Painter’s Hub

This may look a simple topic but, if you are serious about art then you should take good care of the art materials. When a art student goes to a art shop to purchase colours,brushes,canvas etc., he/she is highly motivated and sometimes purchases the wrong items. What I mean by wrong items is that if you purchases too much of linseed oil than required then you are wasting money.

Items to purchase:

A good quality colour box with a minimum 12 colours. Go for artist colours.
An excellent notebook for sketches, see to that the papers are having good textures.
A good set of brushes, preferably 1,3,5,7,9,11.
If your medium is oil then 1/2 a litre of linseed oil.
1/2 a litre of turpentine for cleaning the brushes.
The most important canvases, you have various sizes available in the market select 2 to 3.
The above listed items are available in any art shop. But the most important things that are not available in any art shops are:

• Patience
• A good art teacher who loves his students teaches art without any bias.
• A lot of interest and hard work.
• Once you have completed a section or the whole painting, wash your brushes.

Things to remember:

Do not damage the bristle.
Do not put too much pressure on the bristle.
Clean the bristle with a cotton cloth, the pigment will go. Then use water in the case of watercolour / acrylics, or turpentine in the case of oil medium. This will remove the pigment that are in between the bristle and you can use it again.
Let the brush be left to dry ( point to remember the bristle should point towards the celling.) Many make this common mistake. They keep the bristle pointing towards the floor and once it is dry the bristle turn towards a side. ( Please don’t do this).
Select the brush you need and then apply colour. Don’t apply and wait for a situation to use it.
Don’t throw a old brush it can be used for giving textures or for some special effects.

These are the important things to remember, the more you take care of your art materials the more they will be of use to you.