Art Supplies

[FairyCrystal]

When I first started painting again around 2009 I mostly worked with cheap canvas and oils and brushes. I couldn't afford much and I recall not even having framed canvasses at first. Someone fell for me and send me larger unframed canvas to use so I could at least paint.
So when I got my first framed canvasses I was over the moon in spite of them being cheap ones. I barely dared use them, suddenly it felt real, and with that a bit scary to mess it up, hihi.

After a number of years I got better, learnt more technique etc. and with that came the wish to paint on better quality canvas and with better quality paints.
So in spite of still not having much money I began to buy them. Not top quality as that's simply not affordable for me, but studio quality at least.
With that the certainty that my work would last a long time, frames would stay straight instead of bend like the cheap ones tend to do over time etc. etc.
The wooden frame of the better ones is wider, and no way will these ever bend. So it's more than just better quality canvas which is much nicer & easier to paint. It's also the frame itself.

Last year I made the change-over from water soluble oils to acrylics. I like it so much that I doubt I will go back anytime soon. But it did mean investing in more paints, new and more colours as my supply of acrylics was very limited since I'd always invested in my oils.

Then there's the brushes... I mostly have real cheap ones, the sets a la Dollar Store. Over here the Action store is equivalent to that I think.
I don't use these because they're cheap but because they work miraculously well for me. I once bought very expensive ones specifically designed for water soluble oils, didn't work for me at all. I use the backs to stir my Gesso, the brush to clean out my keyboard or PC. Total waste of money.

Then I got brushes from Bob Ross in. 2", 1", fan and liner brush. I love 'em!
Use them a lot too except for the fan as I cannot work with fan brushes.

Then last week I came across another painter on YouTube, Michael James Smith. His work looks like photographs?! I was stunned!
He uses brushes he had designed and sells in his store. One he uses for texture, foliage etc. piqued my interest!! The bristles aren't all in the same direction but various directions which creates this marvelous effect.
I wanted one!!
Unfortunately it was rather expensive and shipment from the US as well.
Hmmffff...
I couldn't find any like that in The Netherlands. I even phoned 2 large art supply shops. They just don't have it?!
Then I found another brand, Tony something. But cheaper and on sale. I decided to sod it and go for it.
I bought a L & S trees & texture brush and a Merlin brush. The later is similar but works slightly different.

Can't wait for them to arrive and to put them to the test! They've already left the UK, shouldn't take too long :)

Quite a beautiful process over the years, going from painting on paper to my first canvas and advancing from there :)

[Redchic12]

FairyC. Another thing that works really well with trees, is dipping a ripped up sponge in the paint and patting it lightly on to the canvas.

Those brushes sound amazing tho. I haven’t seen them over here.

[Podshell]

Do you have a close up of the bristles of that brush?maybe one could be made from joining two or more small brushes together,Redchic,what is the blue paint you used on that second painting on your thread and where do you get it?

[FairyCrystal]

These are the ones I bought. If you want to see them in action you can click the video. It's cut off at a bit of an angle.
https://www.artsupplies.co.uk/p/terr...-texture-brush

And this is the Merlin brush that can do slightly different things as shown in the vid of this one.

https://www.artsupplies.co.uk/p/terr...n-merlin-brush

This is the one by Michael James Smith:
https://shopmichaeljamessmith.com/co...brush-series-3

I'm not certain anymore as I've looked at so many, but I believe that apart from the bristles not going in the same direction, they're also not the exact same length. This helps to create this wonderful effect when painting, especially if you want to make it look very realistic.
Michael James Smith even does thatched roof with it!! And it looks 100% like a real thatched roof, it's truly amazing, the man is a wizard.
Now I don't see myself painting like he does as I simply don't have the patience -he does larger sections with liner even!!- which goes too far for me.
But I sure as heck can pick up some new techniques


If interested you can see his work and how he uses the brushes here:
https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelJamesSmith/videos

[Redchic12]

Podshell. Re the blue paint. Sorry but which painting are you referring to?

[Podshell]

Sorry unable to get links at mo FC so will check them later,also same with your art deco thread Red,but I am sure it is the second painting on that link,the mainly blue one.

[Redchic12]

Ok so I think you are referring to the painting of the lady with red hat and blue outfit. If so, I used ultramarine blue, straight as undercoat and second coat I think I added a bit of black to darken it. Then when it dried I went in with straight blue again.

[Podshell]

Cheers FC look's like some of the bristles are different lengths, may try experimenting with some old brushes snipping at some of the bristles with a nail clipper, the paintings are, as you say, very photograph like too. RC You got a really good blue using that technique, thought it could have been some special paint.

[FairyCrystal]

Back to the topic...

There's also a Bob Ross foliage brush. I believe it is 1" (2,5cm) which was too big for what I'm currently looking for. No doubt it'll be great when working on larger projects and wanting some speed, which I usually like, hihi. But right now I want to have brushes for the smaller & more precise work and learn to do that.

[Redchic12]

Thanks Podshell. I was really pleased by the finished piece.