HEY ARTISTS

www.meininger.com   Art supplies from around the world They have art supplies galore, more than I've seen anywhere, and an online store yippee!

This is a drawing of my DOG snowy. She is always trying to help!! Here's what I did; I got a picture of her to look at and laid out a string of Christmas lights. I then sketched her in pencil on a large sheet of paper and drew lights around her. Then I used water colors, acrylic paint, colored pencils, and permanent ink pens. When your using ink pens with paint you have to be careful because ink or felt pens if there not permanent ink will run with wet paint. The best way to learn how to paint is to try. Artists call different kinds of paint, pens, and pencils; media. The way I learned about different kinds of media (paint) is by reading books and going to the art stores. I love the many different kinds. A lot of people who love to be Creative Artists try different media and usually they get hooked on something and just LOVE it! I've been learning a lot about computer graphic Art. I also have a couple of new air brushes and they are really fun to paint with too.

The picture above was too huge to scan in SO .. I took a picture of it, actually my mom took the picture with a digital camera then put it on a floppy disk and sent it to me. Then I loaded it onto my computer hard drive, and in an art program I tinted the color, added the lettering, and made some changes. The two art programs I used were Paint Shop Pro 7 and Soap. There are many computer art programs that do similar things. If you learn one computer art program it makes it easier to learn how to use others. If you have a large drawing and you want it on your computers hard drive there are a few different ways to do it. #1. You can scan it in section by section, and then paste it back together in a computer art program. It is a lot of work if your picture is much larger than your scanner. #2. I believe you can take it to a copy mart store and have them scan it for you, for a price. They then will put it on a floppy disk or CD.  I haven't done it so I'm not sure what it costs. #3. You can use a digital camera. One thing I do is if I want to use a picture on my computer or make a coloring book page for the website I draw it on a piece of paper that isn't larger than my scanner.

 I would like to say that I have never taken Art except in Jr. High school, and I learned what I do know mostly from books and a lot of practice. I learned quite a lot about paint (art mediums) from Art stores. And Praise Jesus, The Holy Spirit is My BIG helper!! I believe God being the great Artist made us all his little artists!

You can ask questions at art stores and usually they can help you learn about art and paint supplies.

Here are a few tips on paint & Media:

A new discovery I thought I should Tell you about. You can purchase oil paints that clean up with soap and water. I haven't tried them but they seem like something  I'd like to try. There are some called Max 2 Grumbacher. They sound really nice I was reading about them at, www.sanfordcorp.com   www.sanfordcorp.com/sanford/consumer/grumbacher/max.html I believe all there products are made here in America, Amazing!! I think there are other brands of water clean up oil paints that are available also. Going to art supply stores online and reading about art supplies is a good way to familiarize yourself with paint and different Art media that's available.  The great thing is there is always something new. We do a lot of searching on the internet to find the best buys.

Oil paints are oil based and you need to buy a cleaner to rinse out your paint brushes. They are very brilliant colors. It can take up to 7 days or longer for the paint to dry. Also if your painting with oils a stretched canvas is good and you can buy them on sale for as little as two dollars at a large craft store like Michaels or Hobby Lobby. I've never used oil paint on paper. I guess I'll have to try it sometime. Oil paints can be expensive. You can mix colors with good oil paints. I use this cleaner to rinse my brushes: One step, oil brush cleaner and conditioner. Also I discovered this great cleaning stuff by Grumbacher called Grumtine.  It's a medium and cleaning solvent for oils, it smells like orange and I love oranges. It's kind of expensive like ten dollars for a 8oz can. You can easily blend oil paint colors on your canvas. You can also paint over something after it is dry. You can store the oil paint you've squeezed out of a tube that is on your pallet in the freezer and it wont dry out. Look for a pallet to put your paint on at the dollar store. They really over charge you on pallets in the Art stores. If you find something plastic and flat with a lid you will easily be able to store your left over paint in the freezer. Also you can use a cookie sheet with wax paper to put your paint on. Now if you prefer use a pallet and an easel.  Use a little glass jar with a lid to rinse your brushes. You can reuse the oil cleaning solvent to rinse your paint brushes. Keep a clean dry rag near your jar or some folded paper towels to dry your brush after rinsing. Also plastic plates work well for paint pallets in the paper plate section of the grocery store. Smile

Linseed oil is another medium used with oil paints. It is suppose to speed up the drying time. I haven't tried it yet. But will experiment soon. Art supply stores sell all kinds of medium stuff you can add to paint to get your paint to do many different things.

 Remember that there are mediums made for Oil Paint and Acrylic paint. There is a lot to learn about paint and at times it can be over whelming but don't let that STOP YOU!

