Julie's Favorite Art Supplies
Finally.. and all in one place. These are art supplies that I have purchased, used and loved. Please note:
đŁ I am now also linking to Dick Blick. You may find two links on some items. One from Amazon. One from Blick. đŁ
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ACRYLIC MEDIUMS
Secret sauce. Magic Juice. GLAZING LIQUID. (Dick Blick) Know this: NOT ALL GLAZING LIQUIDS ARE CREATED EQUALLY. This one is slow drying and I use it in EVERY painting I make. This is a JULIE MUST HAVE. This glazing liquid has a lower viscosity, so when you put it down or drop a few drops of it, it will not ârunâ unless you push it a long a little.
Designed to work with the OPEN paint line from Golden, this OPEN medium (Dick Blick)is great for further extending the working time of your paint. I like to spread it on the canvas as a base and then work paint on top of it. If you use this medium in conjunction with OPEN acrylic paint, the OPEN paint will give you even more working time than it does on its own. When used alone with traditional acrylic paint, you can get a boost of working time. I have not tested this with a stopwatch, but I feel that this medium stays workable longer than Acrylic Glazing liquid. I would not combine the two while painting.
I recently purchased this Airbrush Medium (Dick Blick)and I am in love! After only one experiment, my mind is spinning with possibilities I have not had before with my acrylics. Different than Glazing Medium, but I think I will use them both. The feel of Airbrush Medium under the brush is really really nice! This medium will flow a lot, like water. You will not be able to control the movement of it when you pour or place it. I mix heavy body paint with this so that I can sign my paintings easier with a detail brush.
A good texture medium to use that is archival, lightweight and STABLE is light molding paste. In this video here, I use this paste by Golden. (Dick Blick) The more dense and hard version of the paste in the same video is here. Use this paste to create an almost âairyâ texture that is stable, or regular Molding Paste (Dick Blick)for a heavier, more solid texture.
How to make acrylic skins: Shown Disposable palette sheets (Dick Blick), Golden Self Leveling Gel (Dick Blick), and Barvotti scrapper tool. Iâve been buying these Fabriano cards for YEARS: The envelops shown in the video are linked here. The matching folded notes are linked here. To attach your skins as collage or as seals, I recommend a paste rather than a liquid.
Polymer Medium Gloss (Now called Gloss Medium) (Dick Blick)is great to extend your acrylic paint. You can create glazes and washes with it, you can pour it, but it does NOT dry slowly. I sometimes use this to add a gloss coat to little scrap paintings that I can pass out here and there. Matte Medium (Dick Blick)is the same consistency and provides the same purpose, only it dries matte. For a fun video description of the two, click here. I included a lot of info in the caption.
This Pastel Ground (Dick Blick) is GREAT for adding the texture you need to get pencils and crayon to really take hold on top of acrylic. I also use a little smear of it to help write my name on my art when I am finished. Can dry clear when applied thin- and it still creates tooth. Better than liquid gesso because it stays put (itâs a paste) AND you can build texture with it. Two products in one.
I have a popular reel (click here to see it) where I mention liquid glue and why I normally do not use it. I prefer a gel medium for adhesion because it stays put exactly where I put it and it can also be mixed with acrylic to create texture. This Golden Soft Gel (Dick Blick)is my most commonly used. You can cut out the gloss when you are done by applying varnish.. This matte gel is the same thing, (Dick Blick) but it will not dry 100% clear. I like to find multiple ways to use each of my supplies, so for me, regular gel is the most valuable. Soft gel has the consistency of yogurt. If you want to hold something other than paper, (like a metal object) OR of you want to create heavy peaks and have them hold, get this gel. (Dick Blick)
MARK MAKING
đ¨These artist crayons (Dick Blick)are water soluble. Youâve seen me use them a multitude of ways in my reels. They are densely pigmented and last a LONG time. Over the years I have collected every color. Do you obsess over getting something in every color, and would you love an amazing wooden storage box for these crayons? Click here for the mother of all sets. (Dick Blick)(Youâre going to need fixative to work on TOP of these. See below.)
