Who We Are

We are Reg and Emma, a husband and wife team who met at art college while studying for a Batchelor of Honours in Fine Art. We now work from our home studio in a small town nestled in the hills of West Devon. Although we have lived in the south west most of our lives, we still delight in exploring and discovering new places here.

Our interest in paint making goes back to when Reg mulled colours for his own use at the start of his painting career. Colour has always been an important part in both our art practises. 

For us, making watercolour paints is an all-absorbing and fascinating journey, and one in which we continue to learn so much. From discovering historical pigments to making entirely new colours by combining pigments.

Through Art Scribe Watercolour Paints we share with you our excitement of colour, our knowledge and expertise, our attention to detail and our curiosity.

 

How We Make Our Watercolour Paint

The Importance of the Binder

By using our own hand made binder we are able to control what goes into each pan of paint. The binder holds the coloured pigment and gives flow and smoothness to the paint.

We have finely tuned our binder using the following ingredients:

Gum Arabic Crystals

We finely grind, then dissolve the resin crystals from the Acacia tree in distilled water. This mixture is then filtered through organic muslin cloth.

Vegetable Glycerin

The non toxic, colourless and viscous qualities of vegetable glycerin acts as a moisture retainer and plasticity to the paint. This means that with the application of a wet brush you can easily lift the watercolour from the pan.

Essential Oils

Spike of Lavender oil and Clove oil are added as natural preservative and anti-fungal agents.

We never add fillers or artificial preservatives as these make watercolours dull on the page. 

Power to the Pigments

We source the finest pigments from well established and reputable companies. The finer ground the pigments, the more evenly dispersed the colour particles will be within our binder. By selecting artists’ grade pigments, we ensure that the brilliance and strength of colour is retained within our handmade watercolours. So you will find that our paints come alive on the paper when water is added. And because they are highly pigmented a little paint goes a long way.

Find where we source our artist grade pigments here and here.

Hand Mulling

Mulling is the process of mixing the pigment and binder together to make paint. We use the traditional method using a hand held glass muller over a glass slab. It is labour intensive, but this hands-on approach means we can mull each pigment according to its unique characteristics while ensuring the pigment and binder are evenly blended.

At the start of the mulling, we add a little local honey from Devon bees. The honey allows for re-wetting once paint is dry and prevents any cracking during the drying process.

Drying and Layering

The drying and layering process takes between 4 to 6 weeks. The paint is carefully poured into the pans in three or four layers, with each layer being dried before the next is added. We slowly dry the paint, free from dust, in our temperature controlled wooden drying cabinet. This ensures beautifully distributed watercolour in your pans.

Packed for Your Convenience

The pans are secured in a pocket sized tin using magnets, so can be easily rearranged or replaced once you run out. Included with your palette of colours is a hand painted swatch card showing you the nature and characteristic of each colour. You will receive your Art Scribe watercolour pallet in a letterbox friendly eco box and delivered directly through your door.