What art supplies have you bought recently?

[Marksmomagain]

I recently purchased the following on sale/clearance and thrift stores:

Eight Mi-Tientes Touch full size boards at $5ea. brand new.
A bag of 46 Derwent Lightfast colored pencils at $45 brand new, no package.
A maple four-shelf bookcase for $10 thrift store, very heavy and perfect condition.
Two 72pc tins of Arteza Expert colored pencils at $12ea.
A decent loose-fitting winter parka for cold weather plein aire for $11. To keep in the truck.
Twenty heavyweight clear acrylic square pencil holders for graphite and colored pencils st $1ea. They fit my wooden tray almost perfectly, and are lighter than the Mason jars I was using. Safer, too.

 

[john]

Went to Michaels yesterday and bought a tiny cheap canvas primed for watercolor or acrylic. It might be good for acrylic but there is still some canvas texture and the thin washes of watercolor are probably not going to work well.

Also bought some cradled wood panels. Going to adhere my varnished watercolors onto them for a frameless presentation. Still unsure about acrylic varnish vs waxing. Probably going to stay with acrylic for now. Final coat satin or matt. I realize that I do not like the glossy look.

Also just ordered a set of 12 small ceramic bowls to hold watercolor washes for doing larger paintings. So I can get a three inch hake brush in there. Saw a guy on YT doing it.


I'm gearing up for getting serious and it feels like I'm trying to get all the small stuff out of the way first - like cleaning the garden - so I can let myself get to painting without distraction. Or maybe I'm just delaying.

 

[ZenDruid]

A 12-pack of Prismacolor Col-Erase 20028 "Copy-not NP Blue" pencils for lightly sketching a picture before going at it with pencil or pen.

 

[ZenDruid]

Also bought some cradled wood panels. Going to adhere my varnished watercolors onto them for a frameless presentation. Still unsure about acrylic varnish vs waxing. Probably going to stay with acrylic for now. Final coat satin or matt. I realize that I do not like the glossy look.

I hesitate to give anybody advice but I do it anyway. From my furniture refinishing days, I learned to not put wax on top of varnish, it will eventually get gummy and need to be stripped. If your watercolors are already varnished, I would suggest sticking to acrylic varnish.

 

[Mississippi Hippie]

 

[john]

I hesitate to give anybody advice but I do it anyway. From my furniture refinishing days, I learned to not put wax on top of varnish, it will eventually get gummy and need to be stripped. If your watercolors are already varnished, I would suggest sticking to acrylic varnish.

Please, never hesitate to give me advice. Thanks but no I wouldn't do that. I'm thinking about new watercolors.

But it's funny. I just saw a guy on YT recommending using wax on a watercolor - which is fine - but then to coat it with polyurethane! I had to write a comment saying that no, you shouldn't do that. In fact one person commented that this technique basically ruined their painting. You can poly and THEN wax but even then, acrylic is better. Poly can yellow with age and I have a twenty year old painting to prove it.

 

[Flowercat]

Today i found a tiny watercolor set for only 1 € and of course i bought it. Its okay,way better than i expected.

 

[Joy]

Being a prodigious bargain hunter, I purchased a gift card to myself from Dlck Blick. With each purchase of a $50 or $100 card, a $5 or $10 E-coupon is also given. I was in the process of picking out some brushes from Rosemary & Co., but spend so long pondering making the right choice that I have not decided yet. Since so many retailers are overwhelmed by Christmas orders, I thought it was best to wait.

 

[Bongo]

The "Marshals" dept store, has large stretched canvas cheap! I bought a pack of two 30"x40" primed stretched canvases for $22. That's a 100% cotton pre-gessoed and stretched tight as a drum canvas for $11 ea.. And the weave is good too. So I'm thinking - what's the catch? There has to be SOMETHING wrong with it. They even sell bigger canvases there - also at ridiculously low prices. So I'm looking it over real good, everything looks fine, and then -- I saw
this

The slots are for inserting wedges to make the canvas tight again if it sags. But they got the stretcher bar flipped so the slots don't line up!

 

[Bongo]

I guess the photo didn't come out - here it is (again)

 

[Martin C]

Being a prodigious bargain hunter, I purchased a gift card to myself from Dlck Blick. With each purchase of a $50 or $100 card, a $5 or $10 E-coupon is also given. I was in the process of picking out some brushes from Rosemary & Co., but spend so long pondering making the right choice that I have not decided yet. Since so many retailers are overwhelmed by Christmas orders, I thought it was best to wait.

I use Rosemary & Co brushes and the main problem is too much choice!

 

[Joy]

I use Rosemary & Co brushes and the main problem is too much choice!