đ¨The Neocolor I crayons are NOT water soluble. Add these to your work when you want to keep your marks rather than blend them away. These crayons do not really smudge at all, even when wet. Something that I didnât consider when I purchased them, is it is really nice to have the same colors in both water soluble and permanent.
đ¨ I started using colored pencils in my paintings when I want da more stable mark. I use these pencils and am very happy with the color selection. They have a very high light fastness rating.
đ¨A friend recently let me borrow these chalk pastels. They are great for smudging around in the sketchbook. Rather than fix the pages in the sketchbook, I just place a piece of deli wrap between the facing pages to prevent color contamination. As a treat, I ordered these soft pastels. I will leave a review once they arrive.
đ¨Letâs talk oil pastels: I have had this set for years. The pastels are dense, firm to the touch and they smudge a little. However, they do not glide over the art in a super buttery fashion. (If you are sticking with the Caran DâAche theme, again, youâll have nice matching colors in that set.) These Sennellier oil pastels are squishy and messy when you touch them. Press them firmly to the canvas and you can see considerable âwearâ on the pastel. Important to note: neither of these products will fully cure. Artwork for these will need to be placed behind glass to prevent smudging. (This is why I am using them in my sketchbook, and not on my paintings.)
Check out these HUGE CHARCOAL blocks (Dick Blick)âŚthey are really messy..but SUPER fun.
I love the look of a lipstick like consistency product on the TOP of my acrylic paintings. The Shiva Oil Sticks. (Dick Blick)These cure to a touchable hardness in a day or two depending on climate and how heavy you apply them..and I have not had any issues using acrylic varnish on top of them.
I have almost every color of these POSCA paint pens. This set is great if you like journaling or works on paper. There are some concerns with the red and orange colors in these pens and that they may fade quicker than the other colors. If you use these on art that will hang, be sure to use a UV protectant varnish.
âď¸ The best pens for metallic gold and silver metallic- I use these for addressing envelopes and giving the edges of my work a gold leaf look. DO NOT buy these pens on Amazon (they are more than double the price!). Instead, use this link from Blick. GOLD, SILVER, ROSE GOLD PEN. (Note: I use these when I am doing paper crafts, not in painting abstracts.)
PAINT
Golden updated their mixing set to include some new colors. These packaged (Dick Blick)colors are a great starting off point for mixing a LOAD of really great colors. If you are looking to learn in my âExpanding on Colorâ online workshop, and you need paint, this is great set.
Here are the paints (Dick Blick)I frequently reach for when printing or making texture. These OPEN paints dry slowly..like they take a really long time to dry offering the artist a lot more flexibility than with traditional acrylic paint. This set will yield a load of mixing opportunities.
I would file these under ink or paint because they are versatile. The High Flow line from Golden is the consistency of ink. It can be filled into paint markers, or used with a brush. So why do you want these? If you want liquid paint, but donât want to obliterate the vibrancy and pigment load you get with adding a load of water, these are for you. You can mix the SAME colors you do with paint with these, so they can match perfectly. So the Airbrush medium can also give you a nice consistency, but these are even easier. This the color mixing set of High Flow here. (Dick Blick)
PENS FOR JOURNALING
Add glitter sparkle anywhere. I use these on envelopes all the time. No mess! Write slowly over the ink on your paper and these outline so great. No smell either.
These Le Pen pens make me VERY happy. I use them in my planner. SUPER fun and nostalgic.
VARNISH & FIXATIVE
Another most frequently asked question: Which varnish do you use? Get the sister product to remove the varnish if you make a mistake or want to re-work your art: My favorite varnish (Blick). The remover. (Blick) Before you varnish, you will need to âfixâ anything that is on your art that is unstable. I use this fixative. (Blick) Here is a really great varnish brush. (Blick)
BRUSHES AND TOOLS AND TAPE
âď¸ This is a great set of silicone scrapers. I use these in every painting!
