Materials - Easy Does It

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Materials

A collection of 19 posts

Back to school supplies

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Back to school supplies

What's better than a fresh box of crayons? Not much. If painting is my practice, buying art supplies is my hobby. And since it can get expensive fast, it's usually worth it to go back and revisit the treasures I've already collected and dig into using my favorite ones. Here's

Art chat

Today I have some creative miscellany for you, the kinds of things that I might go on about if we were getting coffee, chatting and showing each other our sketchbooks. So grab a cup of something nice and let's go! Painted backgrounds Earlier this month I had an idea for

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Zorn Palette

In this month's main post I introduced one of my favorite limited palettes: the Zorn Palette, which is made of a bright warm red (often cadmium red, but I'm using pyrrol red here), yellow ochre and black. You can click here if you want to read a bit on its

Canvas tests - EDI Live follow up

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Canvas tests - EDI Live follow up

Here are a few follow up pics from the tests I did during the live: Here's the acrylic (dark blue) and gouache (hot pink) on unstretched canvas. It definitely warped. The gouache looks pretty amazing IRL, though part of it is this brilliant pink color which is unfortunately not lightfast

Lightfastness Testing

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Lightfastness Testing

It's spring, which means more light up here in the north so it's a good time to set up lightfastness tests. It's something I've been wanting to do for ages. Want to see the process? Let's go! Lightfastness is a term used to describe the ability of a material to

April 2023: Materials play

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April 2023: Materials play

A key to creative energy is the willingness to use your supplies. Use them freely, use them on things that don't work out, waste them, use them up. As much I know this, I still feel resistance from the part of me that wants to collect art supplies and keep

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Water Control

In our January Live class I showed strategies for water control when using watercolor and wanted to share some of those ideas and practice strategies with you all here. I will demonstrate another round of examples in our February EDI Live this weekend! Watercolor is surprising and unpredictable – this is

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Swatching Oils

Today's post is a quick one. I want to show you some swatching I've done recently as I've been trying out some new paints. I started on a set of large commissions last year and was several weeks of work into it when the client and I realized I had

Making creative space

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Making creative space

It was a little over two years into my increasingly regular art practice that I, for the first time, quit a job because I hated it. Until then I was the kind of person who stayed everywhere as long as possible. Now, I had become someone who might leave because

Mixing your media

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Mixing your media

Everyday Objects + Art

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Everyday Objects + Art

This month I wanted to show you some of the objects I keep in my art area that weren’t designed as art supplies. These are the little hacks and repurposed objects that make my space work well and feel like mine. Timer My friend gave me this hourglass for

Acrylics: types & brands! And a video!

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Acrylics: types & brands! And a video!

Hi! Here's a two-part follow up to this week's first post. Up first is a bit on the 3 types of acrylics with my personal preferences for each. Then, I've got a 12 minute video demonstrating the different types of paint and how they work on paper, raw canvas and

Acrylic Paints: A beginning

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Acrylic Paints: A beginning

Somehow we've made it all the way to May without me writing about acrylics, which is amazing since I love them and use them so much. What are acrylics? Acrylics are super versatile – they come in many consistencies, and can mimic the other types of paints (oil, watercolor, gouache) as

DRAWING STICKS: my story of pens, pencils, markers, crayons and pastels

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DRAWING STICKS: my story of pens, pencils, markers, crayons and pastels

As a kid, I started out making marks with crayons and markers, pens and pencils (we'll just call this group of things drawing sticks for simplicity). My familiarity with the handfeel of these tools made them a really attractive starting point when I revisited mark-making as an adult, and I

April 2022: One thing at a time

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April 2022: One thing at a time

One thing that makes art-making a satisfying experience for me is exploring one(ish) thing at a time. When I was just beginning, trying to paint a realistic portrait was not very satisfying because it asked me to attend to a lot things I wasn't skilled at - drawing, perspective,

Painting Outside

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Painting Outside

We went to the beach recently and I brought my paints along. I took some photos so I could show you about my experience painting on the go, or plein air as it's officially called. When I first tried painting outside I ran quickly into all the reasons people paint

What is gouache and why does Brit love it so much?

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What is gouache and why does Brit love it so much?

Gouache. Let's get the hardest part out of the way. In US English it's pronounced "gwash": one syllable, just smash all the sounds together. Think "quash" but with a g, and a happier connotation. What is gouache? It's is a type of watercolor actually. It's made of the same stuff:

Materials Featured

Starter Kit

Welcome to the first Materials post. Each month I'll add new reviews and recommendations based on the supplies I've tried. Art supplies are, for me, 20% work material, 80% hobby-in-their-own-right, so I hope you enjoy hearing me geek out over what I enjoy and why. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am a whole-hearted

Artist Grade Watercolors: An Introduction

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Artist Grade Watercolors: An Introduction

The first watercolor paint I purchased as an adult was a student set by Winsor & Newton, called Cotman. It's a really common beginner set (and a lot of people like it!), but to me, the paints felt thin and unsatisfying, like something just wasn't working. It was when I began