My Favorite Supplies | 4 of 5
Getting Ready for Wonder Series | Let's Talk Materials to Gather
Finally, the post so many of you have been waiting for. I’m spilling the tea on my favorite supplies and where to find them.
Thank you for your patience!
Disclaimer: Products on my Amazon Lists are affiliate links, which means I get a few pennies, and pennies add up. I only recommend supplies I actually use or have tried myself.
What You Need for Our Journey
You don’t need all the things I am going to list. You don’t need any of them. You can be creative with a pencil and an envelope back.
So please do not let finances stop you from joining in. Sometimes constraint (creating with limits) makes you way more creative.
The best art supply isn’t the most expensive one. The best art supply is the one you use.
That being said, I’m a picky artist. I’ve been creating professionally for over a decade now so I have invested in various supplies for the sake of research, classes I’ve taught, curiosity… again, you don’t need to use what I use.
But I’m f-a-s-c-i-n-a-t-e-d learning about what other artists like and use—studio tours on repeat on YouTube. Organization hacks for water-soluble oil pastels are my current videos of choice.
As a core value personally, I don’t do art supply gatekeeping. I believe in being generous with my information. That’s my comfort zone. I have friends who feel very differently and I get and honor that.
The Basics
We have friends joining in from all over the world, and art supply access varies VASTLY by region and community.
I started doing art as an adult when I lived in Africa. For years, my watercolor “studio” had to fit in a makeup bag in my carry-on. When we did art with the children, we lived in the bush and the only paint was tempera powder, which I figured out how to MacGyver into a craft-grade acrylic using water and nontoxic wood glue.
The first thing in knowing what supplies you need is nailing down how you want to create. At least for the first 10-25 days. We’ll call this what medium you want to use. Fancy pants art term for the supply choices you make.
Common choices I have thoughts on are watercolor, gouache (opaque watercolor), acrylics, mixed media, pastels, and pencils.
I have never used oil paints and have 0 knowledge about them, so they aren’t included in my lists. Only because I know nothing about them.
I’m including 3 lists below:
Beginner and Budget-Friendly, but still good quality: Some of these supplies are student grade, some high-end student grade but all the most bang for your buck.
Intermediate and Balanced: Entry-level professional-grade and more expensive, but still a good value if you know it is an art medium you want to grow in and explore long term.
Advanced and Specialty Products: These are professional-level supplies that require an investment. But they are gorgeous to work with. I love them, but you do not need them to be successful. And you definitely don’t need them to be creative.
These lists are subjective, and another artist might categorize these products very differently.
Regardless of the kind of art medium you choose, usually you need something to create on (paper, sketchbook, canvas) and something to create with (paint, pencils, etc.)
The Splurge List | Advanced & Specialty Products I Love
Ocean Paper Watercolors. The set you see in my reels is only available on occassion. Here’s a link to what’s in stock right now.
Watercolor sets from A. Gallo, Daniel Smith, or Roman Szmal
Vintage plates for watercolor mixing palettes
(↑ Not sponsored)
Favorite Art Supply Shops Online
You Have Your Supplies, Now What?
Before having an actual studio nook or workspace I could stay set up in, I gathered my tools and supplies in a caddy or basket. The goal here isn’t perfect organization. It’s ease of use and accessibility.
The supplies you can’t see and don’t know where they got stashed are supplies that get wasted.
Because the only way to waste an art supply in my book is to NOT use it!
Our final email in our Getting Ready for Wonder series will be out towards the end of this week and will cover more about how we will connect as a community, share our work, and cheer one another on…
Your Turn ⬇️
How are you planning on creating with us for the #100DaysofWonder2024? Tell us in the comments.
PS… In case you missed them
Getting Ready for Wonder Series