Journey Art Supplies Blog
Tips, Tricks, Thoughts, and inspiration from across the art spectrum.
Mastering the Watercolor Pouring Technique
Watercolor painting has long been celebrated for its delicate and luminous qualities. Among the many techniques available to watercolor artists, the watercolor pouring technique stands out as a captivating method that yields mesmerizing results. This technique allows artists to create vibrant, fluid, and unpredictable compositions, giving life to unique and captivating pieces. For today’s post, we thought we’d explore the intricacies of the watercolor pouring technique and walk you through the process of creating your own masterpiece. You’ll learn which materials are necessary, and enjoy a step-by-step instruction process for mastering the pouring technique. Understanding the Watercolor Pouring Technique The watercolor pouring technique involves the controlled application of liquid watercolor pigments onto wet paper to create spontaneous and captivating effects. Unlike traditional watercolor painting methods where colors are built up gradually through layers, pouring involves the use of gravity to guide pigments across the paper, resulting in a free-flowing, organic appearance. This technique enables artists to achieve stunning gradients, unexpected color interactions, and a sense of movement that can't be replicated with other methods. Materials Required Before exploring into the technique itself, it's important to gather the necessary materials. In the instructional Linda Baker Watercolor Techniques – The Pouring Process video, Linda uses the following materials: Watercolor Paper: Choose a high-quality, heavy-weight watercolor paper that can handle the wet-on-wet application of pigments without warping or buckling. Liquid Watercolor Paints: Liquid watercolors provide intense color saturation and are ideal for the pouring technique. Water Containers: Prepare containers of clean water for wetting the paper and diluting the pigments. Watercolor Brushes: Have a variety of brushes on hand for wetting the paper, blending colors, and making minor adjustments. Masking Tape: Use masking tape to secure the edges of the paper and create a clean border. Paint Palettes and Mixing Trays: These are used to mix and control the consistency of the liquid watercolors. Pipettes or Droppers: These tools allow for precise control when pouring the pigments. Step-by-Step ProcessOnce you’ve gathered your materials, it’s time to start painting: Just follow these steps: Preparation: Stretch and tape the watercolor paper to a sturdy surface to prevent warping. Ensure a clean working area and have all your materials ready. Wetting the Paper: Use a large brush or spray bottle to wet the entire surface of the paper. This creates an environment for the pigments to flow and blend seamlessly. Mixing Pigments: In the video, Linda uses plastic sheets as a mixing surface. Squeeze liquid watercolors onto the palette and experiment with various color combinations and dilutions. This step allows you to predict how colors will interact on the paper. Pouring the Pigments: With a pipette or dropper, carefully drop your diluted pigments onto the wet paper. Start with lighter colors and gradually introduce darker shades. Experiment with pouring from different heights and angles to achieve various effects. Tilting and Blending: Tilt the paper in different directions to guide the flow of pigments. Use a clean brush to blend colors, creating smooth transitions and avoiding harsh lines. Embrace the unpredictable nature of the technique while maintaining some control over the outcome. Drying and Adjustments: Allow the painting to dry completely. Once dry, assess the composition and make any necessary adjustments. You can add finer details using traditional watercolor techniques. You can also use masking fluid to mask areas where you want to preserve layers: Tips and ConsiderationsMastering the watercolor pouring technique requires a delicate balance between embracing experimentation and maintaining control. Begin by choosing a high-quality paper to withstand the pigments' saturation and understand that while controlled chaos is essential, intentional decisions through color selection and blending guide the artwork's direction. Patience during drying is crucial for preserving the envisioned outcome, and protecting your workspace ensures focus without distractions. Capturing the technique's essence lies in letting pigments flow naturally to evoke movement while learning from mistakes and unexpected results cultivates valuable insights for future improvements. This delicate interplay ultimately leads to the creation of mesmerizing artworks that embody the fluid beauty and dynamic energy intrinsic to the watercolor pouring technique. Elevate Your Creations with Watercolor Pouring The watercolor pouring technique is a captivating and experimental method that invites artists to relinquish some control while producing astonishingly beautiful results. By leveraging the power of gravity and fluid dynamics, artists can create unique and dynamic compositions that capture the essence of the medium. As you embark on your own watercolor painting journey, remember that every pour is a step towards uncovering the untamed beauty that emerges from the dance of water and color. For more tips on mastering this medium, check out the Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff Blog. Posts like “How to Master Watercolor Painting” and “Getting Started with Watercolors” both feature plenty of beneficial advice that will have you on your way to being an expert at the craft. And don’t forget to shop Cheap Joe’s for all your watercolor supplies – we have an impressive selection of high-quality products for painters of all skill levels!
Mastering the Watercolor Pouring Technique
Watercolor painting has long been celebrated for its delicate and luminous qualities. Among the many techniques available to watercolor artists, the watercolor pouring technique stands out as a captivating method...
