This blog post is part of my blog series Behind the Scenes started in February 2018. Find out more on the previous posts and the posts to come here. I’m doing this to inspired budding artists to set up their creative space and to inform art-lovers and collectors who wonder what it takes to create a painting. Some of my personal tips are included at the end of this post.
This is a declaration of love to four brands which make fantastic acrylic paint products:
Schmincke for their wonderful PRIMAcryl Finest Artists’ Acrylic fluid series of which I use the most quantities. I love the quality, the unctuosity of their colors which are so easy to use, dilute, pour. They dry beautifully and mix very well with media such as the acrylic painting medium #550 which increases gloss and transparency or let themselves be beautifully sprayed with water to become even more transparent. I also appreciate the heavy body titanium white which has a creamy texture which I love to mix and apply by hand or work through with foam brushes.
Golden heavy body and fluid paints. The high pigmentation grade allows for “popping” colors wherever I use them. This is the brand that I tend to use for my top layers, for dripping over the canvas, for strong contrasts, for amazing eye-catching hues, very strong warm tones and interesting shades of blues and greens. Very compatible with the Schmincke paints.
Neutral tones and acrylic medium
Sennelier for their beautiful heavy body creamy colors which I work a lot in a painting with my fingers. I’ve also enjoyed the new Sennelier Abstract innovative acrylic paints when recently creating a 2m x 2m big canvas, their creamy texture and the interesting “soft pack” pouch format which allows to use every dollop of paint.
my toys!
Molotow for their high quality acrylic pens, to write on various surfaces, doodle on paper or sign my paintings as a final touch. Wonderful hues. Very reliable.
Sort your supplies by color!
My top tip when it comes to paints: if you are serious about painting and have a choice, it’s worth investing in more expensive artist quality colors for two main reasons:
1) you will have more pleasure applying good quality paint which doesn’t make lumps and give you luminous, luscious colors which are easy to apply on the canvas
2) the pigmentation is very high so they won’t fade when drying, they won’t lose their brightness.
Here’s another great tip that I’m borrowing from my dear artist friend Anne-Christine: make a swatch and a list of all the colors that you have (including the brand, name and reference) so that you know which ones you still have in stock and which ones you don’t, so that you don’t end up buying three times the same shade of yellow when you already have it in your atelier.
Referencing Molotow ONE4ALL acrylic pens
What are your favorite paints and colors and what do you like most about them? And if you like, you can find out more about the colours of my life here.