5 Questions with Creatives Angelica Tilton

Angelica Tilton, Creating Art with Nature by Nicole Willis

Angelica Tilton, natural pigment artist and the creative behind Possum and Palmetto, incorporates her handmade nature-based watercolor paints into

drawings inspired by Gulf Coast wildlife. This Navarre native’s work has been showcased at various art markets and galleries throughout the city. Tilton became interested in working with natural pigments while employed at the Historic Pensacola Village, where she was exposed to many traditional crafts, including natural dyeing. Tilton currently shares her work under the name Possum and Palmetto. She is most active on her Instagram page, @PossumAndPalmetto, where she shares the process of creating natural pigments, as well as her upcoming events. You can check out more of her work at the upcoming Vegan Market on September 17 at Trader Bo’s. Tilton is open to commissions and can be reached via Instagram or email at PossumAndPalmetto@outlook.com.

What medium(s) or type(s) of art would you consider your work to be? Tell me a little bit about the different types of pieces you create and your favorite subjects to capture in your work.

I work primarily with natural pigments across several different media: watercolor, pen, textiles, paper art, printmaking… I like to dabble in a lot of different things! Since I like to dabble in different types of art, my pieces tend to fall into distinct categories, like nature portraits, pet portraits, natural prints, or textile art. I like creating art that highlights flora, fauna, and fungi native to our region. We live in such a beautiful place populated by some really cool wild neighbors, so I hope that my art can help draw attention to that. I love to draw animals in particular because they have personalities and feelings just like us humans. I enjoy drawing both wild animals and companion animals–both give me such joy!

How long have you been interested in drawing and natural pigments? How did you first get into naturefocused art?

I’ve always been interested in drawing, but my work with natural pigments is relatively recent. As a kid, I used to carry a sketchbook and colored pencils everywhere. I took art classes in high school but mostly stopped when I went to college. During my senior year of college, I took a drawing for non-majors course as an elective, and that piqued my interest in creating again, but I didn’t act on it for a while.

When I worked at Historic Pensacola Village, I learned many traditional crafts and skills, from broommaking to open-hearth cooking. Eventually, we started experimenting with natural dyeing, and I began to try natural dye and paint projects at home during COVID lockdown. I started my Instagram page to share my art, and once markets started opening up again, I got involved in the market scene.

Working with natural pigments can feel magical. Most plants don’t have any pigment, making the ones that do feel particularly special. A lot of plant materials create colors that you wouldn’t expect, which adds to the mystery. Using natural pigments to celebrate our natural world seemed intuitive. I wanted to focus my art on our local wildlife because people tend to undervalue our environment and its wild inhabitants.

Can you take me through your creative process and describe what all goes into creating one of your pieces?

I don’t really have a linear process. Most of my pieces come from ideas that I’ve been thinking about for a while before actually sitting down to make them happen. Sometimes, I might want to create a piece based on plants or animals that I’ve seen or known, while other times I might start with just a vague idea that I want to draw something in a broad taxonomic order or genus. Either way, I do a bit of research to decide exactly what species I want to draw, what pose I’ll use, and the exact features I want my piece to capture. Then, I get to painting and drawing! With my textile pieces and natural prints, it’s more about capturing the colors and textures of plants on the page or cloth.

Can you explain the process of creating the natural dyes that you use in your work?

The first step in this process is always getting my hands on the natural pigments, which all come from either plants or clays. I collect some of the materials myself, either by foraging locally or by collecting kitchen scraps and buying other materials online. Most of the materials require some processing. I grind the clays into a fine powder to make them easier to mix into watercolors. As for plant materials, I simmer most of them to extract the pigment. Once I have the plant pigment, I can either add my pretreated fabric for dyeing or use the pigment for watercolors. To make watercolors, I add a bit of vegetable glycerin, which is a binder, and clove oil, which is a preservative, to the pigment.

What are some of your most popular items, and is there currently a specific piece that you are receiving a lot of requests for?

Prints and custom pet portraits are my most popular items. Some of my best-selling prints are “Palomita the Possum,” “Bernard the Crow” and “Jack-o’-Lantern Mushrooms.” As for the custom pet portraits, I usually sell them on the spot at local markets, but I sell them online too. For those, I ask clients to send me a few photos of their companion animal, and then I draw their portrait in pen, over a spot of one of my natural watercolors. Clients can choose from the shades of watercolors that I have available.