Renew Your Interest in Art - Step 2

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Step 2 - Invest in a Few Art Supplies


If you missed yesterday's Orbisplanis, this week's theme is 4 Steps to Renew Your Interest in Art. Yesterday was Step 1-Make Your Art a Priority. Today we move to Step 2-Invest in a Few Art Supplies.


By making it the second step, I’m hoping you’ll invest in a few art supplies sooner rather than later, which I’m afraid might be too late to spur you to action. Having a few supplies on hand allows you to try out immediately any technique you run across, and that is key to involvement—taking action.


Otherwise, you may run across an art technique you want to try, but then find yourself saying, ”I don’t have any charcoal, maybe I’ll try this later.” The probability is you won’t try it later because you still won’t have any charcoal.


What do I mean by ‘a few art supplies?’ I mean having enough supplies on hand so that you will be able to immediately draw or paint something without having to stop and go buy supplies. Inspiration can be a fleeting thing, so I repeat, having supplies on hand can increase the probability of your taking immediate action.


Why do I say invest and not get, buy, borrow, etc? This relates to Step 1-Make Your Art a Priority. If your art is a priority, then what you are really doing is investing rather than spending. You are investing your time and your money. When you invest in something, there is usually an expectation of some future payback. By investing in a few supplies early on, you will not only kick-start your art, but you will also increase future dividends from your investment, so to speak.


Step 2 is about removing barriers and excuses both real and imagined.


Anyhoo, here are suggested supplies for your initial investment and are shown in today's graphic at the top of the blog. (You can link to previous blogs for more info.)

• 3 Soft lead (graphite) pencils in the followings hardness -2B, 6B, 8B; this will give you enough range in to try different sketching techniques
  
• 1 charcoal pencil, medium hardness
  
• 1 Rollerball pen; for pen & ink line drawing
  
• 4 Conte crayons (or equivalent brand), white black, sanguine (reddish brown), umber (brown); start with these for drawing with color before investing in colored pencils or pastel
  
• 1 kneadable eraser for making changes and cleanup
  
• 1 sharpener
  
• 1 sketch or drawing pad – many brands to choose, but start off with 11 x 14 in/28 x 36 cm; 50 sheets, 70 lb. weight paper; good enough for all the above drawing tools
  

So that's it. These relatively few and inexpensive materials are plenty to get you started and allow you to try out or refresh your sketching and drawing skills. Using line, tone, and limited color, you can do quick sketches or more detailed drawings with texture and shadow or anything in between. You may be surprised at the level of art you can achieve with these limited materials.

In the Studio

Glad to get back in the “studio,” such as it is. I mentioned last blog I was thinking of a larger canvas acrylic, and that’s what I think I’ll go with. I have a nice size canvas measuring 24 x 36 in/61 x 92 cm. I just need to nail down the subject and will let you know next blog.

If you like reading this blog, please leave a comment, and feel free to link this site to others who may have an interest.

Cheers!