Group Art Ideas to Inspire and Challenge
Sometimes at Cheap Joe's, we love tackling unique group art ideas. We also understand that coming up with those group art ideas can be challenging whether you are an art teacher, student, or simply encouraging creativity around you. You might have noticed that I've been absent lately, and I apologize for that! We've been busy working hard here at Cheap Joes, but now that I have a moment, I have something exciting to share that might inspire you! For the past month, we've also been working on a group art idea centered around the beautiful painting, A Wheatfield with Cypresses, by Vincent Van Gogh. Our group art idea was to re-imagine this gorgeous classic painting into a collaborative project done between 36 different artists, and it's finally finished! So how did we do it, and how can you do something similar? 1. PlanningFirst, we chose a famous painting. In this case, A Wheatfield with Cypresses, by Vincent Van Gogh. Next, one of our talented Graphic Designers, Erin, collected the names of all the artists interested in participating and divided the painting into equivalent sections. You can see the divided section of the artwork that I chose, circled below. 2. SectioningOnce every artist was assigned a section, we sent each of them an 11"x14" Joe's Prime Cradled Painting Panel along with a printout of their section, and then the painting as a whole for further reference. We chose to-scale printouts of each section to help us ensure that our edges would line up as seamlessly as possible without a mess of crooked designs. Here's Erin, hard at work, distributing panels and printouts for all the artists. And below, here's one of our fantastic Marketing Assistants, Lori, providing much-needed group art support and unique flare. 3. Create!This part of the process is, in my opinion, the most fun. Each artist is free to recreate their painting section in their style or medium of choice. In my case, I decided that I wanted to make sure my panel lined up with its neighbors as much as possible, so I grabbed a piece of Saral Wax-Free Transfer Paper. Next, I placed the transfer paper between the panel and my printout to trace the major lines to get a good basic shape, paying attention to the bars along the edges the most. Though you can't really see it well in the image above due to the angle, the lines came out perfectly crisp, which is excellent. I've got a solid base down and am ready to choose paints. I decided to go with acrylic paints and grabbed an assortment of our Joe's Prime Really Good Lightfast Acrylic colors that mostly matched the colors I saw in my panel. (I say mostly because I knew to match better, I needed to mix colors for the perfect shades I wanted.) I mixed a combination of Bright Aqua Green, Light Blue Violent, and Titanium white to create the shades I felt matched best. I began with an even layer of a mixture of teal, and while it was wet, I quickly added a few dollops of Titanium White for blending. I chose to add white within the teal so that I could mimic the almost chunky, 3D, and heavy strokes found in the painting, something that Van Gough is most famous for, and I wanted to emulate that as closely as I could. I mixed up some purple clouds for my finishing touches and added the very top corner of the cypress tree that I had in my section. I wanted to give my panel a bit more of a personal touch, something in my own style, so I considered doodling over the basic outlines of my panel. I wasn't sure yet, so I decided to test my idea without ruining the panel to prevent making a mistake I couldn't return from. I decided to tape a sheet of 11"x14" Polyester Film over my panel and began doodling on that instead. I began by just lining the major shapes of my brush stroke texture, and I really enjoyed that effect on its own. But I decided to try and take it a step further and began to doodle lines in some of the corner sections. I eventually realized that I felt as if the little circles were so close together that they began blocking out entire sections of the painting underneath. I tried a second attempt at circles on a larger scale with a different shape, and I thought it looked much better. I was still experimenting, so I continued this process until I mainly had one corner covered where I could take a break, stand back, and gauge my feelings on what I had done so far. I ultimately decided that the doodling of shapes made it far too busy and scrapped my polyester sheet. I did, however, learn that I really loved the way everything looked by being lined in a simple black. So I took my black brush-tip Pitt Artist Pen and decided to go over my lines, but this time directly on my painting. Above is the finished, lined image of my section of the painting and all that was left was to wait to see what the other artists in our group did with their pieces before putting it all together. Here's how it turned out! As you can see, everything lined up so well! I am really impressed with the talent and different interpretations and artist styles on each of our separate panels having turned into a cohesive and natural-looking finished group art piece. It's incredible to see one of our inspiring group art ideas being hung up and displayed as part of an exhibition in the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum. If you get the chance, drop by the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum today to experience fantastic art!Collaborative art ideas are a great way to promote and foster community and learn new group art skills, so we highly encourage you to take a group art idea and run with it!
Group Art Ideas to Inspire and Challenge
Sometimes at Cheap Joe's, we love tackling unique group art ideas. We also understand that coming up with those group art ideas can be challenging whether you are an art...
