Eco-friendly Art Materials

If you're passionate about art, nature, and caring for the environment, then you are probably someone who prefers to choose artwork that is not only beautiful for your space but also environmentally friendly, or at the very least, made with materials that don't negatively impact Earth in the way that acrylic paint (synthetic polymer) and other plastic-based art supplies do.

To find out more about non earth-friendly art supplies and why I became an eco-friendly artist, please visit my page - Why eco-friendly art?

The information below will provide you with the specific eco-friendly qualities of the materials I use when creating my original art and prints.

ORIGINAL PAINTINGS

Professional grade materials:

Oil paint colour made with pure walnut oil for its brilliance, clarity, texture, and resistance to fading and yellowing. Created in small batches, it is solvent-free, and with no fillers or additives.

Watercolours created from pigment and Northwest blackberry honey. A traditional base which allows for stronger, truer colours.

Acrylik plant-based paint is an eco-friendly and archival water-based paint that behaves exactly like conventional acrylic paints. Made with natural pigments, plant-based resin and bio-based ingredients.

100% Cotton Rag used for watercolour paintings. Papers made of 100% cotton are considered the most environmentally friendly based on the fact that cotton linters (the short fuzz left on cottonseed after the cotton ginning process) used to create the paper are a by-product of the textile industry. If cotton paper were not made, the linters would be a wasted by-product. Therefore, the production of cotton paper is environmentally friendly because it produces no additional environmental impact and does not contain resin.

Linen canvas used for oil and/or acrylik paintings. Linen is an eco-friendly fabric and considered to be a sustainable material, even when it is not organically grown, as flax plants have a high rate of carbon absorption. It has a lower environmental footprint than conventional cotton, requiring less resources to be cultivated, and is prized for its longevity.

Stretches and Frames made from sustainable Tasmanian Oak, sourced from renewable and certified forests.

 

FINE ART PRINTS

Paper (as mentioned above) made of 100% cotton are considered the most environmentally friendly based on the fact that cotton linters (the short fuzz left on cottonseed after the cotton ginning process) used to create the paper are a by-product of the textile industry. 

Archival Fine Art Paper is usually much thicker than standard paper and made from cotton rag, resulting in a museum quality archival product. Prints are produced on 310gsm cotton rag.

Note: Ordinary standard paper is made using crushed wood pulp. This results in a product that is not archival due to the impurities in the pulp. It is essential to know this when you’re investing in fine art prints.

Pigment Inks - chemical free, water-based pigments are used for printing that not only look better but last longer.

Fine Art Prints are created using an advanced technique known as giclée (pronounced ‘zhee-clay’) printing for high-grade quality that results in sharp, vibrant, high-resolution images. The pigment inks used for printing are resistant to fading and can last for up to 100 years. Hence, museum-quality prints don’t just look good; they have serious longevity too.