The landscape artist who makes her paint from pearls, crystals and volcanic dust

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View image in fullscreen Artist Su Yu-Xin poses for a portrait in her Los Angeles studio in March. Photograph: Thalia Juarez While in art school in London, Su Yu-Xin calculated that most painters used one of five brands of high-end oil paint, and that each brand produced only about 60 colors. “That’s really scary,” the Slade graduate said. “It’s like all the top chefs in the world shop from the same grocery store.” Determined not to be limited to the colors available on the market, Su began experimenting with making her own paints, many sourced from natural materials she collected...