Tools of the Trade

Pigment, with which one can make watercolors, oils, egg tempera, etc. Also, I think this is the last Tools of the Trade.

Tools of the Trade

Pallet knife(s). A lot of people use these in their painting, I use them for getting the top layer of paper off of the watercolor block. Most of the the block is sealed and there's about an inch where you can insert a pallet knife.

Tools of the Trade

Pens and nibs, I don't use them much but they can offer a wide range of line qualities, also mine are dirty...

Tools of the Trade

An essential tool for any drafts-person or just anyone who uses a compass a lot, is extra compass lead. Sadly, compass lead doesn't stay sharp forever and it reduces your accuracy when it gets dull, so new sharp lead is a great thing to have.

Tools of the Trade

This is a pastel pencil, and I don't remember what the color name was, or the number. I just have the one which I use sort of in the same way that I'd use a charcoal pencil, only a colored one. I'd like to get into pastels someday though.

Tools of the Trade

 This weeks tool is a kneadable eraser. They're great for working with charcoal because you can make them into whatever shape you need and when they get dirty you can clean them by kneading them.

Tools of the Trade

Charcoal pencils are this weeks tool. They work essentially like conte crayon but in pencil form.

Like drawing pencils, charcoal pencils also have different  grades of hardness or softness. Also they have white charcoal pencils.

Charcoal pencils are probably better for smaller areas or more detailed work and you could use charcoal sticks or conte crayon for the rest.

PS

watercolor

9x9in

2011

 On view at the Eccles Community Art Center July 2nd through September 1st.

Tools of the Trade

This week's tool, my geometry compass. As I've mentioned and posted about before, I have multiple compasses, the geometry compass is one of my favorites though. The cause for my favoritism is it's extreme usefulness.

Unlike my other compasses, my geometry compass came with several extras or tools. The extender bar is wonderful, sadly there is a limit to the diameter of circles you can make with a compass, it's incredibly frustrating to find yourself just short of what you need, with the extender bar, rather than having to find and buy a bigger compass (not a easy feat), you can use the bar to extend your compasses reach.

Another useful item is the converter that lets you use a regular pencil or pen as the drawing point for your compass.

Lastly, it comes with a spare compass lead which is just nice, I do have a pack of compass leads but I don't know how readily available they are.

Tools of the Trade

This week's tool is a square, there's probably a more technical term but the point of the tool is to make square edges. This square is 90-45-45 (90 degrees being a square angle) but you can also get them in 90-60-30. I have plastic ones but I would recommend getting a metal one, that way if you want to use your square as a straight edge to cut as well the plastic won't get shaved off.

Tools of the Trade

Conté crayon, conte crayon is like charcoal but in compressed stick form, I kind of like it better than charcoal, however stick form is not the easiest to draw with until you get to more of a point...I don't know how people who use it all the time deal with it. Conte crayon also comes in more than just black, I have black and white but I think they also do brown?

Also I'll try and find more exciting tools of the trade, however I'm not sure how long this series will continue, there are only so many tools of the trade. Then again as yet I've said nothing about papers and supports so we shall see.

Tools of the Trade

The ruler or straight edge is an essential tool to sacred geometry, the possibilities are limitless with a compass and straight edge as to what you can create. A metal ruler is a good thing to have because plastic ones can get melted or nicked up. It's also important to have a ruler long enough for whatever you might be doing. My ruler also has a cork underside which I think is supposed to keep ink from spearing if you use it on a pen.

I nearly forgot, aluminum rulers can leave lines on your paper (from the metal, not from what you wanted to do) so it's good to have a stainless steel ruler.

Tools of the Trade

My watercolor pallet is ceramic and sort of small and I should really get another one just like it. An essential tool in my watercolor process.

Tools of the Trade

When you have good brushes, you need to take care of them to keep them in good shape. There are various brush cleaners but I use this kind which was recommended to me.

I used to just use it for oils and I didn't think that I needed it for watercolors, I probably did a fair amount of damage to my brushes doing that, I now use it to clean my brushes whenever I use them, you can't get all the pigment and paint out of your brushes just rinsing them. Anyway, brush cleaner.

Tools of the Trade

Windsor Newton Series 7 brushes (watercolor brushes) are what I use. Near the end of school I bought them, quality brushes to last and to help create quality pieces. I for so long didn't think that an expensive brush would work any better than a cheaper brush would and in some cases that may be true but Windsor Newton Series 7 brushes are about the highest quality there is; there are reportedly huge waiting lists to get the larger sizes of brushes. Series 7 brushes are made of natural sable which holds the paint very well and stays together better than synthetic fibers. I have found my series 7 brushes to be wonderful and I've tried to take good care of them. I have them in sizes 0-4 and then one that's a 7 or 8.

Tools of the Trade

For this week's tool of the trade is another tool that I use when I watercolor. Sumi ink is used in Asian calligraphy and painting and I probably spelled it wrong. I'll be honest, I really don't know much about Sumi and the history, etc. it has. Sumi was recommended to me by my mentor when I was looking for a good black to use in my watercolors. I use it pretty much like a watercolor, except it comes in a stick so I have to sort of grind it into the water to make a paint, that may or may not be correct technique. I really should try to learn more about sumi but none the less, it's a tool I use.

