What Extras an Art Studio Needs©
Posted: Tuesday, January 17, 2012
by Arlene Wright-Correll
http://www.learn-america.com
This week’s email asks, “I am a novice artist and I want to know what other supplies does an art studio need other than the paints, canvases, brushes etc.?”
There is lots of odd things artists use in their studios that most people would not consider necessary and a well supplied art studio needs more than paints and canvases.
One of the things I find my studio cannot do without is an old hair dryer and I use it to speed up the drying of watercolors, acrylics, masking fluid, India ink or whatever.
Old toothbrushes are great tools in an artist studio and if you do not have old ones you can buy a lot of new tooth brushes in a package at your local dollar store. Tooth brushes are great for using with water based paints and I load the toothbrush up with the paint and then rub my thumb along the bristles thus allowing the paint to spatter the canvas or paper with the paint. It is great when I want to add texture to sandy beaches or snowy scenes, also onto trees or used for any type of greenery.
My studio contains odd sizes of tweezers which I use for many things such as scratching texture into wet paint or removing the odd brush hair that escapes from my brushes or even an eyelash now and then. Often I will find a clump of paint and that can be easily removed with a tweezers. I find I like the type of tweezers that is tapered to a 45° angle at one end. This ensures that a very small area of the tweezers will be touching my painting. When you work with tweezers do not apply much pressure or you will find the sharp end of the tweezers cutting through your paper or canvas. I usually can find these in packages at dollar stores.
Instead of discarding old worn out brushes I use them with Friskit or masking fluids since masking fluid virtually renders good brushes useless. If you do not have old ones to use with this medium go buy a package of cheap brushes at your local dollar store.
Baby food jars are great to store a special color I have spent time mixing. I do not want it to dry out so clean baby food jars work well since one can see through the clear class. Basically, any small clear glass jars work well and I have a tendency to save everyone I come across.
When I work with watercolors I find having a good craft knife or two a handy tool as they can be used to cut away paint where I want to create highlights or for cutting half or quarter sheets of water color paper.
Come for a free tour and demonstration at Avalon Stained Glass School & Creativity Center in Munfordville during business hours.
May the Creative Force be With You,
Arlene Wright-Correll
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Beautiful contribution. Thanks for your usual bright and creative offering.
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