Colors of Nature is an active member of the art community in numerous locations around Canada and the United States.
It has created an affiliate program that supports art communities and educators. The purpose is to support the programs that these various watercolor societies and educators have initiated and participated in. Colors of Nature wants to encourage the growth and interest in these programs because art is an excellent way to show the beauty and underlying challenges society has to face.
The affiliate program allows each member of participating watercolor societies or students of art teachers to receive a discount on their online orders. A portion of each discount is then donated back to that member's organization each month.
If you are interested in how your society or class can benefit from this program please contact us.
Here are a few groups that are currently participating in the affiliate program:
Friday 25 July 2014
Tuesday 8 July 2014
ANg Art: Colors of Nature Review
Beauty, imagination, and Colors of Nature professional earth-friendly watercolor paint combine to make an Angel by Angela Westermann.
From using our sample card ANg made this delightful painting and posted her review of our paints on her blog.
I have tried a new art supply Colors of Nature - Professional Quality Earth Friendly Artists' Paints. They have 13 colors and as the name of them imply they are very earthy looking. They are really nice paints, work just like your traditional paints. Very vibrant, great for washes and traditional WC'ing.
I really really like them. The Manager has been very pleasant to deal with providing information as needed.
They have Vegan Art Supplies, I am really wanting to try the brush cleaner.
Above is an angel I created using only a few colors, I think about 5 of them in the line.
Its a great world when small companies serve communities with really great supplies!
Art on my friends,
ANg
Hahnemühle Fine Art Bamboo Watercolor Paper
Colors of Nature is now the Canadian provider of Hahnemühle's FineArt Paper.
Nature enthusiasts and environmentally conscious artists are devoted users of the Hahnemühle bamboo-fibre papers. This paper is both vegan and cruelty-free. Made from bamboo this sustainable resource is a multi-year reed that produces more oxygen than a broadleaf tree.
Hahnemühle's Certificate of Conformity stipulates that all Hahnemühle FineArt paper and canvas do not contain raw materials from:
- Aminal Sources
- Gene-modified sources
Furthermore they do not contain the following substances:
- Lead
- Hexavalent Chromium
- Mercury
- Cadmium
- PBB (Polybrominated Biphenyls)
- PBDE (Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers)
Dated: June 18, 2014
If we do not have the Hahnemühle's FineArt Paper that you are looking for contact us and we will get it for you.
Colors of Nature Canada's Distributor of Tree-free Paper
Colors of Nature would like to thank Ecopaper for choosing us to be their Canadian distributor of natural eco friendly tree-free paper.
Colors of Nature now provides a list of art paper products and card stock for those interested in a natural safe and eco-friendly alternative to conventional paper.
The list of products include:
- Tree - Free Natural Organic Paper, An Artist's dream pad! Lemon Paper™ with natural Mango fibers give every sheet some character.
- Tree - Free Natural Organic Paper, An Artist's dream pad! The Banana fibers give every sheet some character. Feel nature as you create.
100% Vegan and Cruelty-free.
- The new Hemp Sketchbook is the state-of-the-art in blank books. The smaller 7x7 size features our exclusive Hemp Heritage rag content paper. Bound with an extra-heavy embossed cover and black wire, these are the books every artist will want to have close at hand.
This sketchbook also come in 8.5" x 11".
- Organic banana papers, made from combining tree free agricultural bio-products coupled with 100% post consumer content to create a beautiful paper that is laser and inkjet printer compatible.
Both the agricultural by-product of the plantations and the post consumer paper create serious solid waste problems worldwide--help combat both with these tree-free papers. Post consumer (PCW) - paper that has been used by consumers and collected through various recycling programs. It is also Process Chlorine Free (PCF) - paper has no bleached, chlorine or chlorine derivatives.
Environmentally preferable — contains 10% Banana Fiber 100% post consumer recycled content. Trouble-free printing in your copier or in your inkjet or laser printer. Acid-free banana paper won't yellow or disintegrate over time.
100% Vegan and Cruelty-free.
Machalarts Watercolor Studio Review
Colors of Nature met Rhode Island Watercolor Society member Hollis Machala on May 23, 2014 when they presented their products to the society and discussed the advantages of using a professional quality earth-friendly watercolor paint.
