Some people seem shocked to hear that I prefer acrylics to oils. Some of my favourite paintings from art history were painted in oils and there are many painting masters today still using oils.
Oil painters are spoilt for choice at Artsavingsclub. The range of student oil paints is growing and the quality of the paints are improving too. No doubt it is a highly competitive market as paint manufacturers try to get their share of the painting enthusiast’s budget. Recently Artsavingsclub added Maimeri’s Classico range of oil paints to their lineup. The choice of best value student oil paint may have become easier to make.
In my opinion, every painting needs a good coat of varnish. Varnish brings out the best in the colours of a painting and especially the dark hues get a deeper and richer look. Varnish protects the painting and makes it easier to dust and wipe clean, yet many artists fail to varnish their oil and acrylic paintings. I see this frequently at markets and it is a pity. It is also unprofessional if you are selling your paintings.
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.
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.
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.
Mixed media paper sounds vague to me. What is it really for? In this review, I got to find out just how versatile mixed media paper pads can be. In this case, the block of paper coming from Fabriano, a company that is well known for making quality art paper. Let’s take a closer look.
White paper is certainly the tradition when it comes to drawing and a quick browse through any art store will give you an array of white papers to choose from, for many different uses. Every one of us has, at some point, drawn on white paper, and what one learns, is to use dark lines and tones to build up the form to create a picture.
