A 30 tube set of beginner/student acrylic paints with 2 canvas boards included. $9 on sale down from $14.
The cheapest mathomat (for drawing circles to shade and drawing radial lines from a vanishing point). $11.
And a cheap set of kids binoculars to watch the maggies from a distance without alarming them. (I’m especially looking out for the one with a broken beak because I’m worried about its wellbeing.) Like $13.
I really wish that I’d just bought the poster paint from the start because painting that square of cardboard used up both my tiny tubes of yellow Anko paint and it’s still translucent and patchy. I’ll go over it again a few times with the cheap fluoro. Doesn’t matter if it’s ugly. Those whiteflies better be lured into these homemade sticky traps. I’m making a bunch.
I have to say it was fun though. Been a bit paralysed to crack into the paints and even a crappy disposable project has taught me how the paint behaves and how I need to work to reduce the appearance of brushstrokes. It might help if I go on to doing stuff like priming surfaces and toned ground.
I bought another paint set because it had very similar yellows to the ones I used up but also it had magenta. A lot of cheap sets leave it out but it’s considered a primary colour and apparently you can’t mix it yourself - you can try but you risk unwanted muddiness. I’m disappointed that it didn’t have a dark brown though. But I have the brown in the Kmart set.
Bit of a mixed bag. There are a fair few secondary and tertiary colours I probably wouldn’t need, a few colours with the proper standard names!!! but I’m not sure if they match up in colour to the official shade. The pthalo blue and ultramarine look really similar, at least in the tube, and the ‘cyan’ looks suspiciously pastel. I need to go double check what it should look like. I do have a little unnamed Anko tube that might be close enough to cyan though.
Hmm… Yeah. There are particular colours I always look for because I know they’re foundational and would get heavy use but even in a big set it doesn’t have all the basics. It is intended for kids.
But still. It was an alright deal. Maybe if I look carefully and do some experimental mixes I can work out which tubes correspond to the standard colours called for. Maybe I just need more experience.
If I can get off my butt and actually use these up/gain some skill then I can budget for some better quality paints and buy the specific colours I want individually. (Which right now would be quite expensive.)
Edit: I’m still half asleep. It’s not cyan but ‘cerulean’ so I will have to pinch hit.
I wish I’d got some gesso. I know cheap materials are false economy but while learning I think even a bargain bin tub of gesso and leftover cardboard would be cheaper than buying canvases.
I believe it’s possible to make your own gesso - there must be some recipies out there on the net. Dunno if cheaper, but might be better quality. Artists generally not being super rich and are creative.
Oh it absolutely is. I remember seeing something about using leftover latex house paint and perhaps chalk. But that’s a fair effort
Edit: actually checked and there’s a recipe that’s more doable but I don’t have a large enough quantity of white acrylic paint and don’t want to use glue as it can yellow.
Anko gesso is very cheap - it’s just the acquiring of goods that’s annoying
That walk was a lot… I crashed and woke up now.
Art rambles/what I bought yesterday
Looking over my purchases.
A $3 bottle of fluoro yellow poster paint.
A 30 tube set of beginner/student acrylic paints with 2 canvas boards included. $9 on sale down from $14.
The cheapest mathomat (for drawing circles to shade and drawing radial lines from a vanishing point). $11.
And a cheap set of kids binoculars to watch the maggies from a distance without alarming them. (I’m especially looking out for the one with a broken beak because I’m worried about its wellbeing.) Like $13.
I really wish that I’d just bought the poster paint from the start because painting that square of cardboard used up both my tiny tubes of yellow Anko paint and it’s still translucent and patchy. I’ll go over it again a few times with the cheap fluoro. Doesn’t matter if it’s ugly. Those whiteflies better be lured into these homemade sticky traps. I’m making a bunch.
I have to say it was fun though. Been a bit paralysed to crack into the paints and even a crappy disposable project has taught me how the paint behaves and how I need to work to reduce the appearance of brushstrokes. It might help if I go on to doing stuff like priming surfaces and toned ground.
I bought another paint set because it had very similar yellows to the ones I used up but also it had magenta. A lot of cheap sets leave it out but it’s considered a primary colour and apparently you can’t mix it yourself - you can try but you risk unwanted muddiness. I’m disappointed that it didn’t have a dark brown though. But I have the brown in the Kmart set.
Bit of a mixed bag. There are a fair few secondary and tertiary colours I probably wouldn’t need, a few colours with the proper standard names!!! but I’m not sure if they match up in colour to the official shade. The pthalo blue and ultramarine look really similar, at least in the tube, and the ‘cyan’ looks suspiciously pastel. I need to go double check what it should look like. I do have a little unnamed Anko tube that might be close enough to cyan though.
Hmm… Yeah. There are particular colours I always look for because I know they’re foundational and would get heavy use but even in a big set it doesn’t have all the basics. It is intended for kids.
But still. It was an alright deal. Maybe if I look carefully and do some experimental mixes I can work out which tubes correspond to the standard colours called for. Maybe I just need more experience.
If I can get off my butt and actually use these up/gain some skill then I can budget for some better quality paints and buy the specific colours I want individually. (Which right now would be quite expensive.)
Edit: I’m still half asleep. It’s not cyan but ‘cerulean’ so I will have to pinch hit.
I wish I’d got some gesso. I know cheap materials are false economy but while learning I think even a bargain bin tub of gesso and leftover cardboard would be cheaper than buying canvases.
fun is awesome 🙂
I believe it’s possible to make your own gesso - there must be some recipies out there on the net. Dunno if cheaper, but might be better quality. Artists generally not being super rich and are creative.
Oh it absolutely is. I remember seeing something about using leftover latex house paint and perhaps chalk. But that’s a fair effort
Edit: actually checked and there’s a recipe that’s more doable but I don’t have a large enough quantity of white acrylic paint and don’t want to use glue as it can yellow.
Anko gesso is very cheap - it’s just the acquiring of goods that’s annoying