Tools of the Trade

For this Tools of the Trade I have another... tool, for lack of a better term, that I use when I watercolor. Ox Gall. Yes it really is ox gall. I've been told that it tastes terrible (sometimes people stick their brushes in their mouth for various reasons, it's a bad habit it sounds like using ox gall and accidentally sticking your brush in your mouth could forever cure you of that.) I don't know about the taste but I do know that when I dropped the bottle and a bunch spilled out, it didn't smell really good (while it's been contained in the bottle I've never really noticed a smell.).
Anyway ox gall was recommended to me to solve a problem I was having. The problem was the pigment... not being well absorbed into the paper(?) if that makes any sense, anyway the remedy was to add ox gall to the water I use. Usually before I start painting I'll add a drop or two ox gall to the well before I mix up the paint. It's been working well for me and the bottle's lasted a long time (except for dropping and spilling).

Tools of the Trade

This week on tool of the trade the second half of my watercolors. Not long after graduating I bought myself some paints of a higher quality than I'd been previously using (Maimari Blu, good but not amazing) and so I turned to Kremer. Kremer mostly does pigments with which one can make their own paint but they do sell a smaller assortment of ready made watercolors. I did consider making my own watercolors but I read or heard that it was a tricky process and decided to postpone that adventure.
Kremer is a German company as well, which is not to say that German is the only way to go, Windsor Newton is an English/British company and their watercolors are rather famous (you just have to make sure that you get the high quality grades).
I've really enjoyed these paints.

Tools of the Trade

For this week a look at some of the paints I use. I was fortunate enough to have teachers that taught me the importance of using high quality materials, it makes a fair amount of sense that if you use higher quality materials your end product will also be higher quality. It was a bit hard though as a poor art student to get behind, higher quality materials also usually have a higher price tag. I have seen the difference in materials pay off though.
When I chose materials there's more than just the quality and price to be looked at, one thing I look for is a high quality and trusted brand of paints, usually this means one that's been around for a long time, it also usually means they're in Europe. The last time I was looking to get more color options for watercolor I researched and debated and decided upon Schminke.
Schminke is a German brand that was recommended to me by a trusted teacher.
After deciding on a brand there's still much more to do. I was taught to use single pigment paints/colors and to research how these pigments will interact with one another. I hadn't ever given it any thought but it's important to remember that your paints could have chemical reactions to one another, not explosions but reactions which could effect your colors and thus your paintings. I want my work to be archival and to be long lasting, in a hundred years or more I want my work to look the same or with very little variation. Anyway I when I find a single pigment paint in the color I'm looking for, I find out any information I can about how light fast it is, if it has a toxicity warning etc. After I've looked at what information's available I then consult The Materials and Techniques of Painting by Kurt Wehlte. The book has a section on pigments and for each pigment it gives various names it goes by, the chemical make up, how lightfast etc. it might be, what types of paint (oil, watercolor) the pigment works well in and what pigments you shouldn't use it with.


As a general rule I try to avoid pigments that are or could potentially be toxic but sometimes there's just not a good alternative, in those cases I read the MSDS (medical safety data sheet if I'm not mistaken) and find out how toxic and if it's safer in some mediums. Cadmiums are very toxic pigments due to their heavy metal make up. I do have a tube of cadmium red but I use it sparingly and consider the instructions in the MSDS.
Long winded but that's how I chose paints.

Tools of the Trade

Pencils are more effective to use when they're sharp, thus a pencil sharpener is an important tool and not all of them are created equally.


I use two pencil sharpeners, this Kum sharpener was recommended to me and I have found it to be a good sharpener, plus it has an extra blade for when the first wears out.


I also use this two holed sharpener which I believe came with a kit of art supplies that I got at some point. It's an alright sharpener and one of the holes is larger which is good for charcoal pencils etc.


I use drawing pencils and colored pencils and in theory I like to sharpen them with separate sharpeners so that I don't end up with colored pencil remains on a colored pencil piece or vice versa.

Tools of the Trade

In high school I didn't really appreciate too much about my art supplies, I used whatever I had or needed. In my first high school art class we were assigned to do a study off of a drawing/etching/engraving by Albrecht Durer. I worked very hard on the piece and was pleased by the way it turned out. I used three different pens, something you could tell on close inspection. When I took the piece home I proudly displayed it in my room, and then one day some water flooded through the ceiling in my bedroom and among other things, my drawing was ruined. That year for Christmas my parents, who felt bad about what happened, got me a set of micron pens that were waterproof.
Since that time that's pretty much all I've used for my pen and ink needs art wise. They're good pens, come in different tip sizes and they've lasted fairly well. They also claim to be archival although I don't know how accurate that claim it, for now I'm taking them at their word.
I use 05, 03, and 01. The only problem is that they're not great for major shaded areas but I suppose I really should be using something else for major shading anyway.