5 Tips For Saving Money on Art Supplies
This is a follow up to my video Art Supplies Are Expensive! Am I Wasting Them? • Etsy 2019 Free Shippin...
::1. Surfaces::
Alternatives to pre-stretched and primed surfaces:
Cardboard, chipboard or any heavy weight board primed with gesso
Wood scraps found at lumber yard or furniture makers, wood working shops (MDF, masonite, birch veneer plywood)
100% rag paper bit.ly/3WNpulQ
Acrylic gesso 32 oz Liquitex Acrylic Gesso
Fredericks canvas pad tinyurl.com/tr65xpy5
18” x 24” amzn.to/2R0OsPf
8”x 10” amzn.to/2L7CXSm
:: 2. Paint ::
Student grade paint (see "4 Types of Acrylic Paint” video for more info • 4 Types of Acrylic Pai... )
2 brands I have used in my classrooms
Liquitex Basics tinyurl.com/328cuyce
bit.ly/LIQBasics4pack
Winsor & Newton Galeria tinyurl.com/22vksbtv
bit.ly/WNGaleria10tube
:: 3. Brushes ::
Try to buy the best quality you can afford. The suggested brushes are for ACRYLIC painting. If you are painting with oils use similar sizes in these 4 shapes but buy brushes specifically designed for oils.
A starter set might be:
1. Long handled thin round (4 mm or smaller) size 1 or 2 Winsor & Newton Galeria or similar. tinyurl.com/4ws36aa8
goo.gl/X2bjIW
2. Flat Brush that is 1- 1.5 fingers (10 mm) width is a good place to start. The brush I'm using here is the Winsor & Newton Monarch Flat size 12 or similar tinyurl.com/4hddj4uy
goo.gl/dZe0xL
3. Filbert (about 15 mm) Winsor & Newton Artist's Acrylic Brush size 16 tinyurl.com/2cn4cuww
amzn.to/2NaNcYS
4. Bright Brush Da Vinci Size 20 (20mm wide) or similar tinyurl.com/2cn4cuww
amzn.to/2klXrg5
Watch my brushes video for more info. • Brushes for Acrylic Pa...
:: 4. Palette ::
magazine best for 1 -2 hours or less painting time.
Freezer paper freezer paper to use as palette paper
amzn.to/315A6ip
Butcher tray palette more investment up front but reusable, and environmentally friendly Metal butcher tray goo.gl/EhbnKs
large zip top bags for putting over tray palette to save paint amzn.to/3GotKlL
amzn.to/3VrdpAW
:: 5. Shop Sales ::
Back to school sales
Coupons (Michael’s has a coupon app, Dick Blick has regular sales and coupons. Who else where you are? Please share in comments.)
E-bay - buy from sellers with 97% rating or higher and allow returns, read reviews
Garage sales, estate sales, jumble sales
Some cities have re-use stores for art and craft materials.
In San Francisco Bay Area:
Scrap sites.google.com/scrap-sf.org...
801 Toland St, San Francisco, California 94124 (enter on Newcomb)
East Bay Depot for Creative Re-Use creativereuse.org
4695 Telegraph Ave. Oakland California USA
FabMo www.fabmo.org
Designer fabric and samples for creative re-use
970 Terra Bella Avenue, Suite 5
Mountain View, CA 94043
SHARE YOUR LOCAL RESOURCE IN THE COMMENTS, PLEASE!
Housepaint - not meant to last a long time, less pigment but for learning and practice.
📘MY BOOK
Seven Essential Practices for the Professional Artist” book (FREE PDF DOWNLOAD )
www.themindfulartist.com
“Seven Essential Practices for the Professional Artist” (READ ALOUD AS AN AUDIOBOOK)
• Audiobook: Seven Essen...
“Seven Essential Practices for the Professional Artist” (PAPERBACK ON AMAZON) goo.gl/fvsDFg
🌿 TIPS & MOTIVATION FOR YOUR STUDIO PRACTICE
Professional Practices, Tips, and Motivation for Artists
• Professional Practices...
🎨💻 ONLINE PAINTING CLASS
In-depth step-by-step video painting lessons on Craftsy. You’ll get some of my best tips on color mixing, layering and glazing, using acrylic mediums, gels, additives. Plus handouts and you can ask me questions directly on the forum.
Acrylic Stain Painting Workshop : shrsl.com/2ttks
👋 FIND ME HERE AND SAY HI!🙋🏻♀️
INSTAGRAM / micheletheberge
MY ART www.micheletheberge.com
RESOURCES & INSPIRATION www.themindfulartist.com
ETSY www.etsy.com/shop/birdyhop
*This description may contain affiliate links for which this channel receives a small commission at no extra cost to you. Using these links helps support this channel so we truly appreciate it when you do so!
I cut open used and rinsed milk cartons for palettes.
Oh my gosh! This is brilliant. Thanks for sharing that!
