Art Supplies

As we continue down our path of education of the arts I wanted to take a little time to step back a bit and post a refreshed version of the post that inspired me to start this blog. In our path of education we are a day or so away from getting into some of the more technical side of painting. Some of this information might get you inspired to try some of these techniques out for yourself, but your going to need the right supplies to do this.
Universally art supplies come in 3 grades student, artist, and professional. Art is far too personal to justify saying one is better to use than any other. Factors such as financial situation can also play a huge role in which you choose.

In terms of paint, as I've described before, the lower grades are mostly filler generally no less than 50%. These fillers do affect the paint in terms of performance and permanence. If you don't have confidence in yourself you might choose this path, but I must tell you its a mistake. We all may not be able to afford the $200 sticker on this set of Williamsburg homemade oil colors, however these paints are extremely high quality and produce affects student grades could only dream of producing. If you are brand new to art and have never painted before its to be understood that your first 20 or so paintings are going to look bad no matter how hard you try. You have no muscle memory and your understanding of how the paint reacts to your ground will cause mistakes. Its therefor wise that you pick up a cheaper set just to work through this stage, but you will want to upgrade to at least an artist grade such as Winsor&Newton. I still have some of my firsts (wouldn't dare show them to you) I love them because it reminds me of where I started, and I can always look back and see how much I've advanced.

Your also going to need brushes. DON'T SKIMP ON YOUR BRUSHES! There are a lot of really cheap brushes out there, and I've heard so many people talking about "Why did my brush lose its shape" or "Why does my brush blob the paint" even "Why does it seem like my brush is no good after only a day or two" well the answer to all your questions is you bought a cheap brush, and there is a reason its $0.50 while the other one that looks like the same thing is $5.00. That 50 cent brush is sure to break, but that 5 dollar one if treated right might last you a lifetime. All you Bob Ross fans out there might hate me for saying it, and understand I love Bob too, but you don't need all those big brushes he used. He used those so he could paint large areas faster, in the hands of an inexperience artist these big brushes are just going to make a mess and confuse you. In my personal set up I've fastened this dowel rod to my table, this allows me to use a little rubber band to fasten my brushes to it, hanging my brushes upside down not only makes it convenient but keeps them from warping.

With all the choices in supplies what ground or surface you choose is probably the easiest. So what's the difference between a $5.00 16x20 canvas and a $50 16x20 canvas? Well there are two fabrics they use to make canvas, either cotton or linen. Typically the linen is more expensive than its cotton counterpart. Which is better depends on personal preference. Most pre stretched canvas will be advertised as pre primed. A canvas must be primed before use as raw canvas will dry out the paint and cause it to crack, eventually crumbling to dust. How much attention a company puts into there pre priming can greatly affect the production costs. Your typical value canvas will need to still be primed before painting on it as the primer the company used is usually the cheapest stuff they can get their hands on. On a more personal side good primer is still pretty cheap, and making your own canvas may not be something you have time for, so getting a bulk price on a value pack isn't a problem. If your taking commissions you can also leave the option up to the customer if they want the higher price that comes with better craftsmanship or the cheaper option that shouldn't have any negative affects on the permanence as that pertains only to the paint and its ability to stick to the ground.

And your going to need somewhere to work from, piece of glass, plastic, wood, or ceramic are preferred by most artists. Personally I prefer the clear options as this gives me the opportunity to change the color of the palette. This can be useful in forms such as portraiture where commonly your not starting with a white canvas. With a clear palette your can tone it to the same color as your canvas giving you a better idea of what it will look like before its even left the palette.

Last you will need clean up supplies. For forms such as watercolor or acrylic this is just water, but oils don't mix well with water so the use of a solvent is used. Also picking up a brush conditioner is advised. I like the mona lisa brand as there is not heavy smell and works really well when mixed with the paint to make a wash.

If your an artist make sure you get yourself involved with my Weekly Sketch Contest!
https://steemit.com/art/@dcrockete/2nd-weekly-sketch-contest

Previous Educational Posts

History of Art
https://steemit.com/art/@dcrockete/the-history-of-art

History of Tempera Painting
https://steemit.com/art/@dcrockete/tempera-painting

History of Oil Painting
https://steemit.com/art/@dcrockete/the-history-of-oil-painting

The Artists Responsibility of Control
https://steemit.com/art/@dcrockete/the-artists-responability-of-control

Introduction to Pigments
https://steemit.com/art/@dcrockete/introduction-to-pigment

Furthermore on Pigments
https://steemit.com/art/@dcrockete/furthermore-on-pigments

Choosing Your Palette
https://steemit.com/art/@dcrockete/choosing-your-palette

Properties of Pigment
https://steemit.com/art/@dcrockete/properties-of-pigments

Continuation Properties of Pigments
https://steemit.com/art/@dcrockete/continuation-properties-of-pigments

Your continued support is much appreciated. I'm glad you guys are enjoying this journey through education of the arts as much as I am. In arts recent past "education" has been a very low priority for many artists, limited to only learning the application and completely ignoring the technical. My goal with these posts are to change that idea as its clearly having an affect on the art community.