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What were your best Art buys for little money?
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Message
Posted
Hi everyone , like most artists I'm a bit of a collector of art materials when it comes to brushes and pallettes, over the years I've tried and tested most watercolour related products from the very expensive to the cheaper options and had fun doing it.
Over the last few years since Brexit I no longer get materials from the UK as the costs rocketed from previous times where buying in the Uk was worth it . Only the other day I realised I've been using art materials for the last 2- 3 years that cost me less than 10 euro for the lot.......... The reason I'm using these is the kit is so light and the products have and continue to perform splendidly despite plenty of abuse....
That pallette cost € 1: 49 and I love it as its so light and has plenty of space , the brushes cost 79 cent each total cost € €7:11, the little roll up Chinese mat was €2......total cost of kit .......€ 10:60.
After years of using high end brushes and pallettes for years I've been using this lot home and away for 2-3 years and all have taken plenty of punishment and still holding up splendidly
I like many others always fell for the fabulous claims from Art suppliers about how wonderful certain products were and how superior to others , I think in a lot of cases its over describing a product for maximun profit.
Incidentally I've seen the very pallette I'm using for sale online for € 18 euro from an art supplier , my wife picked up 2 of them for me at €2:98 for 2 at Mr Price discount store in Dublin , the brushes and mat I got from Sostrene Grene in Dublin all discounted during a sale.
I would be interested in hearing other members surprisingly good buys for money.
Edited
by Dermot Brennan
Posted
I use an old dinner plate as a palette - using acrylics they just wash off and it's as good as new every time. I don't know what it cost me years ago but it wasn't much. With the kitchen table as a studio and an old mug for water I'm ready to go!
Walking round Patchings last week you could have spent a fortune but not much of it would make you a better painter.
Posted
I use an old dinner plate as a palette - using acrylics they just wash off and it's as good as new every time. I don't know what it cost me years ago but it wasn't much. With the kitchen table as a studio and an old mug for water I'm ready to go! Walking round Patchings last week you could have spent a fortune but not much of it would make you a better painter.Oh Peter, don’t you ever treat yourself? I do and it needn’t cost much…..and I’ll be producing masterpieces before long 😁
Posted
I'm move restricted these days and anything I use I usually get from THE WORKS as I can order online and get delivered. The products wouldn't suit class artists, but I'm pretty prolific in turnout and they suit me well enough. An A5 sketch book of 130 gsm paper , 70 sheets, costs just £1-50.
Edited
by Jim Morris
Posted
Being serious and replying to Dermot….I’ve bought lots of art materials which haven’t proved as useful as I first thought ( starting out, most people do) and, like Peter, I’ve used paper plates, plates covered with cling film, made wet painting carriers ( cardboard cut to size with spacers stuck on ) mdf primed, covered boards with linen etc etc. I like to think that, after painting for 30 years plus, maybe now I know what’s useful and what’s not…but I wouldn’t guarantee that, as I said above I like a little treat every now and then….a tube of turquoise for eg. However, I always try to buy good quality materials, I do think they make a difference. Cheap canvases and boards, cheap brushes, poor quality paints don’t do the job.
The two things which I’ve used for years and which I couldn’t do without are my table easel ( metal) and my heavy wooden easel which usually stays put, it can be adjusted for standing or sitting.
Edited
by Marjorie Firth
Posted
Quality materials might not make you a better artist, but they just might make your life easier.
I speak of brushes in particular, good brushes, and I’m not necessarily talking sable, are a must!
I’ve got some Dalon synthetic brushes from donkeys years ago (the red ones with a white tip), and they still have a spring to them.
Quality Oil painting brushes are also a must for me. Again, you don’t have to spend a fortune and they do last some time if looked after! Jackson’s Art have a good range to choose from, and I particularly like their Black Hog range…Rosemary & Co make the finest brushes money can buy, I’ve got a lot of them, expensive perhaps, but they will last a while!
I only tend to buy artists quality oils these days, these are quite expensive but worth it. I’m selling my work so I want the best!
I’m less fussy about my watercolours however, I’ve got artists quality tubes, plenty of them, but I find the Cotman range from W&N adequate for my needs. The very same ones that Ron Ranson used!
I can’t paint on thin watercolour paper that cockles as soon as a wash is applied… I do tend to go overboard here, using mainly Arches and Fabriano 300lb weight, even 400lb if I’m feeling flush!
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
I don't look to save money on art supplies - I discovered long ago that if you buy cheap brushes and paper (there are exceptions with paper), or the very basic watercolours and certainly oils, you tend to get (or I tended to get, anyway) cheap and nasty results. Having said which, I've drawn on duplicator paper (hard to get now: who uses duplicators?), photocopy paper; and even the paper in children's sketchpads can be good.
Never use cheap brushes, though - I know you can, that some people take pride in doing so (Robert Hagan, an artist who tends to paint Western scenes, uses what looks like an old pastry brush for his oils: but he's an exception!).
My economies do exist, and include a Mahl stick, made from a length of bamboo, topped with cotton wool wrapped in a patch from an old pyjama jacket, and secured with a shoelace: it works pretty well, but - I ought to buy a proper one; a brush holder, which is a bit of double glazing frame, cut to size; and a plywood palette cut for me by a friend - the thumb-hole is a bit mean, that's its only problem. I'd get him to cut a bigger one, but he's up at the other end of the country now, tending sheep, cows, and goats.
Those of you who have bought my e-book would know all this; so why haven't you??
Posted
I feel similarly to Robert Jones. How often have I tried to find a cheap way to buy something that I thought was inferior quality - and then had nasty surprises? Never again! It doesn't have to be sable, and it doesn't have to be the most expensive, but definitely not something "cheap" in the sense of inferior to poor quality. I don't buy cheap clothes any more either. Cheap means using it for one season - and then it's usually already broken. So in the economic sense it was even "more expensive". I use the pastry brush to remove eraser residues from good quality paper:)
Posted
Someone I know uses his walking-stick as his Mahl stick - I suppose it works, but I'd have thought it a bit unwieldy. A retractable back-scratcher? I get a very itchy back, a reaction to the drugs I'm on: I didn't realize you could get retractable ones, so I shall look out for it: the most effective one I use at the moment was a souvenier someone brought back from the Great Wall of China - good and rough and sharp; it'd make a lousy Mahl stick, though. On the cheap and cheerful front, the watercolourist Charles Evans gets his pencils from either Ikea or Screwfit - the complementary type, not exactly Mars Lumograph: probably we all save money here and there, but - I still want the best I can get. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The only unusual thing I use is a retractable backscratcher as a mahl stick - you can hook it over the top of the easel or painting and change the length so it doesnt get too in the way. :-)
Edited
by Robert Jones, NAPA
Posted
I have been painting for some kind of living for 42 years now, since 1981, and in that time I have purchased some cheap materials. But in 1981 I spent a lot of money on Kolinsky sable watercolour brushes and they have been and are still in use daily. They still point perfectly and none of them show any sign of wear. The only thing I've done to them is re-varnished the handles. I can't remember how much they cost originally perhaps a few hundred pounds, but today they would probably be best part of 2-3 thousand pounds (without looking them up). So some expensive items turn out to be quite cheap in the long run.
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