That is such a great idea. Now I have a use for empty soya milk cartons
If I can save on doing alternatives to canvases this makes it more easier for me to get a more better quality in paints
great idea indeed
Over the years I've invested hundreds of dollars in good brushes (getting better at caring for them), but my favorite - read "least worrisome" - brush happens to be a Crayola soft white-bristled round brush that I have used and abused for years (the kind that comes in a pack of 4 flat or 4 round for about $6). 😏
Love it! I remember those Crayola brushes from when I used to teach kids! Fantastic, Bonnie!
you can turn cheap brushes into expensive brushes by giving them a hair-cut too! Trim the ragged strands nice and neat and feather into shape!
I often find old canvases in charity shops (or Good-Will type places if you're US) and prime over them! Saved me an absolute fortune over the years!
Great tip! Thanks so much for sharing! I LOVE to hear ways people recycle and reuse stuff. People should note that acrylic gesso won't adhere or bond correctly to oil paintings, but if they are acrylic you can just pile up as much as you want on top. And if the painting is too textured and you need something smooth, you could always save the stretcher bars and stretch new canvas on top.
@@MicheleTheberge no worries, and thank you for your video! and that's an awesome tip - thank you :D
Me too !
Delighted I’ve found you... Very helpful. Thank you!
Delighted you're here, Shannah! And you are welcome!💚
Very helpful.thank you!
I'm so glad to hear it!
Thanks for the great tips, Michele. I have to add how great your hair looks! Love it !
Hey thanks so much! Glad the tips helped.
Yes. It is. I am a fast painter. I need a lot of material to do it over and over in order to improve my painting.
Wonderful!
Thank you so much I love your ideas you are now my best friend! ❤️
Yay! Thank you!
These are great tips. Thank you so much. I have found a lot of art supplies in Value Village like easels, Pochade box and even a set of unused pastel pencils in the tin. I suspect this art goldmine is due to the international art college here in Nova Scotia. When the students go home for the summer they leave everything behind. I've found some incredible art that way.
We don't have Value Village out here in California but when I was a teen the Washington DC one was a favorite. Glad you mentioned this so people don't overlook that as a potential place to find things.
Hey thanks for the heads up about Scrap. Hadn’t heard of it before. Living in Santa Cruz county, I don’t get up there too often, but will bring some supplies I don’t use & maybe pick up stuff I do next time I’m up there. I really appreciate places that focus on pooling supplies to offer to the public for the sake of reducing waste. For those in the Bay Area who read this and it applies to, FabMo does this for fabrics (and wallpaper, tile, carpet, some paper), usually smaller sample sizes, but great for small sewing or crafting projects. Thanks for the video!
Great tip! Thanks so very much!
I added FabMo to the description box! Thanks, again!
Thank you for the tips! I store my paint in airtight tapper box, or in mini plastic airtight boxes (?). (Sorry can't remember the name). I use canvas rolls, you can cut it and tape it down and gesso it. I haven't put any modeling paste yet to test. These help me exercise more. Anyway these are my saving thoughts.
Great idea about the canvas roll. Probably cheaper than canvas pads but it's the same thing essentially and you can cut it to whatever size suits!
I've used mix media paper for some acrylic paintings (suprisingly it can handle some water abuse but overdoing it destroys the paper but totally good for drybrushing)
Thanks so much for sharing, Luis! What kind of mixed media paper have you used? People here might be interested if you have a brand to share that you like. Did you gesso it first? It would probably prevent the paper getting destroyed with water.
@@MicheleTheberge canson brand
@@MicheleTheberge also the acrylic was from liquitex pro and basic
folder cardboard and cling wrap is a nice pallet lol, its pretty simple to clean and ive been using mine for a while, you can wipe it down or just toss the plastic, i usually wipe mine tho
Love this tip! Thanks so much for sharing! I'm sure it will be helpful to others!
seal-able wet palettes are easy to make and save you a ton on paints! because the not used residue can be reused in your next painting project, even if it is a week later!!
Thank you for that tip! It really is a great solution and I wish I had one to recommend. I had trouble with the ones I've used in the past. I didn't like the squishy sponge underneath as I prefer mixing on a hard surface and the lid did not seal properly. Do you have a brand to recommend that you like? Please share here.
@@MicheleTheberge i use one i made myself. a tupperware, 3 or 4 layers of paper towel, and baking/parchment paper (not wax paper!). this works really well for me, and the needed ingredients are readily available in most households! it is also probably the "hardest" wet palette. my biggest problem with this is the size. so i'll probably make another one with a bigger container. i heard of people using the big Ferrero Rocher chocolate boxes! you can make the same thing with cellulose kitchen sponge instead of the paper towel. as far as commercial products: i used 2. there is the Masterson Sta-Wet palette, which works fine. i used to exchange their paper for baking paper. the reason i'm not using it anymore is because i left it somewhere in my university. i hope i made someone happy! the Redgrass Gaming everlasting stdio xxl wet palette (what a name!) is the other one i can speak for. a friend of mine has this one, and let me use it. i like this one a lot! though the sponge is very much a sponge, so i don't know it you'll like it as much. it's also on the more expensive side, though it would be a one time investment. up to you how much you want to invest! as a side note: "blobs" of paint will survive easily for a week in your palette, if you seal it well. glazes will dry out on you quickly, though still slower than on a dry palette.
