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We are Reg and Emma, a husband and wife team who met at art college while studying for a Bachelor (Hons) in Fine Art Painting. We now work from our home studio in a small town nestled in the hills of West Devon. Inspiration behind our colour collections are often derived from nature, Dartmoor and the coastline we are lucky to have on our doorstep.
Colour and light have always been an important and life affirming influence in both our lives and art practice. The desire to have strong watercolour pigments in our paint box and the deep regard for traditional art techniques led us on our Art Scribe journey.
By hand mulling our watercolours, we hope to reintroduce artists to the craftsmanship and care that goes into a slower process of paint making. Our hands-on approach means we get to know the different personalities of each colour we mull and are able to fine-tune our process to bring out their best characteristics.
The result is beautifully workable and strongly coloured watercolour paint that is a unique addition in your paint box.
Through Art Scribe watercolour paints we share with you our excitement of colour, creative knowledge and the joy of curiosity.
The binder holds the coloured pigment and gives flow and smoothness to the paint. We have finely tuned the recipe of our binder so we know exactly what goes into each pan of paint.
We finely grind, then dissolve the resin crystals from the Acacia tree in distilled water. This mixture is then filtered through organic muslin cloth.
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.
We are very thankful to our local bee keeper. His bees, which most probably visit our garden, provide us with a little honey to prevent the gum arabic from setting too hard and prevents the paint from cracking.
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
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.
We source our artist grade pigments from Cornelissen & Son & Kremer Pigments.
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.
The drying and layering process takes between 6 to 7 weeks. The paint is carefully poured into the pans in six or seven 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.
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 set of colours is a hand painted swatch card showing you the nature and characteristic of each colour. If you build your own palette then you will receive a blank card to fill out with your chosen colours.
You will receive your Art Scribe watercolour paints in a letterbox friendly eco box.
