Spoiled for choice?

I received the Jackson's Acrylic catalogue the other day - crammed with the many products you can buy to apply acrylic paint, from interference mediums, various gessos, an unaccountably large amount of different varnishes, painting knives and all sorts of other implements with which to apply paint, and reflected that I hardly ever use the majority of the products offered. Obviously, I use brushes - I sometimes use knives, and it IS time I bought myself a new set: I've had mine for at least 30 years. I'm certainly not trying to dissuade anyone from using all of these wonderful things, the pearlescent medium, the various plastic scrapers and tools (haven't found colour shapers on skimming through the catalogue yet: they seemed to come and go - I did find them useful, so I hope they're still in production). I did wonder if I was missing out a bit on the full potential of acrylic, because - granted, I'm a figurative painter, so don't need some of the abstract effects which certain of the mediums would permit - I normally use only paint, a bit of water, and perhaps a glazing medium. I know there's a view that you need to mix acrylic medium with the paint or it'll not adhere, but.... well, you don't, really. Provided you don't have more water than paint, most acrylics can be diluted far more than you might suppose, and one in particular, which I've been using for years now (Chromacolour, as will come as no surprise to anyone who's followed my meanderings before) was actually marketed on its ability to withstand extreme dilution while still retaining colour intensity and adhesion. (And it works.) There are things in the Jackson's catalogue, particularly mediums, which I shall buy because I'm looking for a slightly richer surface at the moment. But it did seem to me that you could spend a great deal of money on acrylic products, if so inclined - and why not? The economy needs us to spend money, and I've never been one of the hair-shirted brigade that objects to acquiring "stuff": I like "stuff"; it's lack of money, not principle, which prevents me acquiring more of it. It's just that I remember buying a set of Rowney's Cryla over 50 years ago, a handful of nylon brushes - two rounds, two smaller rounds, a flat - not even a rigger to start with; I used a plastic plate as a palette; I had a container of retarder, which (and this astonishes me) I still have, and haven't used it all up yet; and I think there was a gloss medium too - I HAVE long since exhausted that. I've no idea what this would have cost 50 years ago, but not much - it couldn't have been much, I was 15 or so, and the parents bought me art materials in lieu of pocket money, but didn't have enough to lash out. And I learned to paint in acrylic from this basic selection - the colours I had were white, of course, plus ultramarine, cobalt blue hue, crimson, cadmium red, cadmium yellow, lemon yellow, burnt sienna, raw sienna: a selection I'd still recommend today to anyone starting out. Point is - it might have been nice to have all the extras, but I didn't NEED them; and if I'd had them, I think I'd just have been confused. Well that was a long time ago, and it would be paltering with the truth just a little to describe me as a beginner now, but when you come right down to it, do you need all this stuff? I've seen artists' studios with so many brushes, knives, exotic implements, bucket-loads of paint, and wonder exactly why they bought it all - I have a feeling it's a sort of insurance: I'm an artist, I need all this stuff, it validates me. I've seen brushes that are bent out of shape and basically useless, because they've been neglected and new ones have been bought - and I don't care, it doesn't matter, except that those same artists tend to be those who complain about the high price of their materials..... Had you thought, perhaps, of buying a bit less, of making do with what you've already got? Far be it from me to preach - I like shopping: my credit card creaks. But it would be a pity if those starting out as I was half a century ago felt that they had to have all these things before they could make any progress, given I still don't use the vast bulk of them even now. Now to have another look for those colour shapers...... just can't do without them..... http://www.isleofwightlandscapes.net http://www.wightpaint.blogspot.co.uk

https://www.cassart.co.uk/brand/colour_shaper Just to show this isn't a plug for Jackson's (and also because I couldn't find colour shapers from them on Google - haven't looked at their website or further investigated the catalogue ) these are colour shapers. In the old days, and probably many of us still do, we just scribed into the paint with the wrong end of the brush (I'm not entirely sure that 'scribed' is a word) or cut into it with a painting-knife. And of course, you still could: the shaper is not an essential piece of equipment - just slightly useful, on occasion. There used to be a much wider range of shapes than is on show here - perhaps people just didn't buy them. http://www.isleofwightlandscapes.net http://www.wightpaint.blogspot.co.uk

They sort of work with watercolours, but they tend to smear paint about a bit - that may be what you're after in certain techniques... I think though that however you use them in the application of paint, they don't do much that other implements can't do: it will be observed that Turner didn't find any need for them. It's just that now and then, an use for them will arise; you might wonder how you ever did without them for that particular application, and then not use them again in ten or more years. The silicon tips come in a variety of hardnesses, by the way - plenty to play with, if you want to play. http://www.isleofwightlandscapes.net http://www.wightpaint.blogspot.co.uk