The debate about whether brush quality makes a difference to your painting continues. Something along the lines of the amateur blames his tools if the work is not good enough.
Malcolm Dewey tests the New KUM Black Line Memory Point Brushes
Category: Product Reviews
Masking Fluid – Friend or Foe
What makes watercolour such a challenging medium is that you can’t cover up mistakes as you can in other painting mediums. As watercolour is translucent and requires that you work from lightest to darkest values, it is extremely important to preserve your whites. In some cases, you can just paint around the shapes but when it comes to more complex or very small areas it becomes nearly impossible. This is where the masking fluid comes in. Essentially masking fluid is liquid latex which you can paint onto areas you want to preserve and protect from paint – and once it’s dry it can be peeled off, revealing the untouched whites below. It’s a bit like magic!
Get the Most out of Your Pastels with Canson Mi-Teintes Paper (Pastel Pads and Touch Pads)
Pastels are a wonderful medium to work with. You only need to look at Degas’s sublime use of pastels in his ballerina paintings. You can work them delicately or with boldness and the colour is always powerful. The pure pigment in artist’s quality pastels is a pleasure to behold. It is a pity then to use poor quality paper on which to paint. I have tried many papers over the years of varying quality. Recently I tried out two pastel pads from Canson. Their Mi-Teintes pastel paper pads and Touch pads.
Caran D’Ache – Pastel Pencil Luxury
We all have our Achilles heel and I’ll admit that art supplies are mine. It’s therefore quite fair to admit that I probably didn’t need the Caran D’Ache Pastel Pencil set I bought. Well, that is until I had used them. It is now quite fair to admit that I pretty much cannot do without them!
Tombow: Mono-a-Mono Zero
Having a favourite pen is pretty normal, but it might seem bizarre that some creatives can even become obsessed with smaller, seemingly less significant tools of the trade such as rulers, sharpeners, and (today’s topic) erasers!
Goldfinger Makes Gilding Great Again
You have to hand it to Daler Rowney for coming up with a brilliant name for their new gilding paste. For those of you who remember Sean Connery and the Goldfinger movie the link will be particularly appealing. But Daler Rowney have made Goldfinger the hero this time and rightly so. For the first time, I actually look forward to gilding. Let us take a closer look at this useful product.
Versatile Inking: Pigma Micron PN
Newly stocked, and quite a new product in South Africa in general, the Sakura Pigma Micron PN differs slightly from the standard, beloved Micron range.
My Watercolour Journey – Meet Mungyo
Watercolours have always intrigued me although its been a medium I have never really pursued – mostly because the first few times I tried them I failed dismally.
First Impressions: The PanPastel Colors Experience
Pastels have been around for a long time. You only have to see Renoir’s sublime works in pastel to appreciate this medium. Characterized by pure pigment, intense colours and a variety of applications pastels have a lot to offer. But pastel sticks have issues too. Soft pastels snap easily. A lot of pastel is wasted in excessive crumbling. Pastel dust is annoying. Sticks get dirty easily and must be carefully stored in foam boxes. Enter PanPastel Colors.
Spray it Again Sam – with Krylon’s Range of Fine Art Sprays
I must confess that I am old school when it comes to any form of spray paint. Sorry Banksy, but that graffiti thing does not work for me. Give me tubes of paint, brushes and a painting knife and throw away the key. I am happier that way. But I have been converted. At least in part when it comes to saving time and efficiency. After getting my hands on a range of Krylon sprays I have found a few new materials for my studio.
