Share Your Favorite Art Supplies!

[Charlie O’Shields Keymaster]

I’ll kick things off, since I’m also testing things to see if this will work! I have tried lots of different watercolor setups and brands, but I keep going back to where I first started: Joe Miller’s travel set and palette and M. Graham Paint (really love honey-based paint!).

[Claire Bureau Participant]

Hi Charlie.  I have read that honey-based paints can be tricky to use outdoors, as bees are actually attracted to it!  Have you ever had that problem?

[Kate Powell Participant]

I’ve never had bees bother me but I do have trouble with them drying quickly in Portland Oregon so I use them only in studio.  I love them tho – wonderful colors.

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by  Kate Powell.

[Charlie O’Shields Keymaster]

I’ve never had a bee problem, though I was warned about that in the very beginning. I typically paint indoors, even when I make my initial sketch outdoors, so it’s never really been a problem for me.

[Cathy Inzer Participant]

This reply has been marked as private.

[Charlie O’Shields Keymaster]

I list the colors and paints that I use at the bottom of each post, as they sometimes change, but my little metal palette is from Cheap Joe’s and has M Graham watercolors in it. Here’s the original post that lists those colors: https://doodlewash.com/my-little-palette/

[Jennifer McLean Participant]

gosh, I really do love this set Charlie. I have it on my wish list some day. I love that it uses metal tubes for water, not plastic. It’s all so well made!

 

[Charlie O’Shields Keymaster]

Yeah, I just don’t care for the way water beads on plastic. I found a little 10 well white anodized aluminum palette at an art store and bought a couple extra ones. It never came back and I can’t find it online. Glad I stockpiled! lol

[Kate Powell Participant]

Charlie can you put this forum in the right-side list so I can find it easily… navigating is still hard for me as I get used to your site.  I ofund it but can’t delete this dang comment!!!!!  AAACK!

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by  Kate Powell.

[Charlie O’Shields Keymaster]

Great idea! I just added Recent Forum Topics and a Forum Search to the sidebar. And sorry about that… forums are structured differently so you can’t delete comments (or it causes broken pages). But thanks for the other cool idea… hehe… I have now made it possible to mark a comment as private so it only goes to the person and not viewed publicly! 😃 (I think… all still needs to be tested as always… thanks for jumping in and trying this. It really helps me get it right!)

[Kate Powell Participant]

I googled the kit and that is a great price for sturdy well-thought out !

[Charlie O’Shields Keymaster]

Yeah I really love it… and true… the price is sort of unbelievable. I’ll have had mine for two years this fall and it’s holding up great! I don’t travel a ton with it, but I love the compactness and since I sketch small it holds my entire studio! hehe

[Claire Bureau Participant]

I don’t know if anyone else has tried this product.  I got it as a freebie in an order from either Cheap Joe’s or Jerry’s (been a while so I don’t remember) and I hadn’t used it until recently (I honestly thought it was a marker so I had put it away!!)  It is called Molotow Grafx Masking Fluid, and it comes as a pen-like applicator so you can draw fine-ish lines easily (mine is the 2mm size) .  I was really happy with how easily it went on, how blue it was on paper, how easily it came off (Arches paper), and how effective it was at preserving the small areas of white I needed (I will post the finished painting sometime next week (I hope!)).  Anyone else tried it?

Here is a link to Amazon, but I’m sure you can get it elsewhere.

https://www.amazon.ca/Molotow-Grafx-Masking-Fluid-Fine/dp/B00U6KP2KC/ref=pd_bxgy_229_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5F77NE8ZB3RGN9387Z9T

I am surprised by the markdown on the price…. I hope it doesn’t mean it’s been discontinued!

[Tonya L Participant]

Claire, I have one of these and just love it! Waaayyy better than trying to put down masking fluid with a brush. I have noticed that it picks up pigment if I use it on top of a layer of paint, but a lot of the other brands do that also. I’ve got the 4.0 mm tip but I’d like to get the thin tip also. I’ll check Amazon… maybe it’s still available at a great price!

[Jennifer McLean Participant]

thanks for the link! I added this to my list to purchase, I’ve tried frisket before and it’s so terrible on brushes, this sounds perfect!

[Sandra Strait Participant]

I can’t seem to get the reply button to work, but I’m replying to Clare Bureau post … “It is called Molotow Grafx Masking Fluid, and it comes as a pen-like applicator so you can draw fine-ish lines easily (mine is the 2mm size)”

I’ve been looking hard at these.  Currently, I use the slanted end of some of my plastic paint brushes, which works well because I have several different sizes.  I like Pebeo Drawing Gum masking fluid because it dries very quickly and peels off easily.  So far, I haven’t had any problem with it on any paper I’ve tried (even non-watercolor paper) and even if I leave it on for days.

Still, the Molotow Grafix pen looks awfully handy.  *sigh* I’m such a glutton for art products!

[June Hadaway Participant]

I will look into this. Thank you for sharing. I have used the liquid with an old brush then had to clean the brush with vaseline. The brush was good for one use before having to clean it.

