Marabu's Green Line

I recently came across something special: Marabu Green Acrylic paint, but not made of acrylic. “92% natural origin” it says. I was of course curious about what that 8% not of natural origin is and a reply email told me that it mainly concerned preservatives. Not natural, but also not harmful to the environment.

There is also something special with the tube itself. According to the description on the website of an art supply store, it states the following: “The tubes are laminated, resulting in a thinner wall. This saves up to 30% material compared to conventional tubes. Additional advantage: the thinner wall makes it easier to squeeze even the last bits of paint out of the tubes. In addition, the tubes (excl. caps) are made of the mono-material HDPE, which consists of 50% renewable raw materials and is 100% recyclable.”

This has really been thought through, and at less than 4 euros per 100 ml tube it is not expensive either. For comparison: a 120 ml tube of regular acrylic paint from Amsterdam costs €4.70 and a tube of Plant based Acrilik paint (59 ml) from Natural Earth Paint costs no less than €19.95!

The first thought: then it must be rubbish, children’s stuff. But, especially because the paint is lightfast and also weather-resistant for indoors and outdoors, they get the benefit of the doubt.

I purchased the basic colours: Cream white, Sunshine yellow, Bright red, Azure blue and Black.

In principle you shouldn’t need more.

When I squeeze the colours onto my plate, the first thing I notice is how easy it is to squeeze. The paint is thinner than a usual acrylic paint, but you won’t hear me complaining about that at all. I’d rather complain about a too thick, chewing gum-like substance than this creamy form. It is therefore not necessary to add water. 

 

The colours can be mixed, although I suspect that yellow, red and blue are not really primary. I don’t get a good dark brown to almost black if I mix all three colours. That’s okay, that’s why I added black.

 I am curious about the mixed colour palette if, instead of red, I were to go more towards magenta and use light blue for the azure blue.

For my portrait I thought I would need much more paint than I used. As you can see, there are still large blobs left with the original colour.


All in all, the green line of acrylic paint from Marabu is an asset in the limited range of environmentally friendly alternatives.

Is there anything negative to say about it? Yes, there is!

 The name of the color of the paint is far too small on the back of the tube, making it unclear which one to use in a larger range of tubes.

For more information about the Marabu Green Line: https://www.marabu-creative.com/en/service/press-center/press-releases/green/
** I don’t get paid for this review **