Great tips
Thanks so much for watching!
Thank you for this video! As a “medium beginner” found many “cheaper” ways to use my cotton paper (mist back & tape on surface. Now don’t use most expensive water colors “but artist grade” and on brushes, like other person said, Cheap one still going great after 3 years! Gesso use mostly on wood.
You are so welcome!
Great video.
Deborah Garretson Thank you so much! Glad it was helpful.
I try to use what I have...ex: plastic placemats for palettes, or old porcelain plates...etc. to save money for good paint. Make-up brushes can also be surprisingly good quality for the price.💜
Great tips, thanks!
I buy broken canvases from craft stores. They are usually VERY cheap and usually they only have maybe a small little tear. They can be easily patched. Also, many are sold in packs where usually kne is damaged, and I buy the pack for a very low price to get some perfectly fine canvases.
That's a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing here!
I’ve found canvas pads by fredricks and they aren’t really bad on prices.
Julie! I am so glad you mentioned this! I didn't have any around my studio so forgot to mention this as an option. Fredricks makes the BEST ones. They are real sheets of canvas with a good gesso. The other brands are often a plastic like paper with embossing to imitate canvas and don't take the paint as well in my opinion. Thanks!
Love Fredrick canvas pad! The best I’ve used so far
Can you do a video on how to make your brushes last longer? And how do you clean them that kind a video would really help a lot of us artist out!
I've got a video on that! kzhead.info/sun/q5GLmLaGsKeGqHk/bejne.html and the other video I linked should have some info on helping them last longer. : )
MY LOVELY TEACHER YOU LOOK MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN EVER..ALWAYS A JOY TO WATCH YOU...YOU HAVE A BIG BIG HUG FROM ALLOVER GREECE,,WE WISH TO SEE YOU MORE OFTEN... 🧡💛💚💙💜💖
Always so nice to hear from you Xrisa! I've missed you. Here's a big hug from Oakland back to you!
I use wax paper as a pallet. It’s very affordable and very easy to blend and scrape your paint.
Great tip! Good old wax paper! Non-plastic. Yay! I don’t think that many people know about our purchase wax paper anymore. But maybe it will make a come back now that people are trying to move away from plastics.
By the alternative to the canvases that means I’ll have more money for a better quality paint. I’m gonna have to go to Lowe’s and look at their scrap bins!
This is a great video. Thanks for the sharing the information. What are your thoughts about Acrylic Pads? I bought one from ‘Winsor & Newton’ and one from ‘docrafts Artiste’. ‘Winsor & Newton’ is decent, but it’s not very cheap. The one from ‘docrafts Artiste’ is rubbish and it’s not easy to paint on it. Can you suggest any specify brands for Acrylic Pads? Are there any think Acrylic sheets we can use?
Thank you for watching! What you call acrylic pads, I call canvas paper. I mention the Fredricks brand which is actual canvas in a pad form. I haven't found an Acrylic pad that I like myself. Usually too plastic-y the paint doesn't adhere well and I'd rather buy paper and put my own gesso on it. But I'm sure some people love them. It's really personal taste. I'll find a link for the Frederick's pad and put it in the description for you.
@@MicheleTheberge Thank you very much for taking time to respond. I really appreciate it. Do you recommend putting Gesso on Acrylic Pads/Acrylic Paper? I am a beginner and therefore looking to work on Acrylic Pads/Acrylic Paper instead of Canvas.
@@ciyengar You should be fine with the gesso they have already applied! No need for an additional coat.
I use sample pots of house paint to paint practice piecework
Great idea! Thanks for sharing the tip! I know we end up with lots of extra sample colors that I donate to our local art supply recycling center. Glad people like you put them to good use!
Portraits of film stars
I'm from Pakistan and really frustrated because i cannot buy these art supplies veriety here.can you tell me some websites where I can order them.
Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear this. Can someone from this area please help Mehwish?! Mehwish, I put some amazon links in all my description boxes. Did you see them? Will they work in Pakistan? Let me know! All my best to you.
Your butcher palette is huge, and I've never seen a ziploc bag even close to that size.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention! I'll add these links for large ziplock bags to the description for everyone's benefit: 14" x 16" bags amzn.to/3VrdpAW 16" x 19" and other sizes here: amzn.to/3GotKlL I also save the ziploc bags products I've purchased and reuse those.
I think it's crazy that liquitex is considered "affordable". Lol Golden is way out of my budget.
The Liquitex basics line is about 3x the amount of paint for about the same price . You can learn more about that on this video I made. kzhead.info/sun/n8l_e6qcmnV5hX0/bejne.html
K
What is your favorite brand of brushes?
I have so many. Have you checked out this video? I link some suggested brushes in the description box. Happy painting, Janice!
Film star’s
?
I am robot.