| To be sure even though a man rigs up his own outfit, he never gets it quite to suit him. Every season sees the downfall of some cherished scheme, the failure of some fond contrivance. Every winter sees you again fussing over your kit, altering this, substituting that, and flogging your wits with the same old problem of how to save weight and bulk without sacrifice of utility. All thoroughbred campers do this as regularly as the birds come back in the spring, and their kind has been doing it since the world began. It is good for us. ~ Horace Kephart |
Though the above quote was actually discussing camping gear, it applies equally well to art supplies – especially a portable kit of some sort. This quote came to mind over the weekend as I was considering how to best adjust my camping set-up for the upcoming summer. My gear, of course, includes art supplies. It’s always a challenge to not carry too many art stuffs, either in weight or volume. And how does one decide? By experimenting!
- This week’s artist is – Pippa Dyrlaga – a paper artist whose work I just ran across… and then spent too much of my afternoon checking out. I always have respect for great paper artists – I can’t imagine the patience required. The short version is to check out her website for more info, but set aside some time to peruse!
- The Scrapbook Nook has a full schedule of upcoming classes! Stop by tomorrow at 1 for Scrapbook Chemistry, playing with lots of fun materials and techniques. Join in Saturday at 10 to make a decorative fairy house! Then Tuesday at 1 you can make some love notes, just in time for Valentines!
- Here’s a video of behind-the-scenes work at the MET, from 1928. Fascinating to watch, but I went into the settings and sped up the playback to 2x as it’s a little slow.
- Speaing of museums, here are 3 ways to make a museum visit better.
- Video showing how to fill half-pans with watercolor paint (we sell watercolors and empty half-pans, if you want to make your own palette).
- A follow-up video of cleaning a travel watercolor palette.
- Local artist Susan Brightman will be hosting an Open Art Studio and Instruction Session every Wednesday from 10:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. at Pine River Library in Bayfield. The Studio will run each week until the end of April. For $5, participants can come paint without instruction, and for $12, Susan will provide participants with a project and guidance. Punch cards will be available for a discounted price (10 Open Art Sessions: $40, 10 Instruction Sessions: $100).
- The Pine River Library is also offering a monthly Knitting Circle on the first Thursday of the month from 1-3pm! Tomorrow is the first day! If you’re a new knitter, come and learn. Experienced knitters are invited to come work on a project, seek help, or teach others. Crocheters are also welcome. The program is drop-in and no sign-ups are required. They ask that you bring your own knitting supplies and tools.
- Park Elementary School is seeking artists for a mural project on the east-facing wall of their school! The elementary school is located at 510 E 6th Avenue. The muralist has the option to keep the design contained within the 1st level 5′ band around the windows, or expand up onto the 2nd level. This wall is highly visible from the bus pickup/drop-off and to pedestrians. The mural must feature original, one of a kind, new work. If known images are used, the artist is responsible for obtaining all copyright permission and paying all license fees. It must be completed by August 13, 2020. – If this sounds interesting to you, let me know and I’ll forward on more information. Applications due by Friday, February 7th.
- The Wild and Scenic Film Festival will be at the DAC this Sunday from 1-7:30pm. Get more info here and don’t hesitate to grab tickets if you’re interested.
- Random joke for this week… I told everyone at the party how much I love MC Escher and I got some weird stairs.
- One artist’s painting process (Carol used to be a Durango local but left us for Hawaii!)
- Another speed painting – this time a 30-minute portrait video.
- One last painting process video this week – en plein air painting and finishing it up in the studio.
- This week’s featured products are the Karin Brush markers! These water-based markers are super rich and vibrant. It’s almost like having watercolor in a marker – especially when you start blending them! I’ve mentioned these before – when we brought these in to the store, I believe there were only 3 places in the US that you could purchase them! Now they’re more popular and available, but we’ve got ours on sale, 25% off!
I mentioned experimenting with gear above – sometimes that means I’ll switch out kits entirely, changing from one medium to another (eg: watercolor to drawing) and other times I’ll simply change up a single component (eg: particular color in my watercolor palette). No matter what sort of experimentation you decide to try, have fun doing so! It’s easy to feel that your particular arrangement works and if you change something then you’ll “mess up” – but give yourself the freedom to play. Who knows, maybe you’ll discover a new technique, color, or material that really sets your creativity alight! Or maybe you’ll end up “wasting” a piece of paper or canvas but have enjoyed the process of learning something new. Either way, have fun with your art – the world needs you to make it!
Cheers!
Matthew & the Art Supply House crew
P.S. – Thanks for reading! If you like this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If you’d like to receive a weekly newsletter in your email, you can subscribe below.