Visual Art
The Ancestral Blue Series
The Ancestral Blue Series
by Raine Hamilton
Handmade indigo and marigold watercolour paint on cotton watercolour paper.
My ancestors knew the colour indigo. They harvested the illusive blue from european soil - first from the woad plant, and then later, as trade increased, from the indigo plant. The planting, tending, harvesting, and processing of these plants is long and slow and full of care. It is humbling to enact that care myself, on the land that I tend, on plants that I have sown as seeds. I do all of this with the hands my ancestors passed down to me.
In this work I have processed indigo plants into blue pigment, and further worked that pigment into watercolour paint. All by hand, resonant with the past, steadily in the present.
First, the water touches the page. Next, the blue paint, dancing on the water, finds its place.
There is yellow in this work as well. It comes from marigold flowers, also tended and harvested and worked into paint. Here I am calling upon the holy women of my lineage, who have known Mother Mary - the eponym of the marigold - for a long, long time.
It feels deeply right to make this work in this slow, intentional way. This work is connected to the land, made with ancestral knowledge. This work marks my time here in connection with all things that make that possible.
Raine Hamilton
Artist Statement
Raine Hamilton (they/them) creates with joy, curiosity, and delight. Drawing, watercolour painting, print-making, music-making, and sewing all feature in Raine’s varied body of work.
Drawn to the land in a profound way, in their music career, Raine has created work that honours, respects and celebrates the land. From the east coast of this continent to the west, with long stops in the prairies and the mountains, the land appears in Raine’s songs again and again. Raine’s visual work follows suit. Plant and earth dyes, natural fibres and natural pigment watercolours are central to Raine’s work, which resonates like a chord connecting their heart to the land.
Queer identity and queer joy are also important to Raine, and are celebrated in their musical and visual work.
Purchase
I sell my work at a few markets throughout the year. I will update this section with market dates as I confirm them.
Please join my newsletter list if you would like to hear about future markets. If you are interested in purchasing a piece in the Ancestral Blue series, please reach out to me at raine@rainehamilton.com. I have created several paintings in this series.