Hollis Machala won Third Place in the Rhode Island Watercolor Society's juried art competition called, "Reflections".
She is a wonderful artist and we would like to thank her for her review and encourage everyone to visit her site to read the full review.
After working with paint tubes most of my life I found it refreshing to see a jar and know I could possibly use all the paint in the container eventually.
One thing I noticed as I started to paint is that the paints may dry faster than other brands and I recommend getting a palette with a cover to keep the pigment wet, soft, and happy!
Chromium Green is needed because without it a green mix of ochre/sienna and ultramarine is very dull. But the mix is a great natural green and can be darkened with Dark Burnt Umber or the Burnt Sienna nicely
I was sublimely happy with the vibrant cool gray mix I was able to get from the Ultramarine Blue and the Dark Burnt Umber. (See Palette Sample on Hot Press Paper above)
I eagerly await a vibrant red and yellow pigment* addition which could potentially broaden the subject range for professional artists.
All in all I think this is a great product for beginners and a great challenge for professionals due to the limited palette. Below is a painting of mine done completely with the Colors of Nature paints on 140lb. Cold Press paper. I hope you enjoy the spring bloom while it lasts!
*Colors of Nature has added a natural Black Iron Oxide and is in the process of sourcing natural and non-synthetic pigments for a bright yellow, red, teal, pink and violet. Please visit our site often to see the latest additions to our product line or email us at sales@colorsofnature.com to be added to our mailing list.
GuruKitty Studios Review
Gurukitty Studios back on November 26, 2013 wrote a review of Colors of Nature's watercolor paints.
This review was unsolicited and came as a surprise to us when it was brought to our attention last month. We would like to thank Gurukitty Studios for the time they took to test our paints and their understanding of what Colors of Nature is trying to do for artists and the environment.
Here are a few snippets of their review with some of the product comparison paintings that they did. To read the full review please click here.
Colors of Nature has added a natural Black Iron Oxide and is in the process of sourcing natural and non-synthetic pigments for a bright yellow, red, teal, pink and violet. Please visit our site often to see the latest additions to our product line or email us at sales@colorsofnature.com to be added to our mailing list.
This review was unsolicited and came as a surprise to us when it was brought to our attention last month. We would like to thank Gurukitty Studios for the time they took to test our paints and their understanding of what Colors of Nature is trying to do for artists and the environment.
Here are a few snippets of their review with some of the product comparison paintings that they did. To read the full review please click here.
Now, the idea of natural paints isn’t all that revolutionary, because watercolours are fairly natural, they are Gum arabic (from trees) for a binder and pigments which are often natural but you can get synthetics as well. The unnatural part of some paint brands is that they put other chemicals into the binder to help the gum arabic and to maintain a fairly consistent viscosity from colour to colour, among other things.
Colors of Nature has gone beyond just being natural and is making sure that every part of their paints production is not damaging to the environment and has any toxins removed or avoided..
Lets get down to the nitty gritty, I will say that I found these paints to be quite lovely to work with, very strongly pigmented, and behaved pretty much how watercolours should behave. They come in cute little pots (as seen in the first image), with the colour name right on the top of the lids...
The colour I use for skintones in my comics is Burnt Sienna, usually mixed with a little of something else (a tiny tinydot of sepia or something) to take down that glow look that pigment usually has (in most brands) and I mix violets and greens for shadows, depending on light source colour, I keep it simple. For the sake of testing I decided to just use Burnt Sienna in it’s unaltered state to compare side by side as a skin tone base.
Here is a chart with a few of the base colours compared with Winsor and Newton side by side, as you can see many of the colours are quite different, especially the last one, Raw Sienna.
So overall, I think this product, even though it’s new and needs refinement, is an amazing product. The consistency is nice, mix-ability is amazing. It’s a small company with a good set of values and is worth supporting.
The only things I would change are the packaging method (tubes or squeeze bottles instead of wide mouth pots) and the redundant colours in the line*.*Colors of Nature will be coming out with watercolor paints in tubes by September 2014.
Colors of Nature has added a natural Black Iron Oxide and is in the process of sourcing natural and non-synthetic pigments for a bright yellow, red, teal, pink and violet. Please visit our site often to see the latest additions to our product line or email us at sales@colorsofnature.com to be added to our mailing list.
