StillTess.
Contemporary mineral-pigment art
Hong Kong · 岩彩
Minerals. Memory. Enduring love.Selected paintings & the artist’s studio
Contemporary painting shaped by minerals, memory & enduring love.
Tess is a Hong Kong-based artist creating hand-layered mineral-pigment paintings that preserve moments of beauty, tenderness and human connection.
01 / Selected works
A world held in mineral colour.
02 / Materials & process
Why mineral pigment?
Mineral pigment gives colour a physical presence. Its grain, layering and response to light create surfaces that cannot be fully understood from a screen alone.
Colour as material
Mineral pigments are finely prepared particles of stone and mineral colour. Their different grain sizes allow a painting to hold texture, density and subtle variation across its surface.
Built through layers
The image develops gradually through repeated preparation and hand-applied layers. Each passage affects the opacity, texture and relationship between the colours above and below it.
Changed by light
As surrounding light and viewing angle change, the surface can reveal different balances of colour, sheen and shadow. A photograph records the composition; seeing the work in person reveals more of its material character.
An old material, a contemporary language
Mineral-based colour appears in surviving art across many cultures and historical periods. StillTess works with it as a contemporary painting medium, using its tactile depth to explore tenderness, memory, beauty and human connection.
For StillTess, choosing mineral pigment is not an attempt to reproduce the past. It is a way to give quiet emotions a tangible physical form—layer by layer, through colour, texture and light.
03 / The artist
A little warmth, carried forward.
“Even when I am no longer here, I hope my paintings can still offer a little warmth and ease a little fear.”
Through mineral painting, Tess gives form to a deeply personal belief: beauty, kindness and love deserve to be carried into the future.
04 / Beyond the studio
Art, in company.
Artist-led exhibition
An encounter with mineral painting.
In conversation with ViuTV
Sharing the paintings and the practice.
Making, together
DesignInspire workshop at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
05 / Collector voices
Art that finds its people.
“We were immediately drawn to this painting for its beauty, symbolism and remarkable use of mineral pigments.”
A closer encounter
Some things are best
experienced in person.
For artwork, commissions, exhibitions or workshops, get in touch with Tess.