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How did Oceanic artists use ochres and plant pigments in painting?

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dilly bag; Aboriginal Australian art, Northern Territory, Australia — Oceanic art and architecture An Aboriginal Australian decorating a tightly woven dilly bag with white, yellow, and ochre (red) paints, Northern Territory, Australia, 1948.

In Oceanic art, paint was considered to have magical, vivifying powers, and its application was believed to animate sculptures and other surfaces. Artists primarily utilized ochres—earthy iron ores—alongside various vegetable-derived pigments.12

Water served as the standard medium for these paints, though it was occasionally supplemented with plant sap to improve consistency. To apply the pigments, artists used a variety of simple tools, including:1

Brushes: Made from frayed or chewed sticks, small feather bundles, or pieces of wood.1
Fingers: Often used as the most elementary applicator.1

These materials were applied to diverse surfaces, including rock faces, bark, and tapa (pounded bark cloth). In Polynesia, women decorated tapa with abstract designs using vegetable dyes through techniques such as stenciling with leaf templates, stamping, printing with carved bamboo rollers, and rubbing over relief-design tables. In Melanesia, paintings were frequently executed on sago-palm spathes and sheets of tapa.1