Oil Painting Tips for Those New to Oils
Hello Artists, beginners and experts alike! This week, our blog post is inspired by a request from Tanya M. Nevin of Van Gough's Ear Paint Studio (check out her work!). She recently inherited a ton of oil paints from her late father, also an artist. Tanya has been painting with acrylics for over twenty-five years and she's not quite sure how to transition into working with oils. Well, Tanya and I are actually in the same predicament! I've never really used oil paints heavily either. So, what do we do when we don't know what to do? I start by asking questions of others that do. I was all to happy to take this opportunity to research the fascinating world of beginner oil painting and share the top 5 oil painting tips I found most helpful. Let's dive in and learn some great first-time oil painting tips together, shall we? 1. Prepare Your Painting Space Oil paints themselves and the solvents you will need to clean brushes with will come with strong scents; as such, you'll want the space you'll be painting in a well-ventilated area. If possible, make sure there is also plenty of room to keep all the items you need in reach and ready, like mediums, painting surfaces, turpentine, brushes, paints, etc. If possible, you may want to make sure your oil painting space is entirely separate from your acrylics or watercolors. In some cases, it's incredibly easy to grab a tube of Opera Rose watercolor instead of oil because the tubes look very similar. 2. Slow and Steady There's nothing more exciting than trying something new and learning a new art medium. However, it can frequently go from exciting to overwhelming very quickly if you jump right into trying to get all the colors, brushes, canvasses, etc. There's no shame in starting small and slowly. It's always good to start with a small painting surface and a limited paint palette to experience the way the paint applies and feels on the brush and how mixing it differs from other mediums you are familiar with. If you're looking for an excellent budget option, did you know that Gamblin creates a free paint called Torrit Grey? Torrit Grey is Gamblin's solution to ensuring high-quality pigments that float in the air of their factories and get filtered away from workers to keep them safe. To keep the environment safe, Gamblin re-uses these pigments to create a one-of-a-kind color tube of grey. Each shade of grey is different, and they also run an annual contest that artists can enter for a chance to win free stuff. 3. Prime your Surface If you don't have some Joe's Prime Stretched Cotton Canvas or Joe's Prime Cotton Canvas Rolls, which are 100% cotton duck that has all been pre-primed for painting with oils, you will absolutely need to prime your surface. Why? Oil paints have oils in them, and when you paint with them on an unprimed surface, the oils begin separating from the paint. Once they separate, they start seeping into an unprimed canvas, wood, or paper and can quickly ruin the piece of art you've worked so hard to create. Luckily, at Cheap Joe's, not only can you get pre-primed surfaces, but you can get highly budget-friendly primer options like our Joe's Prime Really Good Gesso, which starts at $3.59 for an 8 oz jar and can be used to prime for oils and acrylics. 4. "Thick over Thin?" "Fat over Lean?" Have you discovered the phrase "fat over lean" when researching oil painting tips yet, but have no idea what that means? These phrases refer to the layers in which you should try and paint with oils. Thinner paints with less oil for the bottom, or first play, then thicker, more oily paints go over the thinner layer. This ensures your painting dries at the correct rate. If your painting dries at the incorrect rate, you could have cracking. To make paint 'fatter' or oilier, you add more oil to it, and to make it 'leaner' or thinner, you add a solvent such as turpentine or a fast-drying medium. This helps each layer absorb oil from the layer above it evenly. If you didn't know it already, certain colors are known to have faster drying times too, and they can be incorporated into your lower layers. Paints that contain Cobalt, Manganese, and Lead can be added to other paints to speed up the drying process. On the other hand, certain paints are known for drying slowly, such as Quinacridones, and should be avoided on lower layers. 5. Keep Clean Oil paints, like many art mediums, can get extremely messy. In some cases, depending on the ingredients, oil paints can be pretty toxic if ingested or absorbed into your skin—but don't let that frighten you! It's all about keeping your work area and self as clean and organized as possible (and out of reach of children and pets) while learning how to dispose of everything responsibly and adequately. Paints, mediums, palettes, and anything else with oil paint should be disposed of in or at a Hazardous Waste Facility. Rags, paper towels, and items with less mess on them can be contained in a glass jar or a fire-safe trash container. But the containers must be fire safe because oil paints and solvents are highly flammable, and they could spontaneously combust when drying out! Hopefully, these five beginner tips will help you transition into your new oil paints, Tanya! I can't wait to see what you learn and all you can do! Good luck and good painting!
Oil Painting Tips for Those New to Oils
Hello Artists, beginners and experts alike! This week, our blog post is inspired by a request from Tanya M. Nevin of Van Gough's Ear Paint Studio (check out her...
Making it Pop with Pastels!
Hello, everyone! Whenever I find out about a new painting technique, I cannot wait to try it and show you guys how it works! This week, I explored the use of soft pastels with watercolor to achieve greater depth of field. I absolutely love mixed media, which is why I can't believe I hadn't heard of this sooner!
Making it Pop with Pastels!
Hello, everyone! Whenever I find out about a new painting technique, I cannot wait to try it and show you guys how it works! This week, I explored the use...
Tie-Dye Batik with Glue!