Acrylic Paint

Acrylic paint is water based so you can clean and rinse your paint brush with water. The paint dries very fast as you apply it to paper etc. You can by this stuff another (medium) to add and mix to the paint to make it stay wet longer. This stuff has so many different names its enough to make you bonkers. Each brand or type of paint usually sells its own different medium (glazes) to mix into your paint. I would recommend that if your going to try acrylic paint for the first time you buy some medium stuff to add to it to make it stay wet longer.  I was very pleased and happy  when I discovered the stuff. I thought boy I wish I had known about his a long time ago. It gives you just that little bit of time to mix and blend a color before it dries on your paper or canvas. Once the acrylic paint dries it is permanent. You can repaint over it.

 If you want a nice transparent look a medium will help with that as well.  The trouble is finding it. There are many brands of paint and many different names for paint mediums some times its called a glaze. What you do is read the bottles near the paint section and they will give you an idea of what happens when you mix the stuff with your paint! I like acrylic paint because it is water based and dries fast and because it is usually less expensive than Oil paint. Also I can use some acrylic paints mixed with water or a medium in my air brush.

I paint on furniture and I use craft paints a lot, like delta, apple barrel brands, so I started to try using this folkArt thickener and boy was I lik’in it! *increases paint transparency while maintaining color & consistency.

 The stuff is great it keeps the paint wet longer and if you mix half paint and half thickener your paint becomes transparent , so say your trying to high light something like cheeks or skin for example, then you mix in a little white to your face color and add some thickener or glaze and it becomes very easy to get the right color and it doest dry to fast so you can mix it easier on your painting.  It's great for highlighting or painting something sheer and see through like white curtains, or putting one color on top of another and then you can see under it!

 Also I’ve discovered; (liquitex High viscosity acrylics) they are so smooth and the paint is like silk! they are a bit more expensive.  I was Impressed and surprised at the comparison to there less expensive beginner liquitex brand , I like acrylics because they dry faster. Liquitex paint has there own glazes (mediums) that do different things.

Acrylic Craft Paints, click here

WATERCOLOR PAINTS

WATER COLOR PAINTS are different.  People love them.  They dry fast but if you add water the paint will run. They are somewhat similar to Acrylic Paint. Water color paints also work very well in my air brush mixed with water.  I bought and collected all the Cotman Water Colours by Winsor and Newton.  They were a bit expensive 3.00 for each little tube of paint. They are easy to work with and clean up well with water. The  Winsor water colors I bought are much nicer compared to some cheep water colors I tried in a art kit set once. The Winsor paint was much richer in color and it seemed to go along way. If it dries you just add a little water. Water colors work very nicely with felt pens.   Sometimes its good to keep a water spray bottle near your paints so while your working if they dry you can give them a little squirt of misty water.  Just squeeze out a little dab of paint at a time as you go. Its truly amazing how the more expensive paints can be so different. Water colors paints there neat the way they smear and run when wet.  Click here to see photo.

Pastels

Pastels:  I myself don't like them they smear too much. But if you like to get your fingers and hands into things, these would be great! They are like soft silky smooth crayons and most are not sharpened. There like a stick the size of a crayon. They are very popular and I have seen beautiful Art done in pastels that look like oil paintings. I believe they are made with oil. I'm not sure I'll have to read up ;0)  I once read a woman kept her pastels sharpened very sharp. She used sand Paper. Maybe you might like them, try a few. I have seen pastel pencils that are available at Meininger Art supplies from around the world

COLORED PENCILS & Led Pencils

I love colored pencils and I have collected a few. I bought a few books on colored pencil art work. I was so amazed at what people could do with pencils. I have seen Art work done in colored pencil that looks like an oil painting, or a photograph. People who are into colored pencils use all kinds and usually collect all they can find. What they do is layer different colors and shades usually starting from a light shade then going to dark. Or vice versa going from Dark to light. What I LOVE about pencils is the detail you can get with them. What I've learned about lead pencils is I like to use a very light lead so I can easily remove my mistakes with a nifty eraser.

Paper & drawing

Oh My I'm still lost when it comes to paper; one thing I have learned is I like smooth thick paper. The smoother the better. I think its because I like detail in my work and the bumpy paper seems to get in the way of my pencil. I normally sketch out my drawing before I paint. I found I really like the paper made for ink and felt pens. It is thicker than most paper. Its made by Borden & Riley paper co. Inc, and its called bleed proof paper for pens 9x12 inch I like it with my felt pens :0) I bought it at Meiningers Art supply store. I also Like Bristol paper by Strathmore for pencils, paint and air brush. I have used all different kinds of paper.      

I hope this helps and encourages you! May the Lord Jesus richly bless your abilities to Glorify Him in all you do ;o)

Here's the photo of the original, I love lights and my DOGGY too! It was about 2ft by 3ft sheet of paper.

Painting with a pattern (oil or acrylic)