This Swatch Life: Beam Paints

There’s something about Beam Paints that makes you slow down.

Maybe it’s the way the paint comes wrapped in beeswax cloth. Or the tactile roundness of each pigment stone, resting in your palm like a river-smoothed pebble. Or the way the colours themselves feel rooted—earthy, joyful, direct.

Beam Paints is more than a paint company. It’s an Indigenous-owned business based on Mnidoo Mnising (Manitoulin Island), founded by artist Anong Beam. Her story is the story of these paints: her father was a painter; her mother a pigment maker. She grew up grinding rocks into colour. Beam Paints continues that legacy by combining art, science, and deep respect for land and tradition.

The result? A watercolour experience that feels like ceremony.

You’ll find the usual suspects—ultramarine, ochre, rose—but they arrive with new weight. Beam’s paints are richly pigmented, buttery smooth, and surprisingly long-lasting. They activate with a few drops of water, and a little goes a long way.

Unlike standard half pans, Beam’s stones are generously sized and shaped for fingers, not factory molds. They live in cedar palettes or plastic-free waxed travel cloths. The whole system is low-waste, refillable, and made with purpose.

Beam paint stone samples swatched on small portable Creative Artifacts HQ Watercolour Sketchbook pages. See how vibrant and pigmented they are.

In my own practice, Beam stones sit on one side of my palette. Daniel Smith tubes live on the other. They don’t compete—they complement. One is precise; the other, poetic. Beam Paints invites spontaneity, colour play, and a sensory return to earth and materials.

In my personal Beam palette (from left to right) : Graphite, Doodooshabo'ande Cream, Salish Sea, Spring Green, (Fluorescent Yellow), Ice Blue, Strawberry Red (x2), Turtle Belly. Not shown: Orca, Trillium White, Wild Rose, Dreamer's Gold.

This is paint that doesn’t just colour the page—it grounds you.

So if you're looking to reconnect with your tools—or try watercolour for the first time—Beam Paints is a very good place to start.

Stay swatching. Stay creative.

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