Hey, everybody! The warm weather is finally upon us, which means we can start breaking out all the old outdoor activities! One of my personal favorites is tie-dyeing! Sure, you can tie-dye any time of the year, but I have fond memories of dying shirts at my best friend's house as a kid, and her mom yelling at us to take them outside and leaving them to dry by hanging them over a tree branch. Ah, the 90s... So I wanted to bring back that nostalgia--while also adding a little bit of artistry--with this week's project! I've done wax batiking before, but I wanted to go for a more accessible approach this time. And what's more accessible than Elmer's Glue? Everyone and their brother's got a bottle of Elmer's Glue sitting somewhere in their house, and that's literally all you need to create relief designs on dyed shirts! Whatever you cover in glue stays white (or the color of your fabric) while the dye stains around it, and then the glue just dissolves when you rinse it out! I prepped by taping sheets of wax paper to this piece of cardboard, and then slipped my shirt over it and secured it with clips. Obvious tie-dye reminder: 100% cotton shirts are the most absorbent and retain dye the best! And then I just went straight into it! I drew out this little glue flower and didn't take into consideration the way the glue would spread if it's in big globs... So I just filled in the petals and did an outline around it! No mistakes, just happy accidents. And I let my pattern grow from there. If drawing freehand makes you nervous or you'd rather use something like a stencil, you can draw out your design with a fabric pencil and it'll rinse off when you wash the shirt! But I didn't have any plans while making these designs, so I just let the glue go where my hand was taking it. I doodle a lot of swirls, anyway. This was pretty second-nature. Phew! 45 minutes and 2 hand cramps later, I was done! Well, with this part. To make sure the glue was totally dry, I let it sit overnight. When I came back, I had this! What appeared to be a wrinkly shirt actually had a crazy-intricate design spanning it. Next, I folded it up and used the rubberbands that came in the Jacquard Groovy Tie Dye Kit to tie it up like a regular tie-dye shirt. The glue crunched a little bit, but none of the pieces flaked off. Then I put on the gloves and mixed 2 of the 3 dyes per the instructions that came in the kit. I stuck with cyan and magenta because I knew darker colors would work best with showing my design. After dampening the shirt (to let the dye seep into the fabric more easily), it was time to take it outside! I went straight for the section that had the design on it and just doused the whole section in blue. Then I decided purple would look better, so I threw some red in there, too. Obvious tie-dye reminder: be sure to get the dye into all the nooks and crannies! It also helps to squeeze the section you're working on to get the dye worked all the way around. Woohoo! Thoroughly-dyed! Once I was finished, I gently placed it into a handy-dandy Cheap Joe's bag and set it on the windowsill by my desk. When I came back the next morning... I had this! Mildly disappointed by the way the dye I was washing out attached itself to the remaining white parts AND that some of the glue reactivated while the dye set and it created weird additions to my designs, but I still think it's very beautiful! Here are some close-ups: All in all, I'm calling this a successful batik! Can't wait to wear it!
Tie-Dye Batik with Glue!
Hey, everybody! The warm weather is finally upon us, which means we can start breaking out all the old outdoor activities! One of my personal favorites is tie-dyeing! Sure, you...
Spring Art Swap!
Hi, everyone! It was a great week over here at Cheap Joe's headquarters! For a little over a month now, our employees have been working diligently to create a one-of-a-kind work of art to be swapped for another unique piece made by a fellow employee! Well, today was the day of the swap, and I am extremely excited to show you the products of some of the amazing artists we have here! The theme, of course, was "spring"--but we encouraged the participants to interpret that however they pleased OR go in a different direction entirely. After all, art knows no bounds! In alphabetical order: Artwork by Alex Skala, retail associate at our Charlotte location. Artwork by Alicia Orlando, a member of our Distribution Center team. Artwork by Aly Perez, manager of our Asheville Retail Store. Artwork by Amanda Chapman, manager of our Boone Outlet Store. Artwork by Annabelle Prince, manager of our Charlotte Retail Store. Artwork by Becky Stines, part of our receiving gang. (This is the panel I got!) Artwork by Bri Stoehr, one of the retail associates in our Asheville location. Artwork by Brian Dubberly, our Marketing Manager. Alicia Orlando also created this piece, on behalf of a new employee in the Distribution Center named Bryan Elrod. Artwork by Byron Cook, our Web Developer is in charge of the entire Cheap Joe's website! Artwork by Carlee Hudson (that's me!), marketing assistant/copywriter/blogger extraordinaire. Artwork by Christy Firk, one of the retail associates in our Asheville location. Artwork by Danie Firth, one of the retail associates at our Charlotte location. Artwork by Dawn Hill, roommate to one of our Call Center gurus, Tammy Guilford. Artwork by Derrick Fowler, one of our Call Center gurus. Artwork by Edwina May, our Workshop Coordinator. Artwork by Erin Guffey, one of our graphic designers, who works on our seasonal sale flyers and orchestrates these art swaps! Artwork by Jacob Woehler, one of the retail associates at our Asheville Location. And here's the back of Jacob's--we're a silly bunch :) Artwork by Jana Smith, another member of our receiving gang. Artwork by Janalee Burke, part of our Distribution Center team. Artwork by Jane Laferla, one of the retail associates at our Asheville location. Artwork by Kevin Brown, one of the retail associates at our Charlotte Location. Artwork by Kevin Bryan, part of our Distribution Center team. Artwork by Lauren Murrell, another retail associate at our Charlotte location. Artwork by Linda Greenup, a retail associate at our Asheville location. Artwork by Lori Inman, the other marketing assistant, in charge of finding awesome new products. Artwork by Luke Russell, one of the retail associates at our Charlotte location. Artwork by Megan Hart, Content/SEO Management Artwork by Meghann Miller Williams, in charge of promotional donations. Artwork by Michael White, part of the Distribution Center team. Artwork by Michelle Dineen, one of our Call Center gurus. Artwork by Phillip Church, part of our Distribution Center team. Artwork by Sally Garner, one of the retail associates in our Asheville location. Artwork by Tammy Guilford, one of our Call Center gurus. Artwork by Taylor Bowers, marketing. Artwork by Terry Henry, part of the graphics team. Artwork by Tippy Kleinman, one of the retail associates in our Boone Outlet Store. And last but certainly not least, Web Alexander, manager/guru supreme of the Call Center.