[Peggy Berk Participant]

I bought that kit recently but find it a bit heavy….and replaced the palette with a Meeden tin (you can actually fit 21 half pans into the 12 half pan tin!!) as I like to be able to switch out the pans in my palettes and this one didn’t allow for that…  The quality of the items in the kit is really high.

 

I tried some M.Graham paints for the first time a few weeks ago – totally seduced by the colors! — but the Transparent Red iron Oxide and the Azo Green dried sticky and didn’t self level, which I’ve never encountered before unless using a medium…

[Kate Powell Participant]

(I’m relying to Claire Bureau but think I made a mistake).

Thanks for that.  I use Fineline but am always on the lookout for better thin masking.

They do these specials on Amazon to see if there is a market for them.

• This reply was modified 2 months ago by  Kate Powell.

[Tonya L Participant]

Peggy, M Graham is my go-to brand. I’ve used it for a couple of years now and never noticed that, and I live in a very humid climate. I wonder why only those two colors did that? I use both of those and never had a problem, so you may want to reach out to them. It might be an issue in production? Worth letting them know!

[Peggy Berk Participant]

Tonya – I will have the opportunity to use more M. Graham colors and get to know the line and the characteristics of the paint better …. I won one of the M.Graham giveaways during World Watercolor Month!!

[Thank you Charlie for sponsoring those giveaways on doodlewash!]!

[Charlie O’Shields Keymaster]

Just saw your note, Peggy! It’s my pleasure! Let us know what you think of the new colors!!

[Peggy Berk Participant]

Tonya, I did note the problem with those two M. Graham colors in a review I did at the point of purchase (and also noted that I had no similar issues with the other colors in the line — though my experience with the line is pretty limited).  In general, I find that sellers or manufacturer’s are usually monitoring their reviews and will get in touch if they believe there is a production or other issue particular to the specific sample.  But I have seen other comments in various forums and reviews to the effect that the M. Graham watercolors stay “sticky” in pans…  which I am told is because they use honey in their binder.

 

[Sandra Strait Participant]

I live an hour or so away from the M Graham factory, and toured it about a year ago.  It was interesting to discover that all the work is done in two buildings (one for storage and one for creating the paints and putting them in tubes), with about 14 employees.  I learned some interesting facts too, such as the reason Cobalt is so expensive isn’t because the mineral is expensive — it’s actually cheaper than Ultramarine –but the fact is it takes so much of mineral to get good color.  I’m crazy and have to constantly try out new products, just to see what they’re like, but I always come back to the M Graham.  They’re just such a good bang for the buck.

• This reply was modified 1 month ago by  Sandra Strait.

[Charlie O’Shields Keymaster]

That’s awesome!! Yeah, M. Graham is great… I’ve been using them a lot over the past couple years and they’re a wonderful paint. I actually got the chance to tour Da Vinci Paint Co. while on holiday this weekend and got to see the process of making paints. It’s amazing! I had no idea what went into it! (also love Da Vinci as well, they rewet just as easily and have the same vibrant colors at a good price… I’ve been alternating between the two lately! hehe… Da Vinci is a bit more forgiving if you want to lift paint since it has a rewetting agent to keep it pliable, but without the honey that’s tougher to rework once it’s on the paper. I tend to get enthusiastic while painting and make a lot oopsie daisies! 😊lol).

[SnehLata Maheshwari Participant]

Carlie as when I see your paintings .i finding them so shining and u r colours speaks it self.

I am using winsor n Newton, sennelier as ttthey are work well but i feel some thing  isare  missing in my colours. What can it be be ?

Can you plz understand my point.

Advice plz.n come soon

Thanks

 

[Charlie O’Shields Keymaster]

Thanks Snehlata! I use M. Graham and Da Vinci Paint Co. paints as both have really vibrant colors. That said, even though I work quickly, I do try to build up my colors by adding glazes of transparent color (you should wait for them to dry completely between layers, but I’m often too impatient… hehe). I tend to work in a circle… letting one part dry as I move around the page. I never have more than an hour to paint each day and often less. I took some process shots of the peppers I painted recently, and will post them one day once I can assemble my notes! 😊

[Sandra Strait Participant]

Charlie, you sound like me with the ‘oopsie daisies’.  I’m very much a go with the flow, though, so I often just end up with a much different painting than I started out to do, lol.  I have a goal of owning a set of every brand of paints in the world.  Unfortunately, the pocketbook is less expansive than my goal.  Doesn’t keep me from trying though!

[Charlie O’Shields Keymaster]

Yeah, nothing I make ever turns out like I imagine, but I think that’s all part of the fun of watercolor! hehe And yay to owning all the paints… hehe… there are still some I’ve yet to try, but I keep going back to my favorites over and over again, so I’m content with those.

[Sandra Strait Participant]

You may all hate me for telling you this, but did you know that Jerry’s Artarama has a $1-$2 sampler section?   I had an order that fell about $6 shy of the free shipping, so I bought some Mimik brushes and a surprising nice little mixed media sketchbook (though it has a strange smell) from Creative Mark.  Nice way to try out products.

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