These paintstones are concentrated balls of watercolor or gouache made by Beam Paints. Each are made with lightfast pigments, wildcrafted tree sap, manitoulin honey, and gum arabic. They come in hand made local beeswaxed canvas wrappers which are biodegradable. Each paintstone can be revealed while in use and then re covered for storage or travel. They are Beam Paints' version of half pans but without the plastic. Paintstones sold individually.
Beam Paints was started by Anong Beam who grew up harvesting hematite pigments with her parents in the stunning natural landscape of the lacloche mountain range near her home in M'chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island. She learned a love of pigment and color from her parents who are both artists and eventually this early knowledge of indigenous pigments was used to make her new line of paints focusing on sublime color and biodegradable packaging. All the paints and packing is hand made, hand cut and sanded from reclaimed white cedar and birch or wrappers hand printed in shop with plant based inks and waxed with local beeswax. Beam Paints is a plastic free company.
"When I make paint I think about my Dad a lot, he taught me when I was really small to identify hematite and look for paintstones. He kept them in his art bag in a little cloth wrapper, and when he needed paint he brought them out and prepared his paint for ceramic bowls, drums, or rocks. I really wanted something of my paint making practice to share the tactile joy of the physicality of paint." Anong Beam
