Jess is the illustrator and designer behind Watercolour heart and, “Making every moment a celebration of life and creativity”, is a tagline she aims to live by. Jess lives for special moments and creating, as a result, her business is the product of both passions.
If you are reading this you probably know him already. The artist with the soothing voice and impressive afro hairstyle that paints happy landscapes. The world’s most recognised artist on television. Loved by millions of fans for his engaging painting lessons. Yes, Bob Ross is the legend who continues to inspire artists the world over with his series The Joy of Painting. Now South African fans can paint along with Bob Ross using his official painting materials.
Every nerd can count books as a vice – and I’m no exception. I also am an unabashed Caran d’Ache fan, so it is no surprise that I treated myself to the Caran d’Ache Workshop Handbook titled ‘Atelier Caran d’Ache’ recently.
The humble painting knife has experienced a resurgence in popularity in the past year or two. Paintings completed with a painting knife have a wonderful texture and energy that many collectors find irresistible.
When starting my watercolour journey I had no idea how confusing it would be. I thought at least the process of procuring supplies would be easy – after all, you simply need brushes, paint and paper, right? Well, was I in for a surprise – as I’m sure many others starting out have found. The amount of choices out there with regards to art supplies are ginormous, and, to figure out which ones you are going to need is certainly a difficult task.
No medium is complete without the correct surface, however – and none more so than pastel. Apply pastel to the wrong paper and even the slightest touch will smear the delicate pigment everywhere. I do believe that this is the reason so many people consider pastels to be messy. Marry your purely pigmented little friend to the correct surface though, and magic happens!
Just when you thought you have tried out all types of pastel paper, along comes a new one that promises to be better. I have heard much about Clairefontaine’s Pastelmat paper, but I was a little sceptical. After all good pastel paper is plentiful. Would Pastelmat offer something different? Keep reading to find out plus check out the video review below.
One of the perks of being involved with the Artsavingsclub blog is having a great excuse to chat with other creatives. I am very inspired by their ideas and journeys and Fathima Kathrada is no exception. She has an easy laugh, bubbling spirit and I could have chatted with her all day. Her energy and passion for design are truly contagious!
Firstly let’s get the CMYK acronym out into the open – it stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. Yes, I know ‘black’ is with a ‘B’ so why not CMYB? Well, ‘B’ is already used for ‘Blue’ in RGB, so it would be confusing. The ‘K’ apparently stands for Key (or perhaps its just the last letter of black… who knows). CMYK is the standard in the printing industry, and pretty much most of what you see these days, by way of printed media, is CMYK. Anyone who’s ever owned a colour inkjet printer is sure to recall buying ink cartridges in those four colours, with which you could print almost anything – even full-colour photographs.
We love clutch pencils at Artsavingsclub, but what is a pencil without lead? Luckily Caran D’Ache has got you covered with their perfect 2mm lead.
Caran D’Ache prides themselves on pristine quality, Swiss-made art supplies, and that is noticeable throughout the entire offering, even in smaller products like their lead refills.
