EttaVee's Art Resources
Hello fellow art friends! I am often asked which art materials I use, so I wanted to share a few of my favorite supplies that I use. I’m always exploring new materials, so I hope to continue to add to this post as I find new materials that I love.
Since I live in France, I purchase most of my materials here. That said, many of the brands I use are available all over the world. I want to share what I use, so there will be a few French supplies in here, but the majority of my favorite supplies can be purchased at any art store or online!
Note: This post contains some affiliate links. I may make a small commission if you decide to purchase through these links at no cost to you.
Paints
My paint of choice is acrylic! Their quick drying quality is what initially drew me to them. It's the medium that matches my brain speed. When i'm painting I get into a flow where I need to keep moving and painting through my thoughts. I love the opaqueness of heavy acrylics and how easy they are to manipulate with added water or retardant.
I currently use many different paint brands because sometimes a girl just falls in love with a certain hue a brand offers!
Paint brands I use:
Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic <— professional line
Liquitex Basics <— great for beginners
Brushes
At the moment, my brush collection is a combination of inexpensive and mid-range priced brushes. I must admit, I’m not best at taking care of my paint brushes and don’t buy pricey brushes often. When I do, I buy from the Raphael line. I'm a fan of their smooth and silky bristles.
My absolute favorite brush for creating my bold brush strokes is actually an inexpensive watercolor brush by the Daler Rowney Graduate series (Simply Simmons in the US). I love using their 1” Oval Wash brush.
Brushes I recommend:
Learning/student brushes - Since they’re less expensive you don’t have to feel precious about working with them, and can achieve some very cool brushstrokes!
If you’re in Europe, Sostrene Grene has wonderful inexpensive nylon brushes that I LOVE!
I also like to purchase my large brushes from the hardware store. I make sure the brushes are good quality with strong bristles so that they don’t leave brush fibers on my canvas. Art store quality without the art store price ;)
Bonus Tip! I was recently gifted a brush cleaning puck that you put in the bottom of your water jar. It’s been a game changer for me!
Professional Canvas
If you’re creating original artwork to sell, these are the canvas brands and types I recommend.
Stretched Canvas
I’m a big fan of pre-gessoed gallery or museum wrapped canvas. Gallery/ museum wrapped canvases have a depth of 1.5” or more. It creates a nice deep visual canvas experience and allows paintings to appear more refined and expensive. There’s also a lot of space to continue your paintings on the sides.
United States: Blick Gallery & Museum Profile
Un-Stretched Canvas
I used pre-gessoed un-stretched canvas for all of my large format painting needs. Sometimes I will paint large format pieces on pre-stretched canvas and remove them from the frame to ship. However, I have found it’s MUCH more cost effective to purchase my canvas on a roll. This allows me to save money and create custom sizes!
Here’s where I purchase my un-stretched canvas:
Practice Canvas
If you’re just practicing, it’s totally ok to use more cost-effective canvases like these canvas panels!
Pastels
I'm a huge fan of Sennelier oil pastels! Their colors are so vibrant and buttery! My current favorite color is No. 227 "Bleuet" I've been adding it to all of my pieces lately for a hit of rich vibrant blue. This blue also reminds me of the south of France. This is beautiful blue can be often found in Provence, decorating homewares, shutters, and doors!
Gold & Metallics
I'm a huge fan of all things sparkly and gold and am obsessed with adding hits of gold to my work. A medium I've become quite a big fan of is gilding wax. This stuff smells crazy strong and is flammable, but the result is rich buttery goodness. It's creamy and waxy and can be used on many surfaces such as wood, metals, glass — anything really!
I also use gold leaf in lots of my paintings. Check out one of my favorite gold leaf brands here. And if you want to learn how I apply gold leaf, check out this blog post where I walk you through the entire gold leaf process!
Metallic Pens (Oil based)
I love gold paint pens for adding fine metallic details to a piece my favorite brand is DecoColor!
Acrylic Paint Pens
Posca Pens are my jam when it comes to adding opaque details to my pieces. The colors POP on top of any color!
Posca Paint Pens (Thin Tip)
Posca Paint Pens (Medium Tip)
Varnish
Varnishing your paintings is so important to prolong their life and vibrancy! Here are my preferred varnishing tools:
Learn how to varnish a painting in this blog post!
Palettes
More often than not, I use disposable paper palettes when I’m painting. They make cleanup a breeze! Plus you can repurpose them into fun projects after the paint has dried. Here are my go-to palettes for acrylic painting!
What are some of your favorite art materials? I'd love to know!
Happy creating :)
xo, Jessi
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