Shopping For Art Materials.

Greetings Everyone,

The time has come again that I need to stock up on a few arty things. Whenever this happens, I always get the urge to buy stuff that I may not really need. There are SO many types of paint, ink, pens to be found and as much as I love the pens I use now, there could be one out there that is a better. The thing is I'll never know unless I try right? 

But! My budget is not big at all, so I have to be sensible when I get new art material. So I made a pact with myself that whenever I need to stock up on the usual things, I pick one or two new arty things (depending on the price) to try out. It also forces me to think about possible future projects and what results I want to achieve with them. That way I know I will use it and it won't end up on my desk in the pretty packaging... unused.

So what do I do when I have to shop for art materials? Well, I read reviews. Lots of reviews. There are plenty of art review blogs out there, but one I always read is from Alberto Lung. His reviews, to me, are honest and straight to the point and it's a good site for reference if I want to get something specific. His blog is named Lung Sketching Scrolls. I love to read art blogs with reviews as it simply saves me time (and often money) to try and test out new material.

Quite selfish huh? But to be honest you do need some sort of strategy when trying out art material otherwise you can't give a solid review regarding e.g. light-fastness, flow of ink, pigmentation and so on. If I was to try out an art material my review wouldn't be as good as some of the sites on the web as it would simply be aimed at how I would use it and not for general use among artists. This said, I *do* have an art review waiting for the ones that are interested in the paint I use haha. Not sure if it will be helpful, but I had to put a few thoughts for myself on paper as the paint I use did give my art a new feel and quite a lot of people started to ask me about the paint I used now...so maybe it will help the interested ones in the decision if they want to get the paint? We'll see!

In general, I don't like shopping. I dislike how, especially ladies, can get all pushy and touchy in clothing stores. Please respect my personal space people! It's like the entire world is going to end if they don't get this special shirt, skirt...whatever. No offense to everyone who do like to shop a lot; it's just not for me ^_^

I do LOVE art stores, book stores, beauty stores (make-up pallets are often brilliantly put together when it comes to colors and textures) AND let's not forget food stores. I can easily get lost in one. Goodness. I do not want to think about how much art material I'd probably get when I do have more money to spend...or maybe I won't spend as much as I think. Over the years I kinda thought myself not to get stuff that I don't need. It is a waste of my money in the end you know. It's probably also one of the reasons I blank out in a store hehe. Seriously though. I often forget why I go into a store in the first place. Much to the annoyance of my sisters hehe.

But okay, my rambling aside, I wanted to shine a bit of light on Alberto. Do check out his site for the reviews, especially on pens, pencils & ink and if you're on Twitter...you can say Hi to him as well.

It's my grandad's birthday, so gotta run now!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!