Spring Art Swap!
Hi, everyone! It was a great week over here at Cheap Joe's headquarters! For a little over a month now, our employees have been working diligently to create a one-of-a-kind...
The Cheap Joe's 2016 Guide to Great Art!
Hello, everybody! Have you guys heard about this year's catalog? Well, not only is it jam-packed with a bunch more art stuff, but the cover is color-able! With how popular and fun grown-up coloring books are right now, we wanted to make our catalog just as exciting! These covers can withstand colored pencils, markers, pastels, pens, crayons, watercolor pencils, and even regular watercolors if you work lightly! With mine, I chose to go with a limited palette and only use Prismacolor Colored Pencils in blues and greens: At first, I was a little worried that the trees would fade into the background, but I think it turned out pretty good considering I didn't have the whole spectrum of colors to work with! Take a look at some of the others from around Cheap Joe's! Megan, our SEO Analyst, put this beauty together. I love how she left snowy peaks on the mountains! Our Website Manager, Byron, has been working on this one in between website updates. His combination of highlighters and colored pencils really makes the cover pop! TJ, one of our Customer Service Representatives in the call center, took a creative approach in making his mountains into pyramids! Now that's thinking outside the box! One of our retail store associates, Tippy, colored this one. Gotta love those purple-mountain Majesties! It's easy to forget that you don't have to color every single shape in its entirety, and by leaving some shapes white, she drew even more attention to the sections that are colored! Taylor, another CSR, has been working diligently on hers during the limited downtime in the call center. It's tough to get art done on the job, but it provides such a relaxing atmosphere! And another of our retail store associates, Kathleen, is slowly but surely filling hers in, too! She's even got a little doodle from Cheap Joe himself to add a unique touch! And these are just a FEW of the awesome covers we've got over here at headquarters. What's even better is that some customers have been sending us photos of what they've done with their catalogs: Marion from Florida sent us this magical wonderland! She even included glitter, though it didn't photograph particularly well. She says this is just her FIRST draft and she plans on putting snow on the mountains in her next one! Then we've got Wilton, also from Florida, who decided to turn one of his mountains into Grandfather Mountain, located just a few minutes from us! Click here to request your own 2016 catalog with this awesome coloring book cover, and then send us a picture of what you create! Who knows, it could be entered into a contest where you could win a prize... :)
The Cheap Joe's 2016 Guide to Great Art!
Hello, everybody! Have you guys heard about this year's catalog? Well, not only is it jam-packed with a bunch more art stuff, but the cover is color-able! With how popular...
Citra Solv Collage Paper!
Hi, everyone! Do you guys know about Citra Solv? Yep, the natural cleaner, degreaser, and solvent! But I'm wondering if you've heard about using it as an art medium. This week, I want to show you how to create some one-of-a-kind paper designs just using Citra Solv! I'm using National Geographics because the paper is clay-coated, which lets the ink on the pages dissolve almost entirely. I've tried using this technique with other magazines, but to no avail... Thankfully, it seems like everyone has stacks upon stacks of old Nat Geos hanging around. To start, you'll need to rip out the covers and ads on the front and the back. These pages aren't clay-coated and the ink doesn't dissolve at all, so don't waste your time or medium. You should also flip through to remove any other ads that are hiding in between the pages and you can also unfold these big sheets so that you'll be able to apply the Citra Solv to the entire page. I started by spritzing each of the pages with a small spray bottle, to really coat the magazine with Citra Solv. But that didn't end up giving me the result I wanted... So I went back through and used one of these Jacquard Plastic Droppers to give higher concentrated droplets in a more random pattern. Once I got all the way through, I closed it up and let it sit for about 10 minutes. When I opened it back up, there were still a few pages that weren't dissolved as much as I wanted them to be... So I just smudged the images with my finger and then closed the magazine back up to give me a new design! When I opened it back up, I had a TON of gorgeous pages! Just look at these beauts! I let them dry a little while longer (about 20 minutes or so in front of my space heater) and then I was ready to use them! Since I had a lot of browns and darker-colored papers, I decided to collage a nice Barred Owl. First I cut out a branch shape from a page that had some really cool bark-ish texture on it. Next, I used a darker sheet to give me the tail and part of the body of my owl. I used another sheet of a similar tone to make the rest of the body and the little footsies. With a few more shapes cut out from different pages, I had my owl! I wasn't happy with the branch going off the page or with how dark the feet were, so I trimmed and snipped a few more shapes... And then I was done! I used the same sheet for the talons that I used as part of the face, to keep the colors consistent and balanced. I also added some scraps around his neck to give him a little more dimension. I left the background blank because I didn't want anything to take away from the gorgeous textures I got in my papers! I still have stacks and stacks of unused pages that I can't wait to use in more projects. widget type="Magento\CatalogWidget\Block\Product\ProductsList" template="Magento_CatalogWidget::product/widget/content/grid.phtml" anchor_text="" id_path="" show_pager="0" products_count="1" condition_option="sku" condition_option_value="mgps-6nm" type_name="Catalog Products List" conditions_encoded="^[`1`:^[`aggregator`:`all`,`new_child`:``,`type`:`Magento||CatalogWidget||Model||Rule||Condition||Combine`,`value`:`1`^],`1--1`:^[`operator`:`()`,`type`:`Magento||CatalogWidget||Model||Rule||Condition||Product`,`attribute`:`sku`,`value`:`mgps-6nm`^]^]" sort_order="position_by_sku"
Citra Solv Collage Paper!
