I received a very special gift from a friend — this M’shikenh Turtle Palette from Beam Paints.

“Turtles have a special place in the legends and stories of the Ojibwe people, in our creation story the turtle carries all of us on her back, and her shell has 13 main segments representing the lunar calendar. This turtle carries 16 colors of watercolor, Spring Green, Pine Green, Dreamers Gold Wet Grizzly, Fall Poplar Yellow, Pumpkin, turtle Belly, Mars Violet, Grey Ultra, Timberwolf, Orca, Prussian Blue, Milkweed, Rainforest, Boreal  5.5″x4″ pine palette”

Anong Beam created Beam Paints:

“…the result of a multi-generational love of pigment, paint, colour, and innovation. I was raised by my artist parents, Carl Beam and Ann Beam, and was taught from a young age how to harvest hematite pigment in the LaCloche mountain range near our home in M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island. Beam Paints draws on my early educations in Indigenous pigment and expands it to encompass all paint traditions. A focus on high quality pigment content creates sublime artist materials, with plastic free packaging. Beam Paints is 100% Anishnaabe Kwe owned, and operating in our home reserve of M’Chigeeng First Nation, we are happy to employ paintmakers and woodworkers, men and women from our communities including M’Chigeeng, Sagamok and Wikwemikong.“

I couldn’t wait to get started on a painting with them, but I’ve been in such a mental health slump, I couldn’t think of anything special enough to use these beautiful paints on. I was talking about my art with someone, and they reminded me that when I get stuck, I can always paint trees or turtles.

That reminded me that I had not painted a flying turtle in quite some time, at least since 2000. It used to be a regular practice, putting wings on turtles and fish, let things fly that are earth and water bound. This one was painted in acrylic on canvas:

And now, in the midst of a slump, this little turtle palette came into my life, to urge me on. I forgot how much I loved playing with watercolor.

I had so much fun working with these colors. Many of them have naturally sourced mica, which makes them gleam in the light, but I can’t really capture that on the computer. I was surprised at how highly pigmented the colors are.

I love watercolor that seeps into the paper, that granulates, and asserts a personality – that adds vibrancy to a painting that I could not have predicted or imagined. Painting this cosmos/sky was a delight – working very wet, spraying the colors with water, blending puddles, shaping hard edges.

Because of the way the palette is shaped and each paint cup is filled almost overflowing with paint, I found it wasn’t a good idea to spray water on it, the paints bled into one another. It works better just putting a drop of water in each well, and to be careful when loading your brush with paint. By the time I use all the paint in this palette, it will be more of a work of art than it already is. Stained with color, I’ll probably hang it on the wall. Beam sells what they call paint stones, color wrapped in waxed cloth. All of their products are plastic free, which is lovely and necessary for all our futures.

I hope this is the beginning of restoring a more productive art flow for me. (I’m also seeing a psychatrist and working on getting my head meds straight — the brain does occasionally need a tune up).

This little painting is a good beginning, I think. Good medicine.

Check out Beam Paints, and support them if you can.

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