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Traditionally, a craftsman had a calling. His trade was a way of life. He was a creator. By his mastery of techniques, materials were transformed. They melted in his hands and became something better.
Robert M. Kelly
The first human beings of our species were classified homo habilus, meaning roughly “handy man.” It was the skilled and intelligent use of the hands that distinguished the emergence of human kind, and still, hundreds of thousand years later, it is recognized that human hands are able to create things that machines and mechanization simply can’t duplicate.
Craft is at the heart of Earth Craft Painting. My early background is in residential house painting, with an emphasis on restoration of older homes. As a result, I have thorough grounding in the fundamentals of house painting, and understand how the quality of the finish depends on the quality of preparation.
Over time I became dissatisfied with commercial latex paints, the chemical smell and the monochrome colors. For a while, I worked with “faux” techniques and products popular in the 1990’s. But these were also toxic, and painfully slow to apply with rags and cheesecloth.
Then I discovered natural paints and plasters. Here were materials that not only provided naturally rich and complex colors, but were safe to breathe and a pleasure to work with. All that’s required is knowledge and craft. The basic premise is if you put the products of nature together with the skilled hand, the results will satisfy.
