Materials

Mr. Ruiz loves our beautiful planet and the amazing creatures that live on it. He's inspired by nature and the urban jungles people have built and prides himself on using eco-friendly materials that keep our planet clean from pollution. It is his mission to create artwork that decorates homes and starts conversations about finding creative ways to reuse, recycle, and repurpose found materials.

What are the crystals made from?

Those lovely crystals that look like little gems when the sun hits them are made up of glass and plastic. Leon F. Ruiz has been collecting glass bottles and plastic containers from beach cleanups for years now. He never knew what to do with them, other than to recycle, but when he started painting his new series ‘Pulse, the Color of Sound & Vibration of Life’, an idea sparked. Mr. Ruiz began breaking, polishing, and even staining these collected materials to give them a new purpose. 

studio made papier-mâché

Artist Leon F. Ruiz travels to multiple beaches throughout the year in the pursuit of finding books, magazines and other sorts of paper materials left behind by beach visitors.

After collecting the discarded materials he lets it soak in water until it turns into mush. That “mush” is then mixed with eco-friendly acrylic that turns the leftover paper into papier-mache. He then applies the papier-mache to his painting surface which creates the texture that is visible on several of his paintings.

Styrofoam®

Expanded polystyrene foam (EPS), is pervasive in the marine environment. Like most plastics, it is lightweight and floats. When littered, it is carried from streets and through storm drains out to the ocean.

Leon, eco-artist has collected many found cups and plates made of styrofoam over the years and is now crumbling it up and turning into texture in his paintings. Since styrofoam it lasts forever the texture in his paintings won’t deteriorate.

glitter vs. ecostardust

Can you guess what it is that makes Leon F. Ruiz’s paintings sparkle? Mr. Ruiz loves to make his work shine with a shimmer he has created from soda and beer cans collected during his beach clean ups. Because it takes a month to process, when this isn’t available, he goes to his favorite eco-glitter provider, Ecostardust, an eco-conscious glitter made from a plant cellulose, derived predominantly from non-GMO sustainably farmed Eucalyptus Trees.

Why doesn’t Mr. Ruiz use glitter in his creations? Glitter is made from plastic sheets and used in a wide array of products, including cosmetics, and art materials. When washed down the drain, glitter becomes a subset of marine plastic litter known as microplastic.