Long handled, synthetic brushes. CLICK HERE
Use a gel plate (Blick) for creating awesome prints on deli-wrap paper (paper at the bottom of my list here). I have had my gel plate for years and it is still as good as the day I opened it. I have heard home made gel plates do not hold up. In my opinion. this is a great tool to have access to when you need it.
For attaching collage, this is my favorite palette knife. It has less give than a silicone scraper, allowing you to firming get that collage into the gel medium.
This is a great set of needle tip applicators if you want to use fluids for straight, thin lines.
I recently purchased these two scrappers from recommendations on one of my Instagram posts. They have turned out to be great when a larger option is needed. The yellow tool, the blue tool.
Catalyst Wedge tools are nice and allow your hand to feel more connected to the art because there is not a handle. I use them for the same things as my silicone scrappers. This grey wedge is a great multipurpose tool and this green wedge creates great texture.
These paint brushes are inexpensive and HOLD UP for several uses with heavy, âaggressiveâ painting. I am not a delicate painter and these hold up even after sitting in my water bucket for a long time. I have been using them for years. Here is a great set of brushes that will get you cutting around shapes, blending and fine details in one.
BRAYER: I have a reel featuring a technique I use to apply paint irregularly to canvas. This is the video. I love this brayer.
I purchased several paper trimmers when I was making cards and enjoying rubber stamping. When I bought THIS TRIMMER, I never bought another. It stayed sharp.. I use this to trim EVERYTHING from labels to Card Club, to my miniâsâŚeverything. I bought it in 2009! (No maintenance, no replacement bladesâŚ.seriously- this is the gold standard if you need to make a card or trim paper for miniâs.)
From my free video tutorial on how to apply masking tape (painters tape) to your art for best results: I use a heat gun like this. A bone folder is a studio must have. I use this blue tape for gallery profile panels. This is the low-tack tape that is great for paper. This is the 3M tape I also like.
CANVAS PAPER AND WOOD PANELS
This unstretched canvas is a good price if you have space to hold a roll of it. If you want the ability to paint on unstretched VERY GOOD quality canvas, or like me, if you have a painting you want to store, then stretch new canvas on the stretcher bars you have, this is great. I credit this canvas to my creativity burst because it feels SOOOO good to paint on.
I purchased cheap and cheerful canvas panels off Amazon and they were terrible. Paint resisted on the surface and I found the product to be very inconsistent. I then switched to these panels sold by Blick and they are night and day. I am linking to the size you see most of my reel videos.
This is a very close canvas if you would like to buy it pre-stretched. I always paint on one or the other of these two canvases.I buy back stapled, gallery profile.
Arches watercolor paper is great. Sometimes, I use a light layer of gesso first. Watercolor paper is meant to absorb water, so acrylic paint will dry very fast on unprepared paper. I just purchased this paper to try with my RF Oil sticks.
These wood panels are REALLY great. You will need small grit sand paper. Before painting, I give light layer of GAC 100. Once dry, add a layer of gesso and sand it. Repeat until you have 3 layers of gesso and you will have an OUTSTANDING surface to work on. (Sand in a well ventilated area.)
Golden has updated their recommendation for prepping wood. Gloss Medium is now the preferred base layer before gesso. Please note- this is NOT gel medium, which would leave texture if used as the base. Gloss medium is the cousin to matte medium. Both are fluid and both can be used to adhere collage and extend paint. The difference between gloss medium and matte medium is that the gloss medium will dry crystal clear and if layered, the matte medium will begin to obscure what is beneath it.
To prep wood panels, I brush on gesso with this brush.
Load this sanding block with your favorite sandpaper and it is comfortable to hold. When I sand my wood panels, I use this sandpaper.
OTHER
âď¸ âď¸ Click here for my holiday ART CARDS supply list.
I use this glass palette in my studio. I love the 16x20 size.
These acrylic frames are great for framing small works on paper. Iâve purchased these in 5x7, 3.5x5 (CARD CLUB) and even 2.5x3..they are very impressive! Here is the blog post I made regarding these frames.