Rhode Island Watercolor Society
Rhode Island Watercolor Society
On May 17, 2014 Colors of Nature travelled east to visit the Rhode Island Watercolor Society in Slater Memorial Park in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. They are situated in a historic building overlooking a beautiful pond in a multi-purpose park.
While we were there, we took advantage of a rare opportunity to ride on the Looff Carousel that was built in 1894. Rides were $0.25 each, so we just had to take a spin.
We presented a half hour seminar on natural watercolor paints to their members. The asked us questions, like:
Members were then invited to try out our watercolors. We also established an affiliate program with their society. Their members get a discount whenever they purchase from our online store and a percentage is donated back to their watercolor society.
Colors of Nature provided a Baker's Dozen as one of their door prizes to support the work they are doing. The winner of the door prize was artist and Rhode Island Watercolor Society Member L. Estrella. Congratulations! We can't wait to see what you do with your prize.
On May 17, 2014 Colors of Nature travelled east to visit the Rhode Island Watercolor Society in Slater Memorial Park in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. They are situated in a historic building overlooking a beautiful pond in a multi-purpose park.
While we were there, we took advantage of a rare opportunity to ride on the Looff Carousel that was built in 1894. Rides were $0.25 each, so we just had to take a spin.
We presented a half hour seminar on natural watercolor paints to their members. The asked us questions, like:
- What does non-toxic mean in paint?
- Can paint be non-toxic but not earth-friendly?
- What are the plant ingredients you use?
- Are your pigments opaque or transparent?
- Why are pigments like cadmium problematic?
- Is your paint lightfast?
Members were then invited to try out our watercolors. We also established an affiliate program with their society. Their members get a discount whenever they purchase from our online store and a percentage is donated back to their watercolor society.
Colors of Nature provided a Baker's Dozen as one of their door prizes to support the work they are doing. The winner of the door prize was artist and Rhode Island Watercolor Society Member L. Estrella. Congratulations! We can't wait to see what you do with your prize.
Canadian Society for Professional Watercolorists
Canadian Society for Professional Watercolorists
On June 23rd, 2014 Colors of Nature attended one evening of a week-long retreat for members of this prestigious national watercolor society. Here we found the top professional watercolor artists in Canada. Each member had an impressive background in watercolors and we were honored to present a half-hour seminar on our unique watercolor paints.
Here, we received valuable feedback about our paints and our products.
We learned that:
We found these esteemed artists very friendly, open-minded and receptive to new concepts in earth-friendly art supplies. One artist was playing with our paints on bamboo paper and produced this beautiful, spontaneous piece:
We also set up an affiliate program with CSPW, where their members receive a 20% discount and a percentage of each sale by their members is returned to them as a donation. We really enjoyed meeting all the members and had a wonderful evening in Orillia, Ontario!
On June 23rd, 2014 Colors of Nature attended one evening of a week-long retreat for members of this prestigious national watercolor society. Here we found the top professional watercolor artists in Canada. Each member had an impressive background in watercolors and we were honored to present a half-hour seminar on our unique watercolor paints.
Here, we received valuable feedback about our paints and our products.
We learned that:
- The ecological benefits of our paint were appealing, especially to artists who had to scale back on their exposure to harmful agents that can compromise their health.
- Our paint handled well, and had a nice, creamy consistency to it.
- The color range was perfect for plein air and landscapes.
- While some liked the pots (so they can use up all the paint) many plein air painters preferred tubes so they can use them outdoors.
- Our Hahnemulle bamboo paper sold out very quickly. We were told to bring more of it next time!
- One artist who owned an art supply shop was happy to find that we supply small and large quanties of loose pigments, and she found our prices to be very affordable.
We found these esteemed artists very friendly, open-minded and receptive to new concepts in earth-friendly art supplies. One artist was playing with our paints on bamboo paper and produced this beautiful, spontaneous piece:
We also set up an affiliate program with CSPW, where their members receive a 20% discount and a percentage of each sale by their members is returned to them as a donation. We really enjoyed meeting all the members and had a wonderful evening in Orillia, Ontario!
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