Natural pigments and paints

Yesterday I was doing a bit of yard work and came across an overgrown fire pit in my yard. I was intrigued and decided to excavate. I found old mardi gras beads, broken bottles a stump still rooted in the ground and a bunch of clam shells. Looks like someone had a stump burn and clam bake. A little further down I found a nice rich yellow red clay. Clay is one of the very first pigments used by man and I intend to process this clay into oil paint. Also ground shell was used as one of the first white pigments. I want to make some paintings entirely out of natural materials that I've collected. All I need now is to make some charcoal I will have yellow, white and black paint, enough to start some work. Stay tuned to see if this project go further.