About
At Greenleaf & Blueberry, we create handmade materials and supplies for the traveling artist. We are Artist & Chemist owned and operated, founded by Jess & Matt in 2011. We are located on the Western Slope of Colorado. Read our story here.
We are pleased to offer:
Artisanal Handmade Watercolor Paints
Our colors are made slowly and carefully by hand in small and micro batches, the traditional way, using using muller and slab. We specialize in natural pigments, while offering historical, man-made natural, and carefully selected synthetic pigments, which we convert into synthetic/natural hybrids through a proprietary process. All of our colors are single-pigment, Artist/Professional grade, and have high lightfastness ratings. Each color is named after the single pigment used to make it, with Color Index numbers described in product listings and on product labels. We use a proprietary minimal binder which includes local honey, and formulate our colors to have the highest pigment load possible. We do not add any fillers, brighteners, extenders, dispersants, etc. to our binder. As a result, each color's natural characteristics are allowed to shine. We also include a wider range of pigment particle sizes than is typical of watercolors today, making our colors handle differently. Each individual color is hand-wrapped with a hand-painted swatch illustrating just how the color inside will look. Our colors are available in Half-Pans, Full Pans, and natural Seashells, with individual steel pans manufactured by Art Toolkit coming Spring 2021.
Travel Watercolor Palettes
We offer our colors in Travel Palettes, which feature magnetized pans in hinged steel tins that include a hand-painted color chart of the colors included. Travel Palettes include different color collections based on subject, pigment type, or theme. Our palettes come in three different sizes: Small, Medium, and Large, as well as Pocket Palettes and Micro Palette manufacture by Art Toolkit. Travel Palettes feature all different sizes and types of pans, depending on the palette.
Archival Handmade Sketchbooks
Our selection of sketchbooks are made with the same care and attention to detail as our paints. They are made slowly and carefully by hand in small batches, using traditional techniques and all archival materials, and feature Arches watercolor paper. They are Artist/Professional quality, and designed for both durability and usability. We currently offer sketchbooks in two styles: Accordion (different from zig-zag) and Codex (bound at the spine like a book you read). Each style comes in a variety of sizes and paper finishes (Cold Press, Hot Press, and Rough). Our Codex Sketchbooks are also offered in both Portrait and Landscape orientations, as well as in two different thicknesses (Backpacker and Dayhiker.).
Hand-Carved Paintbrushes
Our Hand-Carved Paintbrushes are made exclusively by Jess Greenleaf as an extension of her art practice. They feature Artist Grade paintbrushes from Jess's favorite brush companies, and intricately hand-carved wooden handles, sealed with a waterproof finish. Little pieces of art for the artist.
Paintable Projects
Our Paintable Projects are digital projects for you to download, print onto watercolor paper, and paint. They are designed to give you the joy of painting without the stress of drawing. Each Project includes a suggested supply list, step-by-step instructions, a light drawing to print onto watercolor paper, background information on the subject, and more. Some Projects also include bonus warm-up exercises and instructions. Our Projects are very different from a paint-by-numbers or a coloring book; they provide guidance and education on technique, terms, and how to adapt the tools you have on hand.
Accessories
We offer a carefully curated selection of our very favorite watercolor painting supplies, such as pencils, pens, erasers, and so much more. These are the supplies that we carry ourselves. Each product listing has detailed pictures and a thorough description of why we love that item and why.
Stickers
We design our own line of stickers for indoor and outdoor use. Designs reflect finished Paintable Project designs, inside jokes about watercolor, and creative culture. Many runs are limited.
Blog
We keep an active blog written by our founder (Jess) that features posts about color theory, watercolor technique, art supply info, prompts, project ideas, pointers, tips, and more.
How To Purchase / Stay Current
We are a small studio that carefully and thoughtfully produces handmade products in small and micro batches. As a result, we never have all of our products in stock at one time, and quantities are always limited. We update our shop here on this website every two weeks, often on Friday. While we post active updates on our social media channels, all details regarding exact date and time of re-stocks and what products will be available are published in our Newsletter, which we send out every two weeks before we re-stock our shop.
Our colors are also available in a select number of independently owned boutique retailers.
