Conversations with the Inspiring Kate Chawula

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate Chawula.

Kate, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Ruby Mountain Paint Co. began in the fall of 2016 out of a love for color, nature, and a desire to find my place as an artist. I immediately fell in love with the process of making paint by hand and the pigments themselves. I have degrees in Painting and Art Education and had fallen in love with plein air painting right before I became pregnant with my first child in 2010. When I finally began painting again after having my children, I was drawn to watercolors for their ease of use in the field. Portability, lightweight, quick and non-toxic were all things that drew me to watercolor now that I had small children.

I love the idea of being able to work directly with other artists to source materials that will inspire them to create more. The personal relationships I’ve built with customers is one of the best parts about making handmade paint.
After spending months perfecting recipes and creating my own binder formula, using all non-toxic and natural ingredients, I launched the Ruby Mountain Paint Co. shop on Etsy. The process to make handmade paint is quite labor-intensive and begins with raw materials. At the simplest, paint is just pigment and a vehicle called the binder. Different types of paints use different binders (oil paint uses linseed oil, egg tempera uses egg yolks, etc.). The binder recipe I use is unique to Ruby Mountain and was created after much trial and error. I create the binder from gum Arabic, local honey and clove essential oil as a natural preservative. This binder is mixed with powdered pigments sourced from locations around the world, then mulled on a glass slab for anywhere from 45 minutes to 90 minutes depending on the pigment. Each pigment has its own personality and takes a varying amount of binder and time to produce the consistency perfect for painting. I do not use any brighteners, extenders or fillers in my paints. This allows the pigment to truly shine.

Another thing that sets Ruby Mountain Paint Co. apart from other watercolor makers is the unique sets of paints I create. I love to curate new color palettes inspired by other artists or the natural world. Many of the sets I sell are one-of-a-kind. As a landscape painter myself, many of my sets are perfect for plein air painting and nature journaling.

Inspiring artists is truly my passion, and after two years of juggling Ruby Mountain with a full time teaching position, I was able to leave my day job to focus on Ruby Mountain and my children full time. Since those early days, Ruby Mountain Paint Co. has grown into a thriving handmade business, proving customers from all over the world with unique, high-quality art supplies. Creating handmade paint and supplies for artists is my way of bringing more beauty, love and light into this world.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
2016 was a tough year for me. My marriage had been falling apart for a year and in March, I moved out of the home I had shared with my husband and into a tiny 1930’s bungalow with my two small children. In April, my divorce was finalized. It was the first time I had ever lived alone my whole life. I spent a lot of time that year figuring out who I was, where I was going, and what I wanted in my life. I was teaching art full time, so on nights and weekends, after my children were asleep, I would mull paint at my kitchen table, working on Ruby Mountain. I started to dive deeply into paint making, researching and learning all I could. I began painting seriously again, after hardly painting at all the last six years. Creating Ruby Mountain gave me something positive to focus on when my life felt like it had just crumbled.

My advice to all women is that your dreams are possible. Figure out what you are passionate about, create a career around that and your work will never feel like work. We live in amazing times, where we can literally do anything. The whole world is at your fingertips through the internet. There are millions of free trainings out there for people who want to start a business, for artists, for anyone who wants to change their life. I started this business with $300 from my mom to buy pigments and supplies. I didn’t know what I was doing but I figured it out through research, perseverance and hard work. Just like with anything, success doesn’t happen overnight, and it takes a lot of work to create a thriving business. I work a lot now, probably more than when I was teaching. The thing is, it never feels like work. I love creating paints for artists and being able to have a flexible schedule so I can be home with my children when I need to be. That flexibility and being able to work from home while also being a mom are what makes it all worth it.

What should we know about Ruby Mountain Paint Co.? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Ruby Mountain Paint Co. creates a wide variety of handmade watercolors, but I focus mainly on natural pigments and supplies for plein air artists. Plein air is the French term for painting outside and was made popular by the Impressionists. While many handmade watercolor makers focus on shimmery or mica-based paints, I create mainly single pigment colors. This ensures the cleanest color mixing for artists. I also create small paint sets for artists to take outdoors, for urban sketching, nature journaling or plein air painting. I tend to create a lot of palettes inspired by the beautiful colors found in nature, with many being seasonal or limited edition. Being a small business, allows me to form personal relationships with many of my customers. This allows me to suggest colors I think they would like, or create palettes inspired by their style or subject matter. As a brand, I try hard to support the handmade watercolor community. I recently held an auction to raise money for another printmaker whose husband was having some health problems, and I have created colors in the past that raise money for a specific cause, like domestic violence.

Do you have any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general? What has worked well for you?
As an artist, I have learned more from the artistic mentors I have in my life than from my many years of art school. I feel like mentorships and networking is such an important way of learning and working for artists. For my business, the relationships I have made on Instagram have been so beneficial to me both as an artist and as a small business owner. In my line of work, the relationships I create with other artists, customers, patrons, teachers, and students are the foundation of my business. My customers are often repeat buyers who comment on my Instagram regularly, so the relationships foraged via that app are so important. I have made (online) friends with other paintmakers who are great for encouragement or when I have questions. Some of the relationships I’ve made are local, while others are across the world. I’ve been offered spots at markets and had wholesale customers reach out to me just based on my IG presence. For someone in a niche market like me, being able to reach potential customers all over the world through apps like Instagram are so crucial. It has opened up a whole new way of connecting with other like-minded people.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rubymountainpaintco.com
• Email: kate@rubymountainpaintco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rubymountainpaintco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rubymountainpaintco/

Image Credit:
Kate Chawula

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