Hi, everyone! Do you guys know about Citra Solv? Yep, the natural cleaner, degreaser, and solvent! But I'm wondering if you've heard about using it as an art medium. This...
Bettering Your Lettering!
Hey, everybody! Typography has always been a passion of mine. As an artist with an English degree, it seems only natural that I'd be drawn to the creative ways you can present text. I've noticed that one of the popular fads right now is hand-lettering. Whether it's in advertisements or on wedding decorations, folks seem to be ditching the somewhat-cold feeling of perfectly straight fonts and are gravitating towards the uniqueness and personal touch that hand-lettering provides. This week, I'm going to go over some ways you can get into and practice hand-lettering for yourself! The easiest way to start is by taking your normal handwriting and just jazzing it up a bit: Here, I've penciled out "paintbrush" in both my regular print and regular cursive--taking care to make it cleaner-looking than it normally would. To make it fancy, all you need to do is thicken parts of your letters. Tip: A good rule of thumb is to widen on the down strokes and leave the horizontals their normal width. Then I went over it in my 08/.50mm Sakura Pigma Micron and erased any residual pencil marks. Not super exciting, but still nicer to look at than the regular old lines. I followed suit with the cursive example, again thickening the vertical lines, only a bit smoother this time. And that's how you fake calligraphy! (Just make sure you wait longer than 10 seconds to erase your pencil marks, or you'll smudge your ink as I did...) If you don't particularly care for your handwriting or are looking to go for something specific, you can draw inspiration from--or simply copy--a font that already exists! Fonts.com has thousands of fonts in a myriad of styles for you to look through and test with your own sentences. I've also found a lot of great, free fonts by browsing Pinterest boards. This one is called Cantoni and I found it through Pinterest. Just like I did with my own handwriting, I sketched it out in pencil first and then went over it in ink. I like this font a lot better than my regular cursive, and with a bit of practice, I could eventually get the motions of the letters memorized and it can become my own! Tip: Practicing your lettering by writing out each letter in order is boring and feels a bit like when you had to learn cursive in school. Instead, use pangrams (phrases that incorporate the entire alphabet), like "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" or "When zombies arrive, quickly fax judge Pat." This will help you figure out ways to connect letters naturally and find a smooth rhythm in which to write. Something neat I found online is this 30-Day Lettering + Doodle Challenge. These 30-Day Challenges are an awesome and super-fun way to make a habit out of something you want to explore more--I've done writing and poetry challenges before but never doodling and lettering! I went ahead and drew out what I was feeling for Day #4's prompt, "Dreamer." In my head, I imagined a font that was all capitals but with somewhat-thin letters that had slight flourishes. So I took to Pinterest and found Lettersmith. With a few simple accent stars, I had already completed the day's challenge! (It always looks better in ink.) I fully intend to keep this 30-Day Challenge going--even though I skipped ahead a few days. And I can either doodle the odd days, as suggested, or use ALL of the words as prompts for lettering! This guy is another I found on Pinterest, and he's called Bellwethers. Some fonts, like Bellwethers, will come with optional letter flourishes (like how the P and H are swoopy-er than the other letters). Flourishes like this are a great way to draw attention to a single word or add a kind-of border to a short phrase. You can add flourishes around your letters or directly to them, depending on the type of font you're using--printed fonts usually look better with non-connected flourishes that echo the shapes of the letters, while cursive scripts are prettier and more complete with swirly accents either around the letters or connected to them. If you're lacking inspiration for flourishes, there are plenty of templates for those online as well! Here's a small section of a HUGE template I found also on Pinterest--an incredible resource, honestly. Eventually, all of these little tricks and cheats will become second nature and you won't have to rely on outside sources anymore! Once you get to that point and are feeling more confident with your lettering, you can try upping your game with thicker markers or full-blown calligraphy pens! Use the Pitt Big Brush Artist Pen for chunky lettering that you want to cover a large area with. For daintier fonts that still need to cover some space, try the smaller Brush Tip Pitt Artist Pen. If you wanna get REALLY nuts, bust out a bottle of India ink and your tiniest detail brush to fill in your sketches. It's a super quick way to fill in a lot of letters that have varying line widths. A happy medium between using a pen and a brush and ink is one of these Niji Waterbrushes! I filled this one with some water and (maybe not quite enough of) American Journey June Bug and wrote out my word without penciling first. And, of course, we have actual calligraphy pen sets for those of you who are already awesome at lettering. But even if you only master one font, there are still endless possibilities for mediums to use it with and flourishes to add to it. Plus, since to err is human, each instance will be a little bit different from the ones you've done before. And that's what hand-lettering is all about :)
Bettering Your Lettering!
