Here I'm sharing a few of my favorite art supplies and tools (favorite colors and all!)
I have included links so you can order directly from amazon.com: whenever possible, these are the exact products and brands that I use (tried and tested!) or the closest replacement I could find available overseas.
Happy shopping!
NB: I really encourage you to go on a scavenger hunt in your home (kitchen, basement, office, gardening shed...) and collect any tools and materials that you can (safely!) experiment with. It's the beauty of mixed media and it is exactly how it all started for me, and how I came up with some of my favorite techniques (... oh that white-out pen!)
For encaustic
Please visit the "Encaustic Set-Up" page:
setting up your space
- A palette (or a white plate etc.): I personnally like to have a big glass palette on my table + a whole lot of small transparent plastic lids (as some of you have guessed, yes, mine are from... Pringles cans!). I also recently found these awesome mini Petri dishes below, which have a lid to prevent paint from drying!
- Small Heat Gun: to speed up drying and for encaustic.
- Water
- Spray bottle: I prefer a small, colorful one so it's easy to find in the chaos of my art table!
- Rags
- A good pair of scissors
- Something to protect your surface (old towel, table-cloth, plastic bag...)
- Something to protect your clothes (apron, old shirt...)
Table glass palette
Mini transparent palettes
Small Heat Gun
Spray bottle
Scissors
Apron
Basic painting supplies & tools
- White gesso
- Matte acrylic gel medium: for collage and my "encaustic effect" technique. My favorite is the "Binder" by Lefranc-Bourgeois which I find easily in France. Golden and Liquitex are great options too.
- Gloss acrylic gel medium: I mix it with the matte one to create a soft, satin finish
Painting tools
- Your fingers!
- Your choice of paintbrushes (one or two can be enough, we will be using our fingers a lot!)
- An old plastic card (credit card, key card...) and/or palette knives
- Craft Heat Gun: To speed up drying and for encaustic.
White Gesso
Soft Matte Gel by Golden
Matte Gel Medium by Liquitex
NB: This link is with amazon.fr but it's so much cheaper than the other brands that it might be worth having it shipped 😉
Flat Paintbrushes
Large flat brushes
Plastic Palette Knives
Substrates
- Gallery-wrapped stretched canvases
- Wood panels: primed or unprimed, cradled or not... (NB: wood & MDF left-overs from your DIY store are a great, inexpensive option!)
- Heavy (300gsm) watercolor paper
- Card-stock, cardboard, cereal boxes, old mailers...
Gallery-wrapped stretched canvases
Unprimed Wood panels
Primed Cradled Artist Panels
Heavy Watercolor Paper
Acrylic paints
Basic Neutrals
Titanium White
Golden Fluid Raw Umber
Buff Titanium
Neutral Grey
A few favorite soft colors
Turquoise Green
Light Sky Blue
Naples Yellow
Naples Yellow Red
Portrait Pink
Persian Rose
A few favorite intense colors
Sap Green
Paynes Gray
Green Gold
Quin. Magenta
Nickel Azo Gold
Yellow Ochre
All about Inks!
Black & Permanent
Black India Ink
Stazon Ink Pad
Acrylic inks
Titanium White
Raw Umber
Turquoise
Quinacridone Magenta
Olive Green
Paynes Gray
Alcohol inks
Lakeshore set
Butterscotch
Stone Washed
Pebble
Caramel
Lettuce
Distress Ink Pads
For highlights an shading portraits!
Walnut Stain
Antique Linen
Tattered Rose
Weathered Wood
Tea Dye
Pumice Stone
Pitt artist brush-tip pens
Cobalt Green
Earth Green
Sepia
Light Flesh
Cinnamon
Green Gold
Pastels & crayons
Neocolor II Watersoluble Crayons
Sennelier Oil Pastels
Soft Pastels
Drawing & Journaling
Pencils:
- Regular HB to 4B pencils
- Stabilo All Black Water-soluble pencil (seriously awesome, SO black!)
- Stabilo All White Water-soluble pencil (also nice though much less pigmented)
- Graphite Water-soluble Pencil
Pens:
- Black, fine-tip permanent pen: pigment pen or india ink pen like Pitt Artist pens, or fine-tip Sharpie. Regular ball-point pens are a nice option too!
- White fine tip pen like Posca pen or Liquitex acrylic pen
- Fine-tip correction pen ("white-out")
Graphite Pencils
Stabilo All Black Pencil
Stabilo All White Pencil
Lyra Water-soluble Graphite Pencil
Black Pitt Artist Pens
Black Pigment Liner
White Posca Pen (Fine)
White Correction Pen
Stamping & mark-making
I love to have a variety of materials around to stamp and make marks with. Look around you and use your imagination!
Some of my favorites are:
- bubble-wrap
- shelf-liner
- plastic mesh
- textured wallpaper
- doilies
- corrugated cardboard
- wood skewers and coffee stirrers
- feathers
- plastic cards
- business cards
- brayers
- scrapbooking and homemade stamps and stencils
- gelli plate
Gelli Plate
Mini Brayer
Alphabet Stamps
Shelf Liner
collage
- Old magazines with images that you love (libraries will often happily give away outdated issues)
- A variety of papers in neutral tones: tissue paper, packing paper, bookpages (preferably from a book that inspires you), sheet music, dried, empty tea bags, sewing pattern paper...
- Vintage photos, postcards and greeting cards
- Some pieces of fiber: old clothes, cheesecloth, ribbon, lace...*
Ask around to friends and family!