đ¨ This is the book I use to record all of my paint recipes as shown in my âExpanding on Colorâ online workshop. This is the book that I use for my abstract sketchbook practice.
I buy this plastic when I need to store my art in the closet. The plastic unfolds and protects the art from fingerprints, and anything the packing materials might bring into the equation.
I use this planner to plan out my social media content.
This is the water bucket I use in my studio, you may have seen it in my videos.
This is my easel! I purchased this solid oak (HEAVY) easel in 2011. If you are going to work on large paintings OR if you want to work flat AND standingâŚAND if you need this to fold up, I think it is great. This link will take you to the Dick Blick website where you can view more info.
Art Studio Lights: I have a south facing window in my room here which provides all the light I need to paint during the day. The lighting you see in my studio is for video production only. It is important to understand your lighting requirements where you are looking for lighting because there is not a one size fits all solution. Cheap lights advertised for bloggers and filming content are junk..all of themâŚunless they are strong enough to overpower the ambient light in your space. (They wonât.) After donating several of these low end lights (in the hundred dollar range), I bought two of THIS LIGHT and I will never buy another light again. Please note- I do NOT use these lights to photograph my paintings. They are for video production only. I bought these boom arms to mount the lights to my wall so that the stands would not be underfoot.
Full Disclosure, I do not own this tripod. However, I use one like it and this has good reviews. I prefer the floor standing tripods because I can place them across the room from me and not have to worry about having something for it to sit on over there. I also like the adjustable height. Tripod on Amazon. Check to make sure you can use it with your phone model before you order. This is a great phone holder that I use if you already have a tripod: click here. If you purchase that phone holder, and your stand or tripod does not have a âmaleâ screw on the top, you will need a set of these standard tripod/camera screws.
Audio: Good audio is important. I have several different mics that I use. For my podcast, I use this mic. It is excellent straight out of the box. For my online workshops, I mic myself with these mics. Usually, for my quick videos, I use the mic that comes in these headphones.
Deli-wrap. Canât work without it. Great inexpensive choice for pulling prints, lifting paint, collage, masks. Everything. This is better than tracing paper. This is probably less expensive if you buy it at restaurant supply in your area BUT if you need it pronto, check Amazon Prime. 1000 sheets will last a long time.
For a less expensive route, this is the same type of paper, only the sheets are folded in half. A lot of the times, I cut my paper down anyway, so this is a nice alternative. Click here for inter folded deli wrap sheets.
âAcrylic paint is TOXIC. Please donât paint with your bare hands. I use these gloves if I need to put my hand in wet product. (Or when working with a charcoal stick.
Gold Leaf: I have been using this product for years. Paintings I created over 10 years ago have not discolored. Take care to protect wood panels for SID (blog post) and make sure you only apply this as directed once layers of acrylic paint are dry. Always seal acrylic paintings with varnish (tutorial here.)
When using 16x20â canvas sheets, it is handy to store your paintings in a clear sleeve with a backing board so that customers can look through these while shopping. The backing board will also keep the art flat should you want to pack it flat. Here is a link to 16x20 backing board, and here are clear sleeves for storage.
Youâve seen me hold up a journal in my videos. I use this book to record all of my color mixes and notes about every painting.
Sometimes I use these acetate sheets as an aid when painting. You can paint on them and hold them up to see if they âworkâ indoor composition, test marks on them or attach them into mixed media projects. This is ink jet acetate.
BOOKS
I co-wrote the book, âAcrylic Solutionsâ in 2013 and it is still available.
I also self-published the book âCaught Up in the Layersâ, which you can purchase digitally or a paper copy by following this link.
I want to include this book in my list hereâŚbecause I believe in it. I have honestly purchased more than 10 of these books for gifts. If you have pain or soreness, reading the first few chapters in this book may be a life changer for you. We have been lucky enough to attend the Egoscue clinic in San Diego too (my daughter and I for sports injuries). I always grab this book if my neck is sore or if my back is aching. The exercises are easy- just a lot of positioning yourself on the floor and hanging out a few minutes every day in said position. Click here to check it out.
