When you think of landscape painting, you probably imagine brushes, oil paints and canvas. But Los Angeles-based artist, Su Yu-Xin, has a very different toolkit. She grinds pearls, crystals, volcanic dust and even meteorite fragments into pigments, transforming raw Earth into shimmering paints. Her landscapes don’t just depict nature – they’re literally made of it.
Breaking free from the palette
The idea began during Su’s time at art school in London. She noticed that nearly every painter relied on the same handful of brands, each offering about 60 standard colours. “It’s like all the top chefs in the world shopping from the same grocery store,” she said. Rather than be limited by those hues, she decided to make her own paints.
This choice wasn’t entirely new to her. Growing up in Taiwan, Su had trained in Chinese ink painting, where grinding fresh ink each day was part of the ritual. Mixing her own colours felt like a natural continuation – part experiment, part tradition.
Painting with the Earth
Over the years, Su has collected more than 200 pigments sourced from across the Pacific Rim and the American West. Her studio shelves look like a cross between a science lab and a curiosity cabinet – jars of shimmering powders, drawers of crystals and bags of raw minerals waiting to be ground down.
Her materials are as surprising as they are meaningful. She’s made brilliant whites from ground pearls and oyster shells, fiery yellows from sulphur and soft shimmers from mica (the same mineral used in eyeshadow).
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She’s even painted with diamond dust and coral skeletons bleached by warming seas. Each material carries its own history – from Taiwanese sulphur tied to her family’s hometown, to California tourmaline once collected for a Qing dynasty empress.
Landscapes with stories
Su’s subject matter reflects these sources. Her canvases often depict volcanoes, coastal highways or hot springs around the Pacific, connecting geographies that share geological DNA. A painting of Taiwan’s coast mirrors California’s Big Sur – volcanic glass from Mount St. Helen becomes part of an image of the mountain itself.
These landscapes aren’t just images of place – they are made from place. The pigments themselves embed stories of geology, trade, empire and ecology into her art. To stand in front of one of Su’s paintings is to see not just a view, but also the material histories that shaped it.
A living artform
What makes Su’s work so striking is its embrace of impermanence. Natural pigments can shift or fade over time, and she accepts that change as part of the art. Just as landscapes evolve with weather and climate, so too might her canvases.
By turning pearls, crystals and volcanic dust into paint, Su Yu-Xin reframes what landscape art can be. Her works shimmer with beauty, but also whisper with stories – reminders that the ground beneath our feet is more than backdrop, it’s the very medium of creation.
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