With training in fine art from The Ruskin, Oxford University and The Royal College of Art, artist Lucy Mayes began making her own paint colours years ago. Encouraged when an investigation into artists’ oil paints found toxic pigments, Lucy’s practice is centered around the use of non-conventional pigments. 

Some pigments come directly from the earth - ‘traditional’ ochres. Others are the natural plant dyes, along with the ‘flotsam and jetsam of the street’: bricks, slate and charcoal ash.