Here is the next carbon offset contribution for a further ten paintings sold. Thank you to all my lovely customers who helped me get to this next goal!
Recently I offset a flight I had booked for 2022 with some trees. The flight is for a creative activity, however it got me thinking about the possible carbon emissions associated with painting and running a painting business. I use petrol to take paintings to and from my framers, petrol to move paintings around between exhibitions and petrol to deliver paintings to clients. On top of that, wood is used and therefore trees are felled to make canvas stretchers and wooden panels, trees are used in the production of pencils and paper, and I have no doubt that carbon is either used or is emitted in the production of acrylic paint, not to mention the containers they come in. And then there is packaging…
Of course the obvious answer is to be selective and only use products made responsibly, but that will take a while to get to a point of being individually net zero. And there is no way I can cycle the distances involved moving paintings from one place to another. And I have no idea how to calculate my personal responsibility for carbon emissions.
So, in the meantime, I am making a pledge to have one tree planted per painting sold. Since I went into business in September 2020, I have sold 20 paintings, so I have started off by getting 20 trees planted in Malawi. Going forwards, for each ten paintings I sell, I will have another ten trees planted. This is my pledge. It’s a start!
My kind request for patrons, collectors and clients is that where possible, if you know in advance that you are going to buy a painting, please take some old packaging with you that can be reused, or a towel, blanket, anything padded will do - especially if you are travelling by car. Paintings are just as easily protected in some old towels as they are in bubble wrap. Taking this initiative will be a big help and will reduce the amount of packaging that artists use. And if you’re visiting an artist and want to take some bubble wrap that would otherwise be thrown away to help them reduce the amount they purchase, I’m sure they would be grateful, I definitely would - feel free to dump all your old bubble wrap on me!
And if you want to explore your own offset solutions, I can recommend Art Safari as a good place to look! https://artsafari.co.uk/about-us/responsible-travel/
Thank you 🙏🏻🌍
