Inese’s blog

Keeping art supply list short

We have to keep art supply list short! When somebody wants to start drawing or painting, they sometimes buy too many painting and art supplies, tools and materials, and quite a few of them won’t ever be used. While we need paper, canvas or other surface to draw and paint on, it is important to have that surface which fits your art intentions.

It is also important to find out what the painting style or technique you want to use involves.

My favorite watercolor painting supplies

Buying watercolor paper

Watercolor paper is a very sensitive part of watercolor painting and by choosing the right paper you will enable yourself learning faster and paint better.

There are so many paper manufacturers! Most of thin watercolor paper will not do anything. In order to create beautiful washes, you need paper which takes in water and pigment: thick, heavy, cotton paper. My favorite watercolor papers are Arches brand and Saunders-Waterford. I use the heavier papers of these brands, always cold pressed because I love the grain on paper.

You can do test painting on lighter and thinner paper, it is just so, that you probably won’t get the best results and painting on thin watercolor paper will require more skill and more effort.

Art supply sets

We can see quite frequently sets at the art store: sets of brushes, sets of pencils, sets of paints and sets of canvas and even combined sets of paper blocks, canvas with drawing, brushes and other things. Sets are meant for testing brands and also for as if your comfort: just get a set and no worries.

Universal things never work for specific purposes. You are not going to do a universal painting, but most likely pick your favorite painting subject and technique; therefore, you need specific and tailored things, not anything that says paint or brush on the label.

Art supply sets which won’t work

Some sets don’t make sense, for example, acrylic paint sets. You will use white color at least twice as much as any other color. Yellow color can be very problematic, and it goes fast, too. Depending on a personal preference, you might never like or find attractive some set colors. We generally do not need any premixed green colors because we can always mix up numerous tones. You will need a few primary colors, black and white. The problem is that all primary colors come in very many shades and tones. It is the best you choose from separate tubes and test many similar colors until you find yours.

These art supplies I use for drawing, they include pens

Quality matters

Craft acrylic paints will not have the same features what paints for fine art. They are generally very liquid. Liquid paints are useful if you want to pour them, but they won’t do well for painting.

Students grade acrylic paints are cheaper and contain less pigment, but more binding and filling substances. Some brands have fairly good paints, but most cheap paints feel like colored pasta, not paint. That depends on color, too. Red and some dark blue colors will be quite fine, but the lightest and darkest colors will fail when mixing.

My favorite art supplies for acrylic painting

Medium quality acrylic paints

Medium quality acrylic paints are fine for basic layers, but they usually have very weak white and yellow colors. That affects the painting to a great degree. We have to remember: as acrylic painting dries, it will become much darker and flatter without that initial contrast which is present on the wet painting. Therefore, we normally use third, fourth and more layers depending on subject. It is a good thing to leave acrylic painting alone between painting sessions to dry completely. Every next layer is easier to apply. Most artists use only good quality acrylic paints for top layers.

Brush sets

Sets of all-purpose brushes are simply useless. We use watercolor brushes (very soft, capable of absorbing and holding pigment and water) for watercolor painting, specific acrylic brushes, they can be as soft as watercolor brushes, but with shorter bristles. You certainly could use synthetic watercolor brush for acrylic painting. Acrylic is versatile medium and you could use fan brush, sponge, rough bristle brush for effects and sponge.

You will need a few brushes depending on painting size, painting subject and detail, but not 10 brushes for a small painting. The brush we use depends on our medium of choice and technique. If you are a beginner, get 3 (small, medium and large) brushes for your medium, that will do and you can buy everything else as you go.

Some of art supplies we used in recent art classes

It’s not the brush, it’s the painter

I use only 2 brushes for watercolor painting: number 12-14 round with fine tip and number 6 round for small parts. I usually paint large size art. For acrylic, I can paint the entire painting with 1 flat brush, or 1 Filbert and then use adjusted fan brush. The main thing is usually to know how to use the brush to its full potential. It is frequently not the brush, but person who paints with it.

The specific supplies you need will always depend on size, technique and painting subject. It feels good getting supplies on sale, but one has to be careful when deciding whether you will ever use these particular materials, tools and supplies. Keep the art supply list short!

Organize art supplies and painting tools

Students love leaving everything in a big suitcase type of bag and then they cannot find anything when they need it. We need not only to organize the folder, bag or case of art supplies, but also our work space before we start painting. All tools, brushes, pencils, all paint tubes, palette, palette knife, sheets of paper towel, mixing pad, paper or plate, water containers, eraser, sharpener – everything must be within reach. You should keep on your direct work space only tools, brushes and paints which you are going to use. Overcrowded work space will disturb you and slow down.

My advice is: have less art supplies, thus, keeping the art supply list short. Try also buying better quality art supplies and keep them neatly organized when stored and when in use!

Apply for private art classes: Private art classes

Apply for group workshops and art classes: Art classes and workshops

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Finally, all collections of my art can be viewed here:

Art collections by Inese Poga