Overwhelming choice is a problem with just about anything one one can purchase. Shampoo, glue, cereal, etc. Since we thoroughly research even small appliances and other purchases, I dread "shopping" for replacement items due to the vast amount of merchandise.

Your feedback about the brushes is appreciated. I have never read anything negative about them.

 

[E.J.H.]

Bought some Lukas watercolor tube paints. Firstly because the ultramarine in my pan set was running out, secondly I'd like to try out tube wc.

Colors I choose were Ultramarine blue (obviously), burned sienna and light ochre (because I want to explore the not so accurately named Velasques palette), prussian blue, cadmium yellow and cadmium red.

Another thing I 'd like to get going is to try and manage more plein air, so I did fill some diy pans with those paints, vandalising some white lego's for the purpose. These paints rewet quite nicely.

I made a moody fantasy landscape with that lumited "Velasques" palette.

 

[Artyczar]

Bongo! OMG, that sucks. When I first read the opening line of your post, I read "unstretched" canvas and it gave me ideas and thought, Wow, now there's something I can go get around here. That's great that it's already primed too. But then I saw the pic and realized how screwed up that was. I'm sorry. I once bought luggage at Ross and thought I got a great deal and brought them home and not all the zippers didn't work. I guess there's a reason everything is so cheap at Marshalls and Ross.

 

[Joy]

Bongo! OMG, that sucks. When I first read the opening line of your post, I read "unstretched" canvas and it gave me ideas and thought, Wow, now there's something I can go get around here. That's great that it's already primed too. But then I saw the pic and realized how screwed up that was. I'm sorry. I once bought luggage at Ross and thought I got a great deal and brought them home and not all the zippers didn't work. I guess there's a reason everything is so cheap at Marshalls and Ross.

It seems as if purchasing a canvas is much more involved than buying paper! When was growing up, deep discount stores were reputed to be selling "irregulars" or what we used to call "seconds". Neither of these words seem to be used commonly now. A TV series hosted by Adam Conover (of whom I was unaware until the show) hosted Adam Ruins Everything. One of the eps dealt with factory outlets, and deep discount stores. There is not enough overstock, discontinued, etc. merchandise to possibly fill all of these stores all over the country. In most instances, manufacturers specifically produce lesser quality items to go to the factory outlets. Exceptions would be if there are only a few stores, like L.L. Bean's outlet in Freeport, ME. They are selling top quality returned or discontinued items.

When buying an item to last (like luggage!) I do a lot of research and get quality, but not luxury. I am frugal, but not cheap. BTW, we bought Eagle Creek luggage and are quite impressed. Some of it I got directly from them, and got a 20% discount. Often, dealing directly with the manufacturer, if feasible, can lead to discounts. If you don't ask, the answer is always no.

 

[Artyczar]

Oh, I bought that luggage more than 25 years ago. Now I spend actual money on luggage. That was when I was practically a kid without money. I also returned it.

 

[john]

Bongo I'm no expert but I think that canvas frame is correct. A wedge goes in each slot. Described here. The slots aren't supposed to line up.

How to Use the Canvas Wedges That Come with a Canvas or Stretcher Bars - Jackson's Art Blog

This article describes why and how to use the Canvas wedges that come with a canvas or stretcher bars and illustrates how to insert them.

www.jacksonsart.com

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I just got 4 large 1/2" gatorboards for mounting watercolor paintings. Never used it before but it's amazing stuff. Super stiff, and light.

So far I've glued 3 papers to the boards and it's come out great. Varnish the painting, pop a simple trim wood frame around it and call it done.

Currently have a full blank sheet being adhered. This mean not having to stretch the paper. I work with large sloppy washes and normally I have to stretch. I'm assuming that after the gel medium dries that new moisture won't weaken it ?


Edit; yes the gel medium should be waterproof after curing.



Is acrylic gel medium waterproof?


Gel Medium

A transparent gel which offers a durable, flexible and waterproof surface once dry.

Acrylic Mediums - Holbein Artist Materials​

https://holbeinartistmaterials.com › mediums-varnishes › a..

 

[Artyczar]

That gel medium is pretty "waterproof" yes. If you use a lot of it.

 

[E.J.H.]

Anybody here use Dorland wax? I understand it can be used as a fixative for proofing watercolor paintings, making it possible to frame them without the hassle of putting them behind glass.
Can´t find the stuff in artsupply stores "locally", so I would have to order it from abroad (or use a supply line via summer guests...).
It would be interesting to hear of first hand experience with the stuff first.

 

[Artyczar]

I've used it so infrequently; I don't even understand it! But I know Wayne uses it. Maybe he can be of more help.