, the movement of waves, a coastal strip, a storm on the horizon of the Atlantic.
I process the stones into fine powder and grind them into paint. This is an old, almost forgotten technique of making paint
The binding agents depend on the surface I use. Either resin, egg tempera, or oil
