ARTdiscount Blog

All 36 colours and 3 mediums of System 3 acrylic paints can now be used for Block Printing! What’s not to love about these highly versatile paints!

For this article you need to get your wellies and warm coats on before the paint brushes come out! Long walks in your nearest park, local wood or even on the beach, should bring you lots of great source material to observe then paint and lots of things to collect and use to paint with! If you have a garden bursting with autumnal colour even better!

We recently met Alex Fleming, a Wildlife, pet & equine artist. Alex creates incredible realism using pencils and pastel and became a finalist for SAA Artist of the Year 2021.

Following on from our ‘ThINK INK’ article, which introduced October Ink and our huge collection of black inks, dip pens and ink fine liners for all your creative monotone needs, we didn’t want to stop there!

It can be a little tricky finding the right gift for someone but we hope with this article we can give you some ideas for some interesting and innovative gifts for a fellow artist.

INK is a solution that contains at least one colourant (dye or pigment) and a Solvent, (plus a few other ingredients for quick drying)  it is used for writing, drawing, painting or printing. 

As we begin to attend public events following the end of pandemic restrictions, we have collated creative activities and events for the remainder of 2021 bringing joy and togetherness back into our worlds.

The use of Bamboo as a more sustainable option than wood  or plastic is becoming increasingly popular. Bamboo as a material is incredibly versatile and we are seeing it’s uses in everyday items such as furniture, flooring, clothing, textiles, toothbrushes, soap dishes, cutlery, and even toilet  paper! We are always looking at ways to expand our product range and are proud to supply these bamboo products here at ARTdiscount.

Our Artist Interview for this purposeful month of September is with Joe Holbrook. Joe offers an insight into his multi discipline practice, a social commentary on youth culture. This young talent moves from London to our home town of Blackpool, where he will open his own studio!

MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES

It’s that time of year where the nights are drawing in! However it doesn’t have to be all gloomy when we can open up our studios or kitchen tables to the Arts and Crafts any time of the year, but especially for Christmas!

The visually rich language of printmaking takes many forms, from bold and expressive semi-abstract pieces, mixed media and collagraphic, silkscreen, to fine line etching and illustrative narratives. 

Screen printing is a method of printing images or patterns onto fabric, paper or canvas using a wooden or metal screen with an ultra fine mesh fabric stretched over the top.

Our friends at Winsor & Newton have released a very useful guide explaining the time it takes for their paints to dry:

Please note this guide is time before paint is dry to the touch. Oil paint must be fully dry before varnishing, usually between 3-6 months.

A short article explaining techniques and methods of how to stretch your own canvas. A useful money saving technique.

The humble bucket is an indispensable piece of equipment for any painter. Whether you are painting in acrylics or oils, artists have always needed a convenient receptacle for their water, thinners and mediums. Nowadays we are spoilt for choice as there is a wide range of purpose made buckets, tubs and pots.

Spray paint is one of those mediums which is both simple and quite complex all at once, because there are a host of factors to consider between pressing the cap and paint hitting your painting surface. In this article we hope to inform you about some of the best practices to observe whilst using spray paints, so that next time you pick up a spray can it should be smooth sailing. 

The purists would answer that watercolour paintings should be behind museum quality, anti-reflective, conservation UV filtered glass, and confined within a frame. And most watercolour paintings are, as this used to be the only option for exhibiting your watercolour artwork. However there are many more presentation options for watercolour artists to consider once their work has a protective varnished final layer. 

Following on from our earlier article 'What Gold is Gold', this article provides detailed information about Silver products for every discipline under the overarching title of Art, Design and Craft!  What Silver is Silver: What brands provide paint, pens, markers, aerosol sprays and inks. Descriptions of products that will provide the best application for your project in terms of ease of use, flow, creative coverage, sheen, and lustre! 

This months interview has a very special connection to us here at ARTdiscount. Charlotte Hudders is the daughter of our very own MD! Originally trained in Theatre Design, Charlotte developed a diverse set of creative skills during this time whilst growing up in a family of artists and designers!

Sharpen your pencils and enter your latest artwork in to the Derwent Art Prize competition; now accepting entries.

Technical pens and markers have been staples of the graphic artists toolbox for years now and even with the advent of the age of digital design the demand for top quality pens has not waned in the slightest.

We have all done it at one point or another, been happily sketching away only to lift your hand to find all the detail on one side of a delicate pencil drawing to be a fine grey smudge.

This entry level set of value watercolour brush pens is perfect for beginners, crafters, journal artists, calligraphy artists, illustrators, the young and more experienced students of art.

Yupo is a synthetic paper made from polypropylene used in art predominantly, alongside alcohol inks but is sometimes touted as a “non-absorbent” watercolour paper, which in and of itself is a strange concept to wrap your head around.