I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that being an artist – means you might be a bit of a hoarder – especially when it comes to random art supplies. My husband has tried to throw a couple of these out on several occasions – mistaking them for trash. But these supplies are actually crucial to my painting process and I hope you see them that way too – after reading my post. So here is my list of….
RANDOM SUPPLIES EVERY ARTIST HAS TO OWN
BIRCH WOOD
Yep, I have stacks of these wooden boards in my art studio. They are great for cutting on, stretching your watercolor paper over, and even taking outside for a firm drawing board. Plus it’s rather inexpensive – when considering you can pick it from your local Lowes’ or Home Depot and have them cut down into whatever size you desire. So why use birch wood over other wood? Well, birch wood is highly resistant toward water – thus it’s less likely to warp while painting AND it means less water sopping under your paper.
TOOTH BRUSH
The next supply I’m going to include is another odd ball – it’s an old tooth brush. I love using this supply for texture as well as just random splatter techniques. These are so great to have on hand for adding just a bit of extra pizzazz to your paintings.
SPRAY WATERCOLOR BOTTLE
My next random supply is a small travel size spray bottle. You can pick these up as your local dollar store or even Target. Just look in the travel section. So why is it good to have a small spray bottle for watercolor? Well, first – I use my spray bottle constantly to midst up my paints and re-fresh them during my painting process. This way I’m not adding a ton of water but just a tad to wet my colors and get ready for painting. I also love to use a spray bottle for wetting my paper (especially when it comes to stretching my paper). So this one is a must!
PIPETTES
Pipettes are great to have on hand – especially when mixing large paint to water mixture for watercolor. Sometimes it’s really nice to just dab of bit of water into a deep well with a pipettes instead of getting my brush throughly saturated with paint while mixing. Pipettes are also great for adding texture to a painting with loose splatter marks.
X-ACTO KNIFE
X-ACTO knives are quite handy when it comes to watercolor! And I think you would be surprised how. Smaller x-acto knifes are great for creating sharp hard edges in a painting. Larger X-Acto Knifes are great for cutting watercolor down to smaller sizes. Especially when purchasing more expensive watercolor paper in sheets.
DRAWING GLOVES
This is a new supply that I’ve come to love – drawing gloves! These are typically used when drawing on a tablet to help your hand glide across the surface easier. But I’ve found them so helpful while drawing and painting on my watercolor paper. So recently, I noticed these strange splotches of texture on my watercolor paper while I was painting. For the life of me – I could not figure out what it was or where it was coming from! Until one day – I noticed a small finger print in the splotch. So apparently the oil from my hands was creating a resist with my paints. So I decided to try painting with my tablet gloves and see if that helped solve the problem. It did – and since then I’ve been using them quite frequently. Although I will say it has taken some time to get used to them on my hands while I paint. I’ve placed my glove a couple of times in wet paint without realizing it until a small smudge appeared on my paper. So just something to keep in mind. I use Articka Artist Glove – but you can use any glove you find.
MAGIC ERASER
As most of you know – I use porcelain plates as a mixing surface for my watercolors, inks, acrylics – you name it. And sometimes those paints can be pretty stubborn to remove once dried on my palette. That’s when these little guys come into play! I love cleaning my plates with these magic erasers – because it cuts down on my clean up time and makes my palettes slick and clean once again. These little guys are also great to use in your paintings – when trying to lighting up sections – especially to show light rays in a painting. So these little guys are great to have handy.
SMALL PAPER CUPS
Yep, it sounds weird but these little guys come in handy ALOT! I use them for almost everything! I use them for masking fluid, inks, blending mediums, and even soap to dip my brush in. So these little guys are awesome to have laying around.
MASKING FLUID
This is a pretty basic supply that is a basic for watercolor – but I’m gonna include it here since it is kind of random. I love using masking fluid – but it can be a pain if not used correctly. Make sure to check out my post on the Top 5 Mistakes when Using Masking Fluid Click Here. I’ve included a link to my favorite masking fluid below if you are interested.
Grafix Incredible White Mask Liquid Frisket
SILICONE BRUSHES
Speaking of masking fluid – Yep! These guys are awesome for when you want to get super sleek and crisp lines with your masking fluid. So I always have a little stash of these close by.
RUBBER CEMENT PICK UP
Another odd but essential supply to own when using masking fluid is a rubber cement pick up for basically a rubbery block that helps you start the peeling process of removing your masking fluid.
MASKING TAPE
It’s really funny how many rolls of masking tape or drafting tape I have laying around the house. These are great for stretching your paper or creating super sleek edges to your paintings. I use Pacific Arc Drafting Tape – but you can use any type of masking, drafting, or even painters tape you desire.
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