Greening My Art

I guess all you readers of my blog know by now that I am an artist, I have been painting for over 12 years and considered myself an artist since then.

I am hoping to even turn my art green too, by using more recycled materials and to use paints that are not harmfull to the environment.

I am hoping to move over to using home-made watercolours and tempra paints by the end of the year... I haven't done it yet, as I basically need a holiday in order to read up on the subject and to experiment.

I am looking to find out what staining abilities some readily available natural pigments have ...coal, coffee, curry powder, chilli and of those I have to buy (I want to stay away from synthetic, as much as possible).

I already know about the binding agents, in water colours, I hope to use honey, sugar and possibly gum arabicum as the binder. Tempa uses egg whites and pigment (isn't rocket science).

I have already made some coal watercolours and curry watercolours. The coal ones are a very nice grey colour while the curry ones are a bright yet still soft yellow. I know that if I can keep the boiling honey/sugar mixture hot for longer I can make the concentration of pigment higher, making the colours in each tablet greater, ensuring more brilliant colours.

I can't complain, my home made water colours cost maybe a 100th of what even cheap watercolours cost, so I expect the move will be a wise one.

My only worry is that the colours in some of the tablets will break down faster than traditional watercolours, I am especially worried about those that are based on plant matter. Even if that is the case a picture painted with a home made watercolour tablet will most likely not have faded colouring for many years (10-40) if kept out of direct sunlight.

I won't be the first to make this move, I will be walking in the footsteps of many modern and ancient artists.

I am also looking into ways of cleaning brushes used in tempra painting.

I know that there are green varnish options out there, but I rarely use varnish, because I want to retain the brilliance of the paint, which is something varnish decreaces.

I know it is a bit of the point...but I expect this new direction is interesting none the less.

ps. all ingredients I use and hope to use will either be local or organic.

pss. One of the reasons for this move is that traditional acrylic/latex paints are supposedly not made in a green fashion and the longivity should be lower than previously thought.

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