Although the color yellow may be the first word to pop into one’s mind when ochre is mentioned, did you know that there are dozens of ochre shades out there?

I have always been fascinated by ochre, probably because the house I grew up in had this beautiful yellow ochre exterior. Shown below is a 30 by 20 oil of that house based on my memory of it from decades ago. I am not an artist, but I had to paint it as the house and the surroundings are regular fixtures in my dreams, good and bad, through the years! It was small but quite functional and had sheltered twelve of us as we were growing up. The painting keeps my memories live…it saddens me to think that the house is not there anymore.

Here are some really interesting things I found out about ochre as I was researching its shades. Do you know that the use of ochre, especially red ochre, goes back a staggering 200,000 to 300,000 years to the paleolithic age and early humans! Studies show that the prehistoric hominins and hominids were using ochre as lip gloss, an adhesive, insect repellent, for dying and tanning animal hides, decoration of cave walls, protection from harsh sunlight, etc, etc. That I think is just fascinating! They were really the early scientists!

So, what exactly is ochre?

To put it very simply, ochre comes from certain types of rocks and dirt. All ochres are basically composed of different amounts of iron oxides; depending on the proportions of ferric oxide (hematite) and ferric hydroxides (geothite/limonite, etc.), ochre acquires different colors and shades (yellow, red, sienna, umber, purple, etc). These minerals and associated colors are what makes the painted cliffs of Australia or the sandstone hills of Arizona, beautiful.

You should also not miss the ochre artwork of Australian aborigines! The paintings are simply out of this world beautiful. Click here to see a sampling of the aboriginal artistry. And here is a more recent example by Brian Farmer Illortaminni, done in ochre on canvas…isn’t it just wonderful?

Finally, of course, any discussion of ochre cannot be complete without mentioning Diggory Venn, a character from one of my favorite novels, Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy! This wonderful story actually starts with a very red-colored young man walking next to his carriage on a lonely road in Egdon Heath, the fictional landscape of Hardy. In the book, Diggory happens to be a reddleman by profession! And reddlemen used to sell ‘reddle’ or red ochre to sheep farmers for marking sheep. Because of the constant exposure to the red dust, poor Diggory was literally red – his clothes, his worldly belongings, and his whole body – giving him quite an unworldly appearance! Diggory’s character, while it was not very vital to the main plot, does become notorious and memorable for his appearance as he introduces the famous Egdon Heath and its pagan past to the world. By the way, did you know that the Stonehenge is in Egdon Heath?

Toodle loo…