Hayley Dayis Van Dusen

I forget who but like ten years ago someone challenged me to write a song about a trash can (😂) and this is the song I wrote. It’s titled (no surprise) Little Trash Can. I hope it brings you a smile…for anyone who has ever suffered from writer’s block this is for you 🫵🏼 ✏️ #writersblocksong #littletrashcan #creativesongwriting #singersongwriters #randomoldsong #twistending

The bliss of upstate NY in spring 🩷 Happy to be home with my mama, and all of my family and friends. Really excited for this summer, which is full of new and exciting art events and galleries! Alexander and I have four galleries in June, all diverse spaces and bodies of work. Check out my new IG @foragedpigmentart to see what those are 🌞

Climbed El Morro with my dear friend @ninaortiz23 yesterday and watched a beautiful cloudy atardecer in the rain 🌧️ 🌅 El Morro is a súper old pyramid that was covered up by the Spanish when they came to this land 500 years ago. They covered it up and put a statue of a conquistador on top (something they commonly did to significant indigenous sites) and a few years ago that statue was manually pulled down by a group of indigenous folks to reclaim their site!! This place is iconic! Everyone comes here, especially young people, to climb the steep sides, hang out with their friends and have an amazing view of the city. I love the artwork and the energy of the place. ⚡️ Gracias Nina por acompañarme y por una tarde genial❣️ #oldpopayan #elmorropopayan #coveredpyramid #historyofpopayan #pasándolobien

Attention!! 👀 If you enjoy seeing my artwork here, I will no longer be posting to this account. Alexander and I are joining forces on a new account @foragedpigmentart and we would 💚 if you take a second to follow us there! All of our new paintings, behind the scenes, and information about natural pigment painting workshops and art exhibitions will be posted to our NEW account. Also you can go to our brand new website (link in bio) for image galleries of our work, fresh online stores, and in depth background on our work with natural pigments. THANK YOU so so much for the love and support over the years on @hayleydayis 🙏🏼 I’ve learned a lot about myself, about what makes me feel alive, and how to sustain that. Your presence has been felt and appreciated. Now hop over to @foragedpigmentart for the dawn of a new day! 😅💚 #newinstagramaccount #follownewaccount #maketheswitch #loveyouguys #thankyouthankyouthankyou #naturalpigmentpainters #unitingforces

I am officially joining forces with my fellow natural pigment painter and partner Alexander on our NEW account 👉 @foragedpigmentart 👈 we’re so excited to start this new chapter! Another exciting bit of news is that I have been working nonstop to create a new website that showcases Alexander and my new brand, Foraged Pigment Art, and it is finally ready! 🎨🎉 There is tons of never-before-seen content on there, and cohesive explanations and image libraries of how we do what we do with pigments. Plus new stores with new prints and originals! Go take a look, I’d love your feedback. Link in bio 👀 It has been so fun sharing my personal journey with you guys here on @hayleydayis . Thanks for growing with me 🌱 now what are you waiting for?? Go follow us at @foragedpigmentart #newaccountalert #newinstagram #naturalpigmentpainting #pigmentpainters #joiningforces #newartbrand #foragedpigmentpaintings #foragedpigments

Getting this custom-painted album cover ready for the final leg of its long journey to Los Angeles! ☀️It’s already come a long ways—last week I rolled it up in this PVC tube, packed it in my luggage and flew with it from Popayán Colombia to Rochester NY. I was already taking the trip, so it made sense to bring some recent commissions with me instead of mailing them! Sometimes we gotta get creative about how to transport these puppies 😅 I’m very excited for this piece to adorn the great upcoming album of an old friend of mine. I’ll post when the secret is out! #naturalart #earthartist #eartharts #packagingpaintings #doityourself #ecoartrevolution #paintersoninstagram @willowspeakmusic

I wanted to show the process of this piece coming to life, from raw stone to finished painting. 💚 Every single paint I use is made this way, starting with a day of foraging for colors in nature to weeks of pigment processing and painting at Alexander and my house in Colombia. It’s a labor of love. 💚 #laborofloveart #pigmentpaintings #100percentnaturalatones #naturalpigmentspainting #foragingpigments #chiseling #processvideopainting

