Three things I'm loving right now...

As you know, this art thing is pretty time-consuming so I'm always on the lookout for things that can make my life a little easier. *winks* Here are three things I'm loving right now. 

1. Atelier Airtight Peel-off Paint Palette

So I was pretty skeptical about this Korean-made paint palette at first. After all, a normal plastic paint palette is about $1 or so and this was $15. But I wasn't maximizing the colour potential of my acrylic paints by colour mixing simply because I HATED to clean my paint palette.

I know lots of artists like to show off their well-used and dirty paint palettes. But I like mine to be clean and pristine. *LOL*

Then I read about how bad acrylic paints [they are essentially plastic] are for plumbing and the environment and decided to give this a go. I LOVE it. Seriously, the paint stays moist for days and when they do dry up, just peel the pieces off and dispose them the proper way instead of down the drain. Less cleanup and better for the environment. Can't beat that. :)

2. Making my own art journals.

If you art journal, you would know that it is extremely difficult to find an art journal that you like. Sometimes you like the paper but you don't like the way it has been bound. And vice versa. Believe me, I've tried some really expensive ready-made journals. They were designed for pen/pencil sketch artists and not for people who enjoy wet media.

Having to prep your pages with gesso and sticking pages together to get them sturdy are not things I enjoy doing. And it drives me crazy when papers buckle up! My only solution is to make my own art journal.

It is easier than you think. There are lots of YouTube videos teaching you how to make your own art journal. All you really need is paper, a bone folder, anawl and waxed thread [they come in a variety of colours but I used dental floss].

The type of paper is dependent on what you like to play with. Do you like smooth surfaces or slightly textured surfaces? For me, I went with hot-pressed watercolour paper because I like the smoothness. If you like a little more texture, you can go for cold-pressed watercolour paper.

Experiment with the papers and see what you like. For some media, you may still need to gesso the pages to create the effect you want. I buy large pieces of watercolour paper and cut them down to size [about $2.70 a sheet]. Instead of having a thickly-bound journal, I have thinner journals that I can carry around. Eventually I will bind them in a book that I'm proud to show off [errr..minus the ugly pages of course!]

3. Prismacolor pencils

These were in my Amazon cart for over a year. [Okay okay, I always have something in my Amazon cart. *winks*] And I finally checked them out in February this year. :)

I LOVE them. They are so soft and waxy and blendable. You can even blend them with your Copics for a paint-like effect. I love drawing with them on top of a matte acrylic paint base. :)

Do you need all 150 colours? No you don't. This is the only set of colorants that I actually have the entire collection of...I usually buy the 12 or 24 colour set. But having the whole set makes me happy. :)

There you have it...three of my fave things. What are yours? Tell me so that I can add them to my Amazon cart...*winks*