Hey, everybody! Typography has always been a passion of mine. As an artist with an English degree, it seems only natural that I'd be drawn to the creative ways you...
10 Ways to Pump Up Your Coloring Books!
Hello, everyone! This week, I want to talk about one of the greatest concepts to hit the market: grown-up coloring books! It's so simple, yet so revolutionary, I can't believe it took us this long to realize that coloring didn't have to be just for kids! Of course, everyone already knows how to color, but I want to show you ways to take your coloring to the next level! Here are my tips: No. 1) Use pencils! Whether it's colored pencils or graphite pencils, you're sure to get the greatest range of tones with these guys. Here's a stunning horse design from Art Nouveau Animal Designs by Creative Haven that I filled in with only 4 colors--teal, light blue, light violet, and salmon. It's only with colored pencils that I'd be able to blend the teal and light blues in the mane so seamlessly and easily. No. 2) If you're going to use markers, make sure they're fine-tipped and you have a WIDE variety of colors. Unlike coloring books for kids, coloring books for adults tend to have tighter spaces and more intricate patterns to fill in, which means your chunky Crayola Washables ain't gonna cut it. If you're serious about working with markers, you'll need to acquire some that'll reach those tough spots and also compensate for the lack of hues they'll give you. These beauties (also from Art Nouveau Animal Designs) were done in marker, and I think they turned out pretty well. --But that's because I followed rule No. 2 and rule No. 3, which is... No. 3) Vary colors slightly. With some designs, especially the Art Nouveau designs, the pictures can get a little too symmetrical and boring. The best way to break that up is to mirror similar (but not the same!) colors with each other. At the bottom, I used very slightly different shades of green for my lizards, and also the purple curly wurlies. It breaks the picture up just enough to keep your eyes engaged and interested. No. 4) Take it one step/color/shape at a time. I know that seems like something you should already know to do, but it's very, very easy to get overwhelmed looking at a blank design and deciding where to start and how you want it to look. For my horse, I started in on my favorite part first (the horse), then went to the background, and then onto this chain around it. This little monkey on the inside cover was a fun warm-up piece which I started by filling in all the things I wanted to be brown. Giving yourself small goals to accomplish--like "fill in all the brown"--rather than thinking of the entire page as one project will let you really take your time and focus on what you're doing since it'll seem like you've got less to do. And, after all, that's why we're coloring, isn't it? To avoid/relieve stress? So don't stress yourself out! No. 5) Limit your color palette Speaking of stress, sometimes having too many options can make a project seem daunting. My little monkey friend is only surrounded by browns, blues, and purples, but he's still very aesthetically pleasing! The limited palette also gives you the chance to dive into some whimsy--I mean, where on earth are you going to find navy-blue pears? Get crazy! Color your monkey turquoise! Color your sky yellow! The only limit is your imagination. And, well, your palette. And in the spirit of making the picture your own... No. 6) Add your own patterns and textures. Below my horse, there is some foliage. And as nice as those shapes are, I decided that the leaves needed a little somethin' somethin'... I colored them in with 2 shades of green, and then took a third, darker shade and made little lines on the outside. Adding textures and patterns with your pencils or markers is a great way to make your work stand out. Everyone thinks you have to color flat inside all of the lines, but it isn't so! In fact, that takes me to... No. 7) Add to the designs themselves! Here we have the brown parts of my monkey, including this dull-looking brown tree trunk. But I went in and added some lines with my Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen and gave that baby some sass! Coloring book artists will often say that they leave parts of their designs with open spaces to encourage the color-er to incorporate their own style into it. So take every opportunity you can to make your picture as unique as you are :) No. 8) Shade and blend! Shading is the easiest way to give your picture TONS of dimension and blending (with your choice of blending medium (mine is a colorless blender pencil, as mentioned in this blog post about blending colored pencils)) will give it the polished, professional look to set it apart from something a kid would do. Here, you can see the delicate care I took in shading the horse's head and body as well as the difference between using a blender (left side of the purple frame) and using nothing at all (right side). But don't stop here! Shading and blending are great tools when it comes to drawing, so why not... No. 9) Incorporate other drawing techniques! To break up the monotony of solid colors, I used used a bit of stippling on my little monkey friend's cloud. You could also try cross-hatching or coloring in swirled or lined strokes. Basically anything you'd do with your own original drawing, you can also do in a coloring book! The stippling on the edges gave it just the right amount of color plus the right amount of white. Which leads me to my final tip... No. 10) Don't be afraid of white space!! It's easy to think, "I have to color all of this in," when looking at a fresh page, but you really don't! I left white space with my monkey friend's cloud and a little on the edges of the page and that drew even MORE attention to the parts that were colored in! And if you still find yourself afraid of or dreading the white space, just...cut it out. I still had a ton of white space leftover on my horse picture, but I really wasn't interested in coloring any more of it in... So I cut out the part I did like and wanted to keep: Now I can paste this in my journal and do some more designs around it or incorporate it into another work of art, like a collage! With these tips, you can now go boldly into your coloring adventures!
