ART SUPPLIES
My Favorite Art Supplies
I love getting lost in art supply stores, it’s my favorite kind of shopping to do! I also love experimenting with new tools to see what kind of magic I can create. Over the years I have some tried and true favorites, but my list does get updated with some new beauties such as the Neo Color II's I fell in love with last year!
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Golden High Flow Acrylic Paint
I LOVE these acrylics – they work like an acrylic inks and I also use mine as a medium. I add white to almost all my colors. The Magenta and Turquoise are so vibrant and fantastic on their own or used other paints. I use acrylic inks + high flow inks on my canvases and on high quality watercolor paper. I will layer these inks throughout my painting process.
My 3 favorites are; White Titanium, Quinacranadrone Magenta and Phlatho Turquoise.
High Flow Beginner Set (great deal, has 10 in the set)
Daler-Rowney Acrylic Inks
My favorite colors are; Flame Orange, Paynes Gray and Light Green. Thse inks are acrylic based, pigmented, and water-resistant with a high degree of lightfastness and intermixability. You can use straight out of the dropper, or diluted to achieve the most subtle of tones. These are a little more fluid than the Golden High Flow, but I use them both the same way. (Amsterdam is another good brand that I like as well!)
Nova Color Acrylic Paint
A fantastic and affordable brand of acrylic paints from a small company based in Culver City, CA and has been around since 1965. Nova Color Artists' Acrylic Paint is made with a top grade pure acrylic binder and is heavily saturated with the best pigments available. All the paints come in these little tubs (that I love to just dip into), and you can choose from over 80 colors. Some of my favorite colors are; turquoise, orange, and magenta.
Peerless Watercolors
Amazing. So vibrant. Fantastic to travel with! This Nicholson's Peerless Watercolor Complete Edition Set consists of pages of heavy film coated with highly concentrated pure color of intense strength and absolute solubility. Since 1883 Peerless Watercolors have carefully crafted these ultra portable watercolors by hand.
Princeton Brushes
I stumbled upon these brushes in an art store one day and I love them! Princeton has different families of brushes for various types of painting. I like the medium soft brushes (for acrylics and watercolors). I love the black handled ones (mini detailers) they are great for small details. I also like the way they feel as they are heavier in the hand than most.
Fabriano Hot Press Watercolor Paper 140 lb.
Nothing beats high quality paper! I can paint with acrylics or watercolors, or layer in some mixed media as well. I always prefer the hot press for the smooth finish. If you like your paper to have some tooth to it then choose cold press. I buy this paper in sheets of 22x30 and you can use a tear bar to rip into smaller sizes. I also make all my handmade journals from this paper as well.
Studio Drawing pads (more affordable, studio grade)
Ranger Dylusions Creative Sketchbook
They come in a variety of sizes, I like the square one as it’s not too big and not too small! The paperweight is great and you can put loads of mixed media, collage, paint, water on the pages. There is an envelope in the front for all those fun pieces of paper you may want to save and use later in your journal.
Neo Color IIs by Caran D’Arche
My newest love! These water resistant wax pastel crayons are so versatile, I am absolutely crazy about them. They are water soluable so you can use dry or wet. I love to add them on top of a layer of acrylics (I usually use clear gesso first), they are so vibrant and creamy. Or I dip right into a dish of water and paint with them! If you want to keep the marks more like a crayon and not paint, then spray a fixative over it before you paint again. Make sure you order the II's and not the Is if you want them to be water soluable.
Stabilo Woody Crayons 3-in-1
Like the Neo Colors (but a bit fatter) they are water soluable and great for working dry or wet.
Faber Castell Pitt Pens Black
These are my go-to pens for journaling and drawing. I love that they are waterproof so I paint with watercolors on top, or even use the pens on top of watercolor and not worry about smearing or bleeding through. I like all the sizes, my favorite to write and draw is the Superfine.
Senneiler Oil Pastels
Another new one to my top favorite list! These oil pastels are so creamy and vibrant. I like to use them on my last layer on top of lots of acrylics and other mixed media. Make sure you spray a fixative on top like the Senneiler Oil Pastel Fixative as they will smear.
Extra Goodies:
Daniel Smith Clear Gesso great for between layers of acrylics and mark making with crayons and pastels!
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