A place to encourage the creativity of artistic minds of all ages. Offering Ideas, Inspiration and Instruction and sharing the work of others who inspire me!
Over the course of my artistic career, I made the water spray bottle my number one tool to keep my palette wet and juicy. Otherwise the acrylics would for that plastic skin, eventually drying out completely rendering the useless! As mentioned in the palette talk
The biggest problem with Acrylic paints and oils are their inability to be reactivated once dry or video previously, I tried a wet palette that is sealable but found it too big, The idea we saw at this great channel, offered the great idea to make your own wet palette. Please check his videos out here at CLIVE5ART. Personally, we both prefer the method mentioned in the Palette Talk video.
But it would be great if we could find a palette that can be sealed. Craig and I would use a ziploc bag around a makeshift palette, like a disposable plastic or styrofoam plate. Even though we ziploc it, there is always a risk that the paint will dry out. As you will soon see, wasting precious, expensive artist paint is one of my biggest fear as an artist. We have a special story coming soon on that topic! Watch Our Sealable EBay Palette Test and Review Below
When I was shopping on Ebay.ca (I live in Canada). I was surprised to discover a sealable paint palette. So I thought I bet this would work for Craig when he uses the acrylics. Here is the link in Ebay to find it.
We received it after about 3 weeks. That is pretty good from China to Canada, Shipping was free, the cost about 17 dollars Canadian. I see today it's 15 dollars. Go figure. The first test would be to put paint in it and see if it truly does seal. You will have to watch the video to see what we discovered. One warning, ALWAYS read the size details before ordering online!
If you want to help out feel free to check out these links and share em! Love you all. Anita
Childhood Inspiration
Yay, it's Finally Friday! When you grow up in a creative family, you definitely are more likely to be creative yourself. It doesn't mean you won't be an artist if your parents didn't create, it just really helps. My parents always kept me well supplied with art making supplies. I remember before I fell in love with illustrating and painting, I really enjoyed all the craft making kits they would give me. Forgive me if I mentioned this before, but it is how much I loved getting to play around. Everything from wood burning kits, "Dip- It" liquid plastic, rug hooking, Spirograph, Coloured pencils, pints, pastels, plaster of paris, string art, macrame, weaving loom (Dad made me one and a spool knitting spool)...to even a paint by number set! Yes it is a sin now for anyone who paints, but hey it's great fun when you are a kid. So parents, encourage your child's creativity by providing them with art making supplies or anything that can be created with. Heck, I remember enjoying hours at my Grandma Harris' house cutting up styrofoam egg cartons to create teeny ashes and cutlery. Not to mention getting to create crafts with kits she would give me when I hung out there!
And then there's my Mom who taught me about crocheting, embroidery, and sewing. Creativity can be expressed in endless ways!
Dad Share
My Dad!
Wanted to share my Dad's newest painting that he shared wit us! He is an epic landscape painter who prefers oil paint. I like his detailed, layered brushwork. For those of you who don't know oil paint is the coloured pigments combined with oil mediums that make it oil paint. I tried it once and found it difficult because it takes much much longer to dry. The good thing that I liked, that you can re-work areas after. Unlike Acrylic (Water based, plastic like paint) that dries crazy fast. Fine if you know how to keep it wet with a spray bottle but frustrating if you don't.
It is worth buying a small Reeves oil paint set just to try them out. If you haven't decided what you like, you may fall in love with them.
Historically, many of the famous artists we know of like Monet, Picasso, VanGogh, Kandinsky, Keefe and the Group of Seven, painted with oils. It is fun to learn and try the different paints that exist. Paint Talk
Water colour and Gouache are the only paints that I know of and have worked with, that can be re-wet once dry. For instance once they dry in your palette, you can spray them with water and rehydrate them to use them some more. Whereas Acrylic, is tricky to keep from drying and then being useless. I and my husband keep them on a plastic plate for a palette, continuously moistened with water spray and stored in a sealed zip type bag. Oil Paints can be set aside during the day, with pretty much no worries about your palette drying out. To store, laying plastic wrap or sealing in a plastic container works too. Give them a try. See Some More Of My Dad's Paintings!
Well, I told you about my experimentation with mixing polymer clay brands. Now, I want to share a short video about experimenting with colour mixing. I don't mean mixing one colour of polymer clay with another to achieve yet, another colour. Nope, I mean trying to turn say white and/or translucent into an actual bright colour. I had already dabbled in mixing translucent with alcohol inks and mica powder, that has been done by others and worked fairly well if you want pastel hues. Maybe I did something wrong. It baked well and has lasted. Watch The short video below
This experiment arose when I was wanting to order a slew of colours from a polymer clay store in the USA, but since our dollar is not doing so great, I thought about how I could try to save a bit by mixing my own colours using white. For some reason, I chose to mix translucent promo clay with Premo white. I wish I could have recorded the entire process, but I assume boredom might set in for the viewer. So this video is a brief description of the materials I used to colour the clay. I did post the raw verses baked variations of the clay, because baking it, is the true test. It seemed to work. I used the following to create colours, sometimes I combined more than one medium. If you try this, and I suggest you do, make sure you try adding colour little by little. Keep an eye on how squishy and gooey it may get. It all depends on what you are hoping to achieve.
All I know, is yay, it worked. Regarding acrylic paints, experiment because they are water based and I found that turquoise craft paint was thick and worked well, no, I didn't let it dry, it was mixed in wet, as was everything else. And other acrylic paint, lime, was too water and did not work.
When using dry and oil pastels, careful shave the colour into a powder like substance. Avoid making chunks or it won't mix in. Unless, you want that chunky texture.
Oil Paint works really well. But, be careful because as you can see in the video, it can loosen the polymer clay a lot and make it too ooze to be used. So be cautious. If it gets to wet, you can try absorbing some of the extra oil by laying it between printer paper. That is what I have learned from many great You Tube tutorials. Not regarding oil paint in clay, but just if your clay from the package is too soft to hold the shape you want.
Pigment Ink, I used silver so it took lots and lots, and in the end it turned the clay pale grey. I had to blot silver from the pad directly onto the clay to get anything that looked like silver. But, know that you can use pigment ink on your polymer clay when it is raw and bake it.
Inka Gold is one of my favourite wax or water based pastes. It comes in really nice bold metallic hues. It has a tendency to dry out, but I learned that you can add warm water with a folded up baby wipe or I used a paper towel. Close the lid and let it re-hydrate. It can be mixed into the clay, and also used on the surface. Most add it once baked, but I tried it raw and nothing bad happened. So experiment. I did mix it using a bit of craft paint it worked okay and stayed true to colour when baked.
Alcohol ink, is something that isn't in this video, but like I said, I used it before and it works well to colour clay. It can be messy, but as you know, I like messy. It is wonderful to feel the clay and mix it in by hand.
Mica Pigment Powder also known as eye shadow basically, can also be used to either accent a piece of raw clay as well as be mixed into raw clay to colour it. Metallic or Pearl clays by PREMO and other brands are created when translucent clay is mixed with a lot of mica powder to give it that shimmery effect. Maybe they add other pigment, not sure.
A combination, alcohol inks, mica and glitter.
Hope you there is something useful for you here. I would love to see your experiments in colourizing clay and any other creations. Also if you have thought, comments or questions, please write them below and don't forget to like, subscribe and share this if you like :o)
Thanks for stopping by!
HeArtfully Creating,
Anita
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