Natural Earth Paint
In 2009, professional artist, mom, and environmentalist Leah Fanning had a large, one-woman gallery exhibition planned and needed to paint full-time for a year to prepare for it. She also found out she was pregnant with her first child around the same time. So, to protect her baby’s health, she ditched every toxic art supply in her studio, including paints, thinners, and primers.
But what was the alternative to conventional paints? Leah drew inspiration from the cave painters through the Renaissance masters and took to nature to find her supplies. “I actually went into the woods and harvested all the pigments myself,” she recalls, smiling. “I would never leave home without a trowel and a bag. If I saw beautiful colors in the strata on the roadside, I would jump out of my car and gather the pigments.” She discovered that using natural pigments and oils creates paintings that are more radiant and archival, and without fillers, natural paints have a brilliant luminosity that can’t be found anywhere else.
After discovering that even conventional children’s paints contain harmful toxins, she had an epiphany.
“It just hit me that I should create a business about this. I should make oil paints and kids paints and educate the world.”
A year later, Natural Earth Paint was born.
Natural Earth Paint is proud to be a growing green business, expanding from offering our children’s paint kit and oil paint kit to a whole range of natural fine arts supplies, face paints, and children’s art supplies. We travel the globe sourcing the same earth and mineral pigments used by ancient, medieval, and Renaissance painters. True to our eco-friendly roots, Natural Earth Paint continues to be committed to eco-friendly products and practices, reflected by our prestigious Gold certification from Green America, the highest rank for a green business. We use locally-made, 100% post-consumer recycled packaging, biodegradable plastic bags, recyclable glass, and aluminum bottles, and compostable pouches for our packaging, and we operate out of a 100% solar-powered facility that also serves as a community bubble wrap drop-off site. Plus, we give back to organizations and causes that protect Mother Earth. Learn more about our green efforts on our Sustainability page.
Sustainability
From our humble beginnings, Natural Earth Paint has prioritized Mother Nature and our earth-conscious customers as much as we have our bottom line. We strive to reduce our environmental impact and improve the planet in the process, and as such, we ensure that our facilities, ingredients, packaging, and contributions align with our values of safety and sustainability for all. Learn more below!
Our Facilities: We operate out of a 100% solar-powered facility in Southern Oregon. Our office also serves as a used plastic packaging drop-off site for local residents and businesses. When we reuse packaging from our community, we keep those materials out of the landfill.
Our Ingredients: We source our pigments and natural ingredients from businesses across the globe, and despite their geographic diversity, they have plenty in common—each one is small, family-owned, and harvests ingredients sustainably and ethically. Our natural binders and paint additives are organic, plant-based and safe for all.
Our Packaging: We use 100% post-consumer recycled packaging, home-compostable pigment pouches, and recyclable glass and aluminum bottles for our products. Additionally, all our kit boxes are created in a wind-powered facility. We are constantly working to improve our product offerings as technologies improve and new packaging options become available; you can read more about our packaging journey here.
Our Contributions: We strive to be a truly eco-conscious business that does more than just provide safe, natural alternatives to conventional fine arts and crafts supplies—we also believe it’s equally important to live our values by giving back to organizations that protect and replenish Mother Earth.