Colors of nature

He painstakingly extracts colors from natural materials. His clients are painters who want their masterpieces to look as close to the real thing as possible. But the handicraft, which has been around since ancient times, faces the risk of extinction. Wu Ni reports.

Qiu Qingnian, the last craftsman making the color pigment for traditional Chinese painting, is concerned that the centuries-old techniques will soon disappear.

The 71-year-old man from Suzhou, Jiangsu province, is skilled in making colors from natural minerals and plants through a set of elaborate procedures. Compared to factory-made chemical paints, the colors extracted from natural materials, according to Qiu, are lustrous, easily dyed and would never fade.