The artist
Hi, I’m Tess.
I create mineral-pigment paintings that give form to beauty, kindness and love.
Artist statement
What we love can reach beyond our own lifetime.
My expertise lies in mineral painting, or 岩彩. I am drawn to the way mineral colour carries a physical sense of time: stone becomes pigment, and pigment becomes a painting that another person can hold close.
Mineral-based colour appears in surviving art across many cultures and historical periods. This long material history reminds me that painting can carry human feeling beyond the moment in which it was made.
I believe the greatest force in this world is love. The stars, the universe and the beauty around us make me feel fortunate simply to be here, to witness and experience this world.
Within my own capabilities, I want to pass that feeling into the future. Painting is my way of leaving evidence that someone was here who believed in beauty, kindness and love.
Even when I am no longer here, I hope my paintings can still offer a little warmth and ease a little fear. This is my way of giving back to the world.
Tess
Studio views
The artist, in the space where the work begins.
Layer by layer.
Stone into colour.
Tess’s documented works combine mineral pigments and nikawa on wood board. Slow hand-layering gives every surface its own density, texture and response to light.
A closer encounter
Some things are best
experienced in person.
For artwork, commissions, exhibitions or workshops, get in touch with Tess.