October 27, 2009 - Day 78

Da Vinci watercolor on 140 lb Saunders Waterford paper

I really liked the look of the Rorschach inkblot painting yesterday so I am doing a series of them. I have created another 3 inkblot paintings with a bright red background and have listed them on eBay. The link to my listings is at the top right hand side of this page.

Below the picture of today's painting is a picture of the tool that I use to squirt the ink onto the paper. It is a syringe that I got when I had my wisdom teeth pulled. A lot of people think that they have to go out and spend a lot of money on art supplies before they can paint but that is not always true.

The majority of brushes that I use are so old and abused that the paint has peeled off the handles. I used to store them brush up in a mug when they were wet and the water dripped down the handles and caused the paint to peel off. I now know to put the brushes down horizontally to dry before storing them upright.

These brushes were also bargain brushes. When I first started painting I didn't have a lot of money for supplies so I bought the cheapest brushes that I could find that I liked. The price of my brushes range from $2.50 up to $15. I did splurge last year on a Kolinsky sable watercolor brush because all the instruction books said that they were the best brushes. Truth is that I prefer my old cheap brushes over the Kolinsky.

You can save money by purchasing cheap brushes and other tools but you really can tell the difference between student grade and professional quality paints and papers. I found with the student grade papers the paint does not flow or look as nice as with the professional papers. The same is true with the paint. I started out with student grade but the professional grade is so much better. The colors are more vibrant and flow a lot better than the student grade. The professional grade paints are a lot creamier and produce better washes. The other thing to worry about with student grade paints is whether or not they will stand the test of time. They may not be as durable as professional grade paints.