Welcome to the blog pages, Jeannie....Art books on a budget? [aka retirement]...check-out the 'bargain 'remaindered book shops...I have built up a useful art-library for as little as £2 per book [cover price was £14.99]

the book review thing happened by accident - I'd been running an art comp via my forum for a charity and they donated vouchers for prize. sponsorship was really hard to get :( (thought at one point i wasn't going to be able to get anything)and so i added a bit on the forum about using our sponsors as first choice if price etc was equal when getting new stuff. Then i had email inviting me to do reviews - its great, as you say books can be expensive though the searchpress ones in paperback are a bargain. Re materials - its what i get for xmas and birthdays and the few paintings i sell the money goes into new materials. I think all us artists like to save money - its hard earned. i buy canvasses in box quantities as its much cheaper and most materials from the internet. ebay sometimes or art site sales, just start with a few basics and add if i enjoy the medium ( of course i always do so...)I'll paint on cardbaord and wood when i've nothing else or paint over an old work i no longer like. Brushes - never seem to have enough of them...I've just one sable brush - from the ken bromley value range - i'd love more ...one day :) Rosemary brushes were another sponsor and she does superb brushes, all sorts for all media.

How lucky for you to be a book reviewer. Books on art are so expensvie, i generally have to order from the library and then when you want them to refer to they have to go back. I am impressed with the number of mediums which you have tried if you only started in 2002, I started at a similar date but stuck with watercolours for quite a long time, trying I think to justify all the cash I had spent on buying sable brushes etc.. .. You might have the idea that I am a skinflint but I work as an accountant from home most of the time, so I find it hard to break the habits which have been so ingrained after years of budget reviews and cost saving endeavours. I have a feeling that quite a few people are like me, and stick with what they have bought, rather than take up a new medium with all the extra set up cost. I have ventured now into mixed media work which I am exploring at the moment.