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I went to visit the manufacturers of Artiste Oils, shot a short video clip and interviewed one of the owners and this is what he had to say.

What makes artiste so special and how does it compare or how is it different to other oils on the market?

We think what makes Artiste Oils so special is that they’re proudly South African. Although a lot of the ingredients have to be sourced from overseas we are proud of the fact that such a great quality oil paint is being made locally in South Africa. The recipes also cater for the South African landscape colour palette with some unique colours like Grey of Grey that was introduced in collaboration with feedback from South African artists. 

How long does it take to make a tube of paint, what goes into manufacturing these awesome paints?

From mixing the recipe to milling and tubing a batch of paint, the whole process takes a full day for one colour.  Remember all our paint is triple milled which takes up a large amount of the manufacturing time in the manufacturing process. 

Where do you source the ingredients?

We source as much as possible locally but when it comes to pigments and oils we need to source product from all over the world. For instance, we have to import safflower oil from India, which we use in our Titanium White, as they are one of the biggest Safflower Oil producers. We can’t use traditional Linseed Oil with Titanium White as it has a yellowing affect which stands out on the white so we have to use Safflower Oil. Also certain pigments are more prevalent to certain geographic areas which makes it difficult to get here in South Africa.

How did you get the recipes perfected and the quality to such a high standard?

Artiste was originally started by Dawn