Learning About Mushroom Watercolor Pigments with Julie Beeler

In this video, Julie Beeler from the Mushroom Color Atlas talks all about mushroom watercolor pigments with Maria.

This is a recording of our live demo from Saturday, October 15th with Julie Beeler.

Julie Beeler is a designer, artist, and educator with a deep love and curiosity for the natural world. She created the Mushroom Color Atlas to honor what she values most: curiosity, education, creativity, collaboration, community, and the environment. Julie has been recognized by entities including The Mushroom, Surface Design Association, and The Seattle Times. When Julie is not out foraging, you can find her tending to her flower farm Bloom & Dye, working in her art studio, or leading workshops.

We had so much fun hosting Julie in our shop; she is such an expressive, knowledgeable, and delightful human!

Julie Beeler and Maria Coryell-Martin standing in front of a table, before their live demo. — Julie and Maria at the Art Toolkit Shop

Julie has documented a brilliant array of colors across the spectrum. During the live demo, Julie shared her steps for creating mushroom watercolor pigments.

Aerial perspective of a table laden with vials of powdered mushroom, color swatches, and a blank color wheel. — Julie’s demo space

Top-down view of swatch cards of mushroom pigments and dyes. — Swatches of mushroom pigments and dyes

She brought samples highlighting her process, from drying mushrooms to creating a dye bath and filtering out the pigment.

A paper showing a circle divided into 8 sections, each with test watercolor painting of different pigments by mushroom species. — A wheel of mushroom pigments

We loved seeing her Pocket Palette filled with mushroom paints: it was a wonderful blend of science and art!

A Pocket Palette filled with mushroom pigments. — Julie’s Pocket Palette filled with mushroom pigment

To learn more about the incredible work the Julie does, visit her website or look her up on Instagram.