​There is nothing quite like the satisfying sight of a newly-opened box of coloured pencils with their colourful tips all standing in a neat little row. Perhaps it is the tangible memory of back-to-school days when a box of new pencils held so much potential for the year ahead, or perhaps it’s the reminder that sometimes having one little thing that is organised and colour coordinated make you feel calm when other things in life feel chaotic and messy.   

At Flora, we understand this desire to have a neat little box of pencils on hand, and have sourced an entire range of shapes and styles to meet your needs. All of the wood found in our pencils are sourced from sustainably managed forest or recycled newspapers, making them an ethical choice. We have little pencils for little hands, bigger pencils for bigger hands, triangle ones, chunky ones, varnished ones, and unvarnished ones. There are plenty of options!

One of the things these coloured pencils are great at is what we call ‘mindfulness nature drawing’. Feeling stressed about your to-do list? Overwhelmed by the clutter in your space? Unsure about how to make that important decision? Take a breath, take your box of coloured pencils and some paper, and head outside into nature (or, if thats too tricky, find a house plant, vase of flowers, or spot by the window where you can see something in nature).

Once you’ve found your spot, notice what you’re drawn to, without judgement. Spend a moment just looking. Then begin to capture it with your coloured pencils. Sometimes it’s helpful to have a prompt or focus point to work with when doing this activity, such as trying to capture only one spectrum of colour, or looking for shadows and light, or focusing on only the straight lines, or curved lines, or highlighting the beauty in imperfections. Whatever it is, spend time mindfully looking at your nature object, without judgement for what you’re seeing or creating. Your coloured pencils are your tools that will help you to stay focused in your mindful state, and help you to capture your experience on the page. Whether you have the ability to dedicate one hour or 10 minutes to this practice, I promise, you’ll feel better afterwards. Nature has a way of nourishing us and helping us to put things in perspective.

As humans, we have forever been making our mark and telling our stories through pigments. From the early days of mud on walls, to our current era of chemically produced and refined shiny liquids, paints have always played a part in the creative development of humans. In light of current environmental crises, many people are now seeking natural and ethically sourced alternatives to everyday products and it is pleasing that there have been developments in the world of art materials too. There are makers out there who are going back to the basics of foraging for natural pigments and creating art materials that are gentle to our planet. 

Introducing Purely Natural Kids Paint Pigments. Open the box and you will likely produce a little sound of delight as you spy a range of safe, non-toxic pigments lined up with little biodegradable pots and a paintbrush. The colours inside the little packets are made entirely from organic ingredients, foraged from the earth and plants. Kept simple, the pigments can be mixed with water at a 1:1 consistency, or with natural oils such as linseed.

If you want to get even more fancy with these pigments you can have a go at creating your own eco-paint using the recipe below. If mixing your own paint sounds like too much work, ökoNORM have produced their own little pots of natural paints, which you can find here.

Gentle to the earth and to your skin, what’s not to love about these paints?

Written by
Naomi Pears-Scown

Images courtesy of
Naomi Pears-Scown