I’m SO excited to reveal this natural pigment painting! I’ve been dreaming of it for a year, ever since I learned about the Frailejón (“Big Friar” in English). Everyone in Colombia knows about this plant for one main reason: it’s an endangered species that provides the MAIN source of drinking water in the entire country. (😲) That’s saying a lot because Colombia is bursting with tropical life and a large population that is dependent on LOTS of water 💦⛰️🦜🐸🌴🌺 When I learned about this next part I was blown away. Frailejones exist in a super rare ecosystem called the Paramo. This is a neotropical mountain highland where it’s cold and usually foggy. 🌫️ The Frailejones keep their dead leaves attached to their trunks to protect them from the cold, and when fog rolls in, they soak up the water into their spongey trunks and then release it slowly into the soil through their roots. This creates huge subterranean water deposits and lakes that form rivers, which then distribute water throughout the country. Pretty amazing! The bad news is that Frailejones are endangered due to the destruction of the Páramo for agricultural purposes, especially potato crops. 🥔 This continues, despite the Colombian government declaring it illegal. The GOOD news is lots of people are raising awareness about the Paramo and Frailejones to protect them 👐🏼 To honor this plant, I painted it in a large format—showing how formidable they are (growing up to 32 feet, and hundreds of years old!) and how beautiful/important the Paramo is, with its frigid lakes and expanses of Frailejon communities for as far as the eye can see. We want to keep it this way. I dedicate this piece to my dear friend Miguel, who has taught me so much about Colombia’s ecosystems, history and hopes for the future. His passion for spreading the word about Colombia’s rich ecological and cultural identity inspires me. May we all love and care for our land and people as much as he does. 💚 #frailejón #frailejonesenelparamo #elparamo #paramocolombia #paramopainting #naturalpigmentpainting #pigmentoscolombianos

There is nothing so breathtaking as discovering a rare color in the ground. We found these on a day trip in the south of Colombia. Alexander and I were accompanied by his Uncle Henry, who has been painting with Colombian pigments for forty years. It was sunny and quiet as we drove up the mountainside. Every so often Uncle Henry shouted, “Stop!” and I looked out of my window, jaw on the ground every time. A dazzling cliffside of green clay and stone. An embankment flecked with purple and orange and pink. The three of us clambered together up the crumbly slopes like mountain goats and gathered small batches of color, chiseling and digging with hand shovels. Now, a full year later, we are finally processing the pieces of rock and clay that we found that day. These are some of the results. Perfectly powdered specimens to turn into paint 💚💜🧡 #pigmentpaintings #naturalpigmentpainting #paintingwithstones #claypaints #southamericancolors #earthpigmentpaint #foragingpigments

This was a blast to paint! I learned while researching this fungus that while it’s present in the forest ecosystems of Colombia, it is actually native to Madagascar. It spread throughout the world in the 1950’s due to human transport routes, and is now considered an invasive species. There’s a big negative association with invasive species, which makes sense in a lot of cases. But there are also arguments that invasive species can be helpful, by creating unexpected shelter or food sources for endangered species. So who knows?? This little fungus is still a mystery. Is it a little global helper or a little chaos maker? Either way, I find it beautiful. “Orange Spore Fungi” 12x12 inches, natural pigments on canvas #orangesporefungus #coolmushrooms #mushroom #original #originalpainting #artistsoninstagram #naturalpigments #mineral #mineralpigments

To me this butterfly is a symbol of Colombia, bold and beautiful, with that vibrant red that reminds me of the red earth and salsa music and the warmth of the sun. This is a common yet always shockingly beautiful Colombian butterfly. When you see one flying, its wings are a shock of neon blue, but once it lands and folds up its wings you see the bright red, and the bold “89.” “8998 Butterfly” 12x12 in, natural pigments + gold leaf on canvas #8998butterfly #butterfly #colombianbutterfly #original #originalpainting #colombiancreatures #naturalpigment #pigmentpainting #mineralpigments #soilpainting #claypaint

One of my passions of the past four years has been to document the species, landscapes and stories that I come in contact with during my time in Colombia. It is an extra AWESOME privilege to paint with the very earth that nourished my subjects into existence. Full circle. This is an Andean Sparrow that I had a staring match with the other day while out for a walk in our neighborhood, which is nestled by a river in the mountains. I had been in a bit of a creative slump for a few days (which walking often cures) so once I saw this little guy peeking at me from inside a bush, I knew what my canvas was waiting for. 🧡 Also, happy MARCH! How did that happen… “Andean Sparrow” 12x12 inches, natural Colombian pigments on raw canvas #andeansparrow #beautifulbird #colombianbirds #naturalpigments #pigmentpainting #mineralpigments #colortour #original #originalpainting #artistsoninstagram #newart