carriejoyart

I thought I would talk a little about the art supplies and process from a practical standpoint. I have learned a lot over the years about art supplies and do's and dont's. For my folk art I up to now always use acrylics. Acrylics are a lot less toxic than oils and they clean up with water instead of turpentine which is great. They also dry very quickly and are easy to turn around for sale. The feel and texture of them seem to work great for the primitive folky feel. I personally have settled on Golden Acrylics - they seem to be the best value for the money. They are expensive but there are paints that are verrrrrrrrrrrry expensive. I also use Liquitex sometimes - in a pinch. The cheap acrylics just don't seem to cut it - they dull and darken within a short time - the colors don't quite pop. I also found out the hard way that cheap canvas does not work. At least for me it makes the painting very difficult. At local art stores - even the big ones in NYC - the canvas is super expensive. But...... I found Jerrys Artarama and it is great. The paints are about 1/2 the price of arts and crafts stores and the canvas is affordable if you buy it in bulk. I use Creative Mark, The Edge canvas - when you buy two boxes of 3 or 6 you get a great deal and the quality is excellent. The canvas is gallery wrapped so it looks nice and finished when your done. I didn't mean for this to be an advertisement but I thought I would share my good bargain finds with other artists and dabblers!