10 Ways to Pump Up Your Coloring Books!
Hello, everyone! This week, I want to talk about one of the greatest concepts to hit the market: grown-up coloring books! It's so simple, yet so revolutionary, I can't believe...
A New Jewel in the Cheap Joe's Crown!
Hey, everybody! Crazy things have been happening in the Cheap Joe's world: namely, we opened a brand new store in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina I was part of the team who worked diligently to get everything up and running ASAP for the townsfolk, who have badly wanted an art supplies store--so much so that they even started a Bring Cheap Joe's Art Stuff to Asheville page on Facebook! Well, we heard those pleas and made it happen! And I wanted to share some photos of the journey with you guys: Very early stages, just getting basic fixtures put in. And there's Aly and David, the managers of the Boone Outlet and the Asheville stores! Reduce, reuse, recycle: these planks of wood are actually pieces of pallets that we receive deliveries on, but we knew we could use them for something creative, like an accent wall! Soon, these will be covered in stacks of canvas and watercolor paper! Here's Brian, our Marketing Manager, building a big front desk for our new employees! Then he added a big, sturdy, concrete top and continued the pallets motif! Finally! We can start loading in merchandise! The very first product placed! Bunches and bunches of sketchbooks! Sorting and finding a place for everything! (Natasha, who works in inventory, doesn't like having her picture taken...) Look at all those easels! And the finished pallet wall! So...much...canvas! Coming along nicely! Our brush section! A few finishing touches...and we were ready to open! Come down and visit us! The address is: 829 Riverside Dr Ste 120 Asheville, NC 28804 And the local number is 828-232-8391 We can't wait to see you!
A New Jewel in the Cheap Joe's Crown!
Hey, everybody! Crazy things have been happening in the Cheap Joe's world: namely, we opened a brand new store in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina I was part of the team...
Tissue Paper Mâché!
Hello, everyone! This week, I wanted to put a new spin on everybody's favorite childhood craft: paper mâché! The differences here being that I'm using tissue paper instead of newspaper and Golden Soft Gel Medium instead of that gross glue/flour-water paste. This Spectra Deluxe Art Tissue is great for these kinds of projects because the colors bleed when wet and give an excellent sense of unity in your work. (For my bowl, I used the bottom 5 colors.) I started the way you would any other paper mâché project: by ripping up tons of little pieces of paper. I made the tears mostly pretty big because tissue paper is thinner than newspaper, so any overlapping and bubbling would be less noticeable. I also wanted the pieces to be organic shapes, not just rectangular strips because they would be contributing to the pattern as well as creating the bowl itself. So I made piles of each of my colors and blew up a balloon to a pretty small size because I just wanted a little catch-all bowl--if you have water balloons leftover from summer, those would work even better! First I put down a coat of my Golden Soft Gel Medium (Matte)... Then I placed pieces of my tissue paper all over to cover the wet spots and painted another coat of gel medium on top of that. Tip: Use matte finish for projects like this, because it will still give a little bit of sheen to your work, but it'll also reflect less light and make it easier to see and appreciate your beautiful paper! And I just kept adding layers like that! I found the most efficient way was to go layer by layer, rather than individual piece of tissue paper by individual piece of tissue paper. This was about as deep as I wanted my bowl to go, but I added a few layers that went further down my balloon because I'd need them later to make the base. Once I felt like I had enough layers (about 10-12), I flipped it upside down and let it dry in my handy little Halloween cat mug, which usually holds my turpentine--you're definitely not going to want to use a cup you still drink out of. I let that dry overnight and then came the scary part... It doesn't matter how old you get or how prepared for it you think you are, popping a balloon is STILL a pretty jarring experience. But, hey! The shape held! As you can see, the balloon came out cleanly and in one piece. Next, I made a line around the outside of my mold to mark off how deep I wanted my bowl to be, and then I cut the excess using a regular old pair of scissors. After sitting overnight, the mold was mostly dry, but still slightly flexible, which made it very easy to cut. As it sits, though, it will become dryer and more sturdy. With my excess, I trimmed it to clean up the edges and measured how much I would need to make the base of my bowl. Then I cut it and sort of bandaged the two ends together with some gel medium and a piece of tissue paper. I slathered on a generous helping of gel medium, applied some pressure, and let it adhere to the bottom of my bowl. When that had dried a bit, I started sticking more pieces of tissue paper around the seam to help fuse the two pieces together. After 5 or 6 layers on the inside seam, I put about 3 or 4 on the outside as well. Then I camouflaged the "bandages" with colors that corresponded with the pattern, to give it a more consistent look. With a final coat of gel medium on the inside and outside, my bowl was complete! I could have put more tissue paper on the inside of the bowl, but I really liked the way the colors bled together to make a less-intense version of the outside.
Tissue Paper Mâché!
Hello, everyone! This week, I wanted to put a new spin on everybody's favorite childhood craft: paper mâché! The differences here being that I'm using tissue paper instead of newspaper...
