Whether you are a professional artist or you are looking for some creative time for you and your family this summer, I want to share some of my favorites for making beautiful art while considering our Earth. This is Part I, and I will have Part II posted in a couple of weeks.

1. Conté chalk sticks: I use a lot of Conté for quick gesture drawings or my primary line work with paint and ink accents. These are made from natural pigments and clay with some choices in softness and have such a lovely finish which I like a bit more than pastels. There are the earthy tones and a few brighter pigments in Conté. Though some shops sell these in plastic packaging, I like to buy them loose and unpackaged for a plastic-free option. You can find these unpackaged in brick and motor fine art stores in the U.S. like Utrecht or in Japan like Uematsu or Sekaido.

2. Natural Acrylik Medium: I am a big fan of Natural Acrylik Medium from Natural Earth Paint because I can avoid a large amount of plastic waste and mix the medium with any earth pigment of my choice. Besides the issue of the plastic tubes, regular acrylic paint itself is made of plastic, and I was incredibly happy to find a paint that gives me so many of the same properties of acrylic without the microplastic waste. They also carry a variety of fine art and children’s art supplies, including face paints. In addition to ordering directly from their website, companies like Utrecht carry their products in the U.S. and, for a cost, they ship internationally. I bought a jar of the Acrylik Medium while visiting family in the U.S. and it has lasted me a long time. If you go with the medium like I did, I would recommend buying a glass muller to mix the medium with your pigment. I also like to add a little water to the mix.

3. Earth Pigments: The earth pigments are made of natural rock and have less intense color, but natural pigments as a whole have a decent range of color and are still a great choice. I mix these with the Natural Acrylik Medium to use in some of my mixed media art pieces and I am looking into mixing some of my own watercolors for my Sumi-e (Japanese ink painting). Here in Japan there are a variety of shops selling pigments including the famous Pigment Tokyo or Uematsu. Look for 土絵具 to find earth pigments or 岩絵具 to find mineral pigments among the large range of pigments. If you are in the U.S. or Europe, again, check out Natural Earth Paint for a variety of earth pigments and mineral pigments.