Art Supplies: 100th Anniversary at Dick Blick Today: 25 % off Everything!

A quickie post: Today I wandered into Blick Art Materials, needing some Soft Gel Medium. Lo and behold, they were giving away free t-shirts, waters, snacks, demos, eco-shopping bags, markers, and more! It turns out today is Blick's 100th Anniversary, so everything in the store is marked 25% off.

Here's a hint on what's currently on my Design Wall and why I needed more Gel Medium.

Thanks to the sale, I loaded up on a few other supplies, but of course, I ended up buying the wrong type of Gel Medium -- Regular instead of Soft. Anything to do with acrylic media -- even the paints -- confuses me. You should see all the different types on the shelf: They even carry a Gel Medium that adds a pebbly texture to your surface.

By the way, Blick's is starting to carry a lot more stuff to interest the fabric artist, including Soda Ash for dyeing, every form of Jacquard fabric paint, stencil brushes, unique and wonderful collage papers, and more. Sadly for me, Blick's stocked hardly any Setacolor (I need yellow).

Anyways, if you've been eyeing something and want to get a good and rare discount, get thee over to Blick's!

Addendum: Derwent Inktense Watersoluble Ink Pencils work supremely well for drawing/coloring on fabric, according to Quilt Visions Critique Group members Trish and Dave Charity. I watched a demo at Quilter's Paradise during the Cruisin' Quilters Shop Hop, witnessing vibrant results. I'll let you know how I like mine! Sets of these pencils are expensive, so maybe today's the day? :)

Sketchbook Sunday

Morning Glory Climbing the Drink Cart

Yesterday I spent a pleasant afternoon with my sketchbook, a pen, some Caran d'Ache water-soluble crayons, a waterbrush, and my watercolors.

I sketched "plein air", from life, but took a photo during the sketching session.

Finally, I used my new "nice" Moleskine sketchbook -- the one I didn't feel I was "good enough" to use in my previous sketchbook post. Silly, huh? I'll make this my April submission to the Sketchbook Challenge. It's free and lots of fun, so join up: especially if you think you can't draw. Everyone can draw!

This month's theme is "Branching Out/Out on a Limb." The idea is to stretch yourself in some way. I stretched by using my Caran d'Ache crayons with water for the morning glories; also, the composition branches out. I'll try to work on more sketches for April this week.

Art supplies can be baffling, I know. So much is out there! So here's a photo of some of my favorites, and a bit about each one.

Some favorite sketching supplies.

From top, a collapsable water container, with a handle, gives a nice quantity of water for those long outdoor sessioons. A very reasonable set of brushes, from Dick Blick, serve well as a starter set. Above the red brushes sits a water brush. It's super convenient while out in nature -- or anywhere you don't want to deal with a water container. The messy looking thing in the center is a folding palette; your thumb goes in that thumb-shaped hole. It's small, but serves very well. A fan brush, a hake, and a feather can all add texture. A small set of water-soluble crayons and a waterbrush make for a lightweight sketch session, used alone. To the left, a set of Pigma Micron pens, with varying line widths, give a calligraphic quality. Under that, a water-soluble pencil, by Derwent, can smear and smudge nicely. It's pointing at some grey Prisma pencils, a Conte charcoal pen, a really sturdy pencil sharpener, and a kneadable eraser. A blue and brown Prismacolor duo, great for quick sketches, and, at bottom, some Conte pastels, round out the mix.