Material choices #1
Who has the willpower to walk past an art shop?
Welcome,
Come on now, be honest, it’s only a bit of fun and I wanted to try Substack polls.
As a confession - I really don’t have the willpower and love looking at sketchbooks, pens and materials. As some people are interested in materials too I thought I would share some info on the materials I use.
So initially, when I started doing this more seriously (not too long ago - about 18 months I think) I would fret over getting loads of colours to use even though I wasn’t using much at all!
Paints & palettes
This changed but I still ended up with a large palette, a ROSA Gallery Palette and two shimmering palettes (one from artway, the other I’m not sure) Initially, I would get W&N Cotman pans, but now prefer the pigment richness & consistency of the professional range so gradually as I replace colours they become W&N professional. I also have a few tubes of some regular colours I particularly like and a special or two or 4!
W&N Burnt Sienna Pro - 14ml tube - love burnt sienna!!
W&N Sap Green Pro - 5ml
W&N Quinacridone Gold Pro- 5ml
W&N Green Gold Pro - 5ml
Schminke Chromium orange hue - 5ml
Obviously some white Gouche - Schminke and W&N prefer the Schminke
So the ROSA Paints are lovely and creamy and go on very well although I don’t use them as much for some reason! (note to self again)
I also have the W&N little travel set, received as a birthday pressie, that has been in use a few times.
The two shimmering palettes don’t see much use until I have a mad go at them around Christmas!
Paper
Now this is still a tricky topic to navigate as I draw/sketch and use watercolour. So initially I would get anything, the cheaper the better right, it's only paper!
Until one day during an evening class at college the art teacher commented on my paper not behaving very well because of aforementioned cheapness.
That was it, I thought I’d found the reason for my lacklustre art 😄 Of course, this wasn’t the paper’s fault and I was putting too much pressure on myself as a newbie.
The reality is some papers are actually better than others and easier to get the colour down when doing conventional watercolour work.
I gradually shifted away from the cheapest to try other brands but in reality I can’t fully explain what is going on with paper, suffice to say, some tend to behave differently to others. I heard Arches is very good but I haven’t used it yet as it is at the top end of the price scale.
I get consistent results on the Seawhite of Brighton 350gsm watercolour ‘plein air’ sketchbooks and they are well priced. I like the heavy weight as I use quite a lot of water in them. I’m trying the 200gsm travel journal from the same brand and quite like it.
The Artway journal paper was a bit light for watercolour, but holds the colour if I don’t use a lot of it or want to just do some line work. This is nearing completion for a sketchbook tour! Yay!
I also have some hot press offerings - A Botanical Ultra Smooth RKB fatpad (This was used for the Foxglove picture below) It does ‘cockle’ a fair amount.
Also, a Bockingford block from St Cuthberts Mill along with their 16”x 12” Saunders Waterford 300gsm blocks (NOT).
I managed to get them at a good price! These might come out for a special effort I may be attempting. The larger the sheet the more I think about what I paint as it seems more prestigious!
Pens
I have stuck with the fairly cheap UniPin fine line pens with permanent and fade proof ink. Great for adding water over the top when dry.
I also picked up a cheap Amazon fude pen to try. Hong dian forest series fude nib which i believe is 55 degrees. I should have just got the Sailor fude green 55 degree fude nib pen, it is often talked about as the 'go to' brand for sketchers apparently!! Great for getting wider lines and ink on the page.
I also possess a Lamy safari pen which is nice, the nib is extra fine (EF)With both of these I use platinum carbon black ink. The Lamy is currently clean, as you don't want to leave ink in them.
I used some Tombow ABT water brush pens occasionally for the greys but find they are quite substantial when you put then on and I usually test them on the paper to see if they flow when wet as they can dry into watercolour textured paper quite quickly
I also use a selection of cheap Aqua markers occasionally - similar to Tombow but cheaper alternative!
So there you have a taster of what I’m like, no willpower! I can’t be the only one!
I hope you enjoyed the read and remember I also use the notes feature quite a lot on Substack.
The chat feature has been quite popular for people to drop in and out. I will start a thread sometimes with a picture as a prompt or to discuss other things specifically for people who subscribe.
If I feel the conversation has run its course the comments might be turned off.
Please drop by and say hello or better still still share some art or something you might be struggling with, it is a supportive environment and I love the interaction.
With that in mind here is a final poll, if it swings towards ‘yes’ I’ll get some in the chat section for us all to try.
Finally
Thank you for reading, I’m always happy to hear from fellow enthusiasts in the comments👇
Anyway ‘till next time, happy sketching.
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(Sometimes, I may not be able to trace you back to your Substack name from Kofi)
Can not resist! When I saw this heading I was struggling to fit all the journals, sketchbooks, and other goodies into my over full suitcase! I love the European paper stores, the beautiful cards - and the presumption that people write ✍️ to one another!
It can really brighten a day to add a colour or new paper to art supplies, even a single pencil. I never pass an art shop with indifference, but as there is an excellent one on a regular weekly route, I do have to exercise restraint. Preferences for art materials are always fascinating.