The post-Christmas sales are now really in swing and there are lots of good deals on art supplies in shops and across the internet. It's a good time to take stock of what you already own, what you enjoy using and what you may need to get more of, especially if you're lucky enough to have vouchers to spend. I've been thinking about what my most successful purchases of 2024 have been and what type of art I'm most likely to be creating in 2025 to inform my buying decisions. I've already ordered a few outdoor sketching supplies as I anticipate getting out and about to create art more in the New Year (surely the weather will improve next year!) If you're thinking about what you may like to buy in the sales then this week's blog post may be of interest to you.
One of the supplies that I've most recently bought, is the set of 5 Graphite Aquarelle pencils from Faber-Castell. I already use their Castell 9000 pencils as my main non-soluble graphite pencils and had picked up a single Graphite Aquarelle pencil to try quite a while ago. I love the different effects you can get with these by using them wet or dry and love to use them on already wet paper to get really dark marks, as in the raven eye sketch above. I can see I'll be keeping these in my outdoors art kit with a water brush and anticipate using them quite a lot in 2025.
I've found that I'm using white pens more and more in my mixed media art to give highlights, along with white pencils and crayons. My go-to pens at the moment are the Sakura Gelly Roll white gel pen and the Posca acrylic marker ultra fine line pen (PC-1MR) and my favourite pencil is the Derwent Drawing pencil in Chinese White. Many people online recommend the Holbein white pencil, so I'll be buying one of these if I place an order with Jacksons Art. I find it helpful to have a variety of different white pens and pencils around as each give different effects on different media.
I've really enjoyed using the Neutral Tint from Schmincke since I bought it this year and find it's really useful as a colour for stonework and for shadows. I've used it in the ink and watercolour sketch of one of the old stone walls at Grenaby Studios, where the purplish grey works well as a contrast to the raw sienna tones in the more orange masonry. I always used to use Payne's Grey as a shadow colour, but Neutral Tint has now replaced it in my palette and I'm finding it a more versatile colour.
I've loved using inks this year and have fallen back in love with using a dip pen, as you can switch colours so easily and it really helps me to keep my drawings loose and less fussy. I'll continue to add to my Diamine ink collection, especially if I see colours that split into different pigments when water is added. My favourite Diamine ink is still Earl Grey as it gives such beautiful effects with water, but I have really enjoyed the shades of brown and reds that I bought for the autumn leaves featured in the Autumn Leaves in Ink blog post.
Something I've actually owned for a long time, but not really used before this year, is the Khadi paperback book. It's a small square sketchbook filled with Khadi's handmade cotton paper (150 gsm). When I first bought it, I was mainly using watercolour pencils in my sketchbooks and it didn't handle these well. This year, I've been using it with ink and watercolour and it's been a real delight to use. I've enjoyed the texture of the paper and the general soft but strong feel to the paper. It's not so good when adding Luminance coloured pencils over the top of paintings as the tooth is less grippy for such things, but it can cope if needs be as long as the paper is dry, as evidenced in the mixed media sketch of ivy leaves, above.
I've really enjoyed using the Pitt Artist Pens this year. I haven't used them much, but whenever I have they've made me happy! I used the greys in the above drawing of a raven in flight and they laid down beautifully on the watercolour paper. I always keep a few of the pale colours in my sketching kit as I find they're useful for putting down guide strokes and for giving an idea of areas of warm and cool shading. The Warm Grey 1 and Light Indigo pens are very subtle but show through a layer of transparent watercolour so I can still see which area is which until I have them properly established with paint.
I've continued to love using my Twsbi Eco fountain pen to sketch with this year, especially during PleinAirpril, when I attempted to draw outdoors for each day in April (unfortunately it rained...lots!) Using the fountain pen with Platinum Carbon ink gives me black waterproof lines that I can then add watercolour over to my heart's content. The extra fine nib on the Twsbi allows me a good variation of line width and control and the clear barrel allows me to see exactly how much ink I have left. One fill with ink seems to last me ages though and I always have one of these pens in my sketching kit. For more information on ink drawing supplies see this blog post.
My all time favourite art supply will come as no surprise to regular readers of the blog and this hasn't changed over the course of this year. Caran D'Ache Luminance coloured pencils are now a vital piece of my art kit and the supply I get most joy out of using. I've really developed a preferred way of working over this last year and the combination of watercolour and coloured pencil on paper gives me everything I yearn for as an artist. I've now collected all 100 colours and so just need to keep the pencils topped up as I use them.
Having found that I can successfully apply varnish over these pencils when I use them over acrylic paintings I think they'll also be leading me to try them in conjunction with canvas more often over the coming year and I'll be experimenting with different forms of acrylic type paint as a base layer. I've already tested standard acrylic paint and Lefranc Bourgeois vinyl emulsion paint as a base for coloured pencils and the vinyl emulsion is the winner so far, as it dries with a matt finish and has a little tooth to it to help the pencil lay down. I'll be experimenting with different acrylic mediums and acrylic gouache over the coming months and so will pick up anything that looks promising in the sales.
So they're my favourite art supplies of 2024. Some brand new, some old favourites and some things that I rediscovered in a new way this year. Art is about experimenting and developing though, so I wonder how things will change over the year ahead. I look forward to finding out!
Last week, I promised information about a plant hunt. The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland are running their 14th New Year Plant Hunt from the 29th of December 2024 to the 1st of January 2025. The idea is to go out on a walk during this time and record any wild or naturalised plants that are flowering, so the data can be used to help us see how a changing climate is affecting our plants. You need to register on their website and can find plant spotting guides and lots of tips of how to plan your walk and record your finds. Unfortunately, as has been the case for much of this year, the weather is against us and Monday and Tuesday are forecast for gales on the Isle of Man. Sunday may therefore be the best day to get out and record if you're interested in joining the challenge.
Thank you so much for this Emma, I always enjoy reading your blog. Wishing you a very Happy ew Year!