Artist creates paint pigments from coal mine sludge

 An innovative UCL artist has hit a rich seam of life in old coal mine water and created five new commercial fine art paint colours, which will be launched at a ground-breaking exhibition this month (April). Visual artist Onya McCausland (UCL Slade School of Fine Art) has teamed up with the Coal Authority to create a series of new British earth pigments from ochre sludge that will help to change perceptions about our industrial past. On Thursday 26 April, the artist will be opening Five Colours / Five Landscapes, an exhibition of wall paintings in the UCL cloisters, featuring the five new colours that derive from mine water treatment schemes across five former coalfields in Scotland, Lancashire, Yorkshire and South Wales. The new pigments have been given the seal of approval from the paint producers. Artist paint manufacturer Winsor & Newton have said that the ochre materials compete in quality with currently available commercial artists' paints. The Slade School graduate discovered the new natural pigments after visiting a number of the Coal Authority's mine water treatment schemes sited across five former British coalfields. The Coal Authority has 75 mine water treatment schemes which prevent 4,000 tonnes of iron solids from entering and polluting local watercourses and drinking water aquifers.