Favorite Art Supplies

Every day, more and more new and exciting art supplies hit the shelves. New formulas, polymers, methods and techniques are constantly being invented, rennovated and reworked to make even more exciting stuff for people like me to get all fired up about.

I always love reading product reviews from fellow artists, bloggers and other people I trust. They usually aren’t being paid to talk about it, and it gives me a sense of reassurance knowing I’m not being scammed or something. So, the following is a list of some of my favorite products. Some are new, some are old classics, but all of them are products I use almost daily and couldn’t live without.

Jacquard Lumieres - You guys, these paints are fucking awesome. Metallic acrylics have been around for a while now, but up until these came out (a few other brands make similar products, another one I know of is Byzantia, but I haven't tried it yet) they usually had the consistency of regular craft acrylic. Thick, with bad opacity. You guys, these paints glide on like silk and have the most amazing glow and opacity. They have mica powders actually in them, and they come in 32 awesome colors, categorized by Traditional Metallics, Pearlescents, Halo's, and Hi-Lites. They're light-body, so it amazes me how opaque they are.

My favorite thing to do with these is mix some Lumiere paint with the same amount of water, and do a light wash over something I've already coated in regular acrylic craft paint. My god, it makes them pop like crazy. You can also mix them straight with the acrylic paint. If you like shimmer, these are definitely something to pick up. High quality, and not too pricey at around $4 for a 2.25 fluid ounce jar.

Elmer's Opaque Painters Paint Markers - I literally cannot tell you how many "opaque" paint pens I have tried over the years. Normally they go on like water, soak into the paper, and there's nothing "opaque" about them. But time after time, I come back to good old Elmer's. These pens are so great for embellishing, for writing on top of dark surfaces and for other general decorative purposes. I use them constantly, especially in my visual journal spreads. It's nice to break up a bunch of black handwriting with some nice white here and there.

They're water-based, so they don't smell, and they dry so quick so you don't have to worry about smudging them too much like you do with other paint markers. I've never had one malfunction, skip, or leak on me, and they come in a variety of colors and tip sizes. Love them.

Portfolio Water-Soluble Oil Pastels - Some of you might remember playing with oil pastels back in grade school art class. Well, these are a far cry from those broken up, brittle smelly oil sticks. These oil pastels are SO creamy, and glide on like butter. You can use your fingers to blend them, and they're water-soluble so you can do all sorts of crazy stuff with them.

I use them a lot in my visual journal pages, to add color to an area I'm not satisfied with. I also use these a lot on my mixed-media collage pieces. They do stay a bit tacky after you use them, so I normally spray on a coat of acrylic spray varnish to keep everything in place. I don't worry about it too much in my visual journals, smudging hasn't been a problem at all for me so far.

Stazon Ink Pads - I seriously could not make art without these ink pads. I carve a lot of my own stamps, and I use a lot of stamps in general in my work. I use them to embellish, for titles and headers, and to add emphasis. Stazon ink pads are amazing, because they literally go onto any surface. They're solvent inks, meaning they're permanent and require the Stazon cleaning solution to clean your stamps. I just use a bit of rubbing alcohol on a paper towel to clean my stamps, though.

They come in an incredible variety of colors and shades, with more being added all the time. Stazon also produces their Brilliance line, which is ink with a bit of glitz. Stazon also sells re-inkers, so in the event your pad dries out over the years, you can re-ink it and go without having to buy another stamp pad. I love these. Hard.

Twinkling H2o's - Twinkling H2o's are shimmery watercolor paints that I use in my visual journal pages for backgrounds, as well as to embellish watercolor pieces. These are amazing. I love anything that shimmers or gives more visual depth to a piece, and these definitely accomplish that.

They're non-toxic, affordable, and come in a crazy variety of 156 colors. So good.

These are just a few of my favorite products, and I plan on adding more to this list when I get the chance/have the energy. What are your favorite products?