Favorite art Supplies
Part of art for me is being able to explore my inner landscapes but it also lets me simply explore new mediums and play. We all have our favorite products and things to use which can get us stuck in an art rut using the favorites and not branching out.
That’s part of why mixed media is so much fun because there is so much to explore. With straight up acrylics you can play with brands, colors, consistency, and mediums but it still all reacts in a similar manner. Now mixed media embraces everything there is no knowing what’s going to happen sometimes.
This is where the fun comes in, in finding what happens when you use this, that, and the other thing in your painting. One thing I found out that if it is water soluble, there’s a good chance I’ll like it. So here are a few of my favorite supplies and the why of it.
Ink Sprays
Dylusions ink sprays are ZOMG so intensely colored. They are bright and vivid after they dry. Dylusions in particular are not water fast, they will move when you work with anything wet over it. Which can be so cool and happy accidents may happen. They make you let go of controlling your art.
Qor – Watercolor by Golden
This tube showed up in my first Art Snacks box and holy moly it was love at first use. Smooth and pigmented it is dreamy to use. The color in my box is Indigo which is dark and some of those colors can be a bit more opaque. This is very transparent and you need so little to get a dark tint. I want more!
Caran D’Ache
Water soluble wax crayons,I heart them so much. I took a leap of faith my first year of life book and bought the set of forty and haven’t looked back. These get used all the time. So many ways to use them. You can use them like a crayon, dissolve them. So much fun to use and they remain more vivid than a proper watercolor.
Collage
I really enjoy gluing shit down. Tearing up paper to use in a background. Making ink sprayed masa and acrylic skins to use. So many options when it comes to collage for what to use and how to use it. The dollar a bag sale at my local library is where I pick up a lot of my books and music scores to use in collage, also books that have fallen apart. You can make your own elements with acrylic skins and I started using masa to mop up ink sprays which lead to using them in collage. Dry plants and flowers also sometimes how up in my work.
Acrylics my first love.
This is what I decided to use when I took up painting. Easy clean up, no rags that might catch fire. You also didn’t see the staggering variety that you see today in acrylics and other supplies. That let you fake other types of paints with them appeals to me. Along with the quick drying time. They are versatile and still one of my favorite things to use.
