Celebrate Green Blog

by Lynn and Corey

Among the dozens of emails we get every week asking us to review or talk about products, every once in awhile, a gem stands out.

So it was when we received a note from Leah Mebane, an artist who was inspired by her son to create a company offering water-soluble Natural Earth Paints for Children and also an Eco-Friendly Oil Paint Kit for artists/adults. These paints are created with pure natural earth, collected from the ground, sifted and screened in the same way our ancestors made paint for over 100,000 years.

Intriguing, no? We wanted to learn more so we asked Leah whose company is named, logically enough, Earth Paint, to answer some questions for us. (Watch for a review of the paints coming soon.)

1. As an artist, how has using paints made from natural substances instead of chemicals, impacted your work?

It’s pretty clear when you look at my healthy Earth oil paintings as opposed to my older heavy metal-laden and turpentine-full paintings. The Earth paintings really look like the Earth—organic, cellular, grounded and rich. As I was painting them I was breathing clean air and painting freely, letting the paints get all over my skin, knowing I had just collected it from the ground and mixed it with walnut oil. As opposed to before when I was breathing solvent fumes (which gave me headaches and sneezing fits), wearing latex gloves and feeling guilty about poisoning the earth and air with every stroke. It’s made the entire process a lot more pleasant- physically and emotionally and I think it shows through into the paintings.

2. Other than the chemical makeup, are there any differences at all between your paints and commercially made paints that contain chemicals?

The children’s Earth Paints are very similar to tempera paints (except without the fillers, preservatives and synthetic pigments). They behave the same, going on creamy and opaque and are water soluble. They dry at the same rate as tempera and last even longer. Earth pigments are actually the most archival, durable and long-lasting pigments available. They are not affected by sunlight, temperature or humidity, and are completely lightfast. If you keep your paintings in a cave they could last 40,000 years!

The Earth Oil Paints behave exactly the same as regular oil paints and can be mixed with any tube oil paints. Since the earth pigment particles are also larger and more irregular in size than those of synthetic pigments, more light can pass through the particles and bounce off all of the edges, creating a higher vibrancy and radiance in your paintings.

The natural walnut oil in the kit dries a little bit slower but I include info on how to speed up the drying time with other natural products, if needed.

3. In what other ways do environmental concerns come into your family’s life?

My family spent years living in a sweet little cob cottage, off the grid in the woods, with composting toilets, grey water systems, wood burning stoves (and no refrigerator, hot water or washer/dryer). But by the time our son was one and my husband was hand washing poopy diapers in ice cold water every day, we realized we were ready to re-join town life and still try to maintain an earth friendly lifestyle. We now live in a simple house with a wood stove and most of the back yard has been dug up for food gardens.

One thing I learned from our rustic living experiences is that living without any electricity is really not very hard and actually kind-of nice but living without hot water is the tough one. Every time I take a hot shower I feel incredible gratitude. Nothing beats it. We try to live simply, re-use as much as we can and buy local or used everything. After living with very minimal solar power in our cob house, we’re used to never leaving anything plugged in or turned on if we’re not using it. I also try to tread lightly in my business using only 100% post consumer recycled, biodegradable and locally made packaging and using only hand power (mine and my husbands) to make the paints. Hopefully every little bit will help.

Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson are mother and daughter and authors of Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, and founders of Green Halloween®.