This series, Budget Artist, will hopefully encourage you to make art, without spending a lot of money. So many art supplies, especially those geared towards adults, are very expensive, and people seem to think that making art (especially painting) requires a lot of expensive, specialized supplies. I hope that no one is prevented from making art, and having beauty and creativity in their life, because of money, and so this is my attempt to help.
Here is what I have learned so far about paints:
1) Acrylic paint and watercolors are interchangeable. Acrylic can be watered down, to make watercolors, and watercolors in tubes can be used straight, as acrylic paint. There's really not a difference in texture.
2) But you should buy watercolors if you can. If you have a choice, though, I would pick watercolor paint, because it is usually much more vibrant, as it's made to be watered down. You can always water it down or add white to it, if it's too bright. But these two types of paint are usually the same price, and I think watercolors are by far the better deal because of their brightness.
3) There's no need for "artist quality" paints. I have gotten great results with "student quality," or cheap, paints. The art supply companies want to convince us that "real" artists use their stuff, and that only little kids use cheap stuff. They want us to think that "grownups" use expensive stuff, and to feel childish if we use cheap stuff. But there are more cheap brands than Crayola, and I have gotten some great deals from Wal-Mart and the cheaper, "student quality" stuff at Michael's.
4) There may not be a need for canvas or watercolor paper-- even in doing watercolors. I have noticed that, regardless of the thickness of the paper, it may or may not still soak through. And it doesn't matter, if you have a towel down and a place to let it dry adequately. Get the paper that you can afford.
5) Get the paper as big as you can afford. I love using big paper. You can always do smaller designs on bigger paper, but never bigger designs on smaller paper. (Unless you're willing to tape the papers together on one side, in which case you can only use one side.) I would rather have a big pad of newsprint, than a small pad of watercolor paper.
6) You can use nail polish--or other makeup--for paint. I use the nail polish and lipstick that I don't want anymore, as paint. It has a built-in brush already, and what is thin on my nails may be bright on the paper. I may publish a list of the things I have used, or plan to use, in place of paint, but basically, you can use practically anything for paint. I've even read of one woman using her own menstrual blood (and whatever else you may say about that, we have to admit that it's free and convenient every month--this series is called "Budget Artist" after all). Just be sure to paint outside, if you're using nail polish. It can get pretty stinky if you're using a lot of it.
7) Use both sides of the paper.Why not, when it dries on one side, turn it over and do it on the other side? If the paper is thin, it might have soaked through, but you can always add more paint on top.
8) Don't use paints in cakes. I hate watercolors that come in cakes. They are hard to use, and you quickly run out of paint and have to soak some more water into the cake--and wait for the water to soak in there. If you can help it, don't get paint cakes. Squeezing some out of a tube is much easier, and the tubes come in big sizes, too. Of course, with tubes, you have to get a palette, which leads me to...
9) Use candy boxes for palettes. I have received boxes of chocolates for Christmas and birthdays, and I saved the plastic dividers in them, to use as palettes. They have much bigger holes than normal palettes, they have more holes (some of them have quite a lot), and some of them are very sturdy. I have also used candy boxes for jewelry boxes, incidentally.
10) Don't wash your palettes. I don't wash mine. I have probably more than I need (3 or 4), but I like not having to wash them. If paint is left in them, I can either add water to make watercolor paint, or add the same color to the same hole, or add a different color and see how and if they mix together. I may eventually wash them out, but for now I like it this way.
11) Big abstract designs are best for paints, and paints are perhaps best for abstracts. You can't do abstracts wrong. Just put your favorite beautiful colors together in a way that pleases you. If you don't like it, just keep adding paints until you do. Eventually you'll get it right. Meanwhile, small, precise pictures are harder to do with paints.
12) You don't need a whole bunch of different brushes. I usually just use one brush, for every color, and never a small one. I got rid of most of my brushes, in fact, because I don't use them. I'm just here to have fun, not to worry about a bunch of different brushes.
13) You don't need an easel. I use a towel on the floor. An easel might make things easier for you, but you don't need it. You don't need all of these expensive things like easels, canvasses, palettes, etc, just to start painting.
14) Have a Use-It-Up mentality; don't wait for inspiration. I talked more about this here, but basically, this is your paint and your paper. This is for your enjoyment, and nothing is wasted if you enjoy yourself. Just put a towel down on the floor, get a container of water to wash your brush, and start putting paint on the paper. It's only wasted if you let it sit, while your life passes you by without any art or creativity in it. Use it all up as fast as you can. Don't wait until it's too late to use the good stuff!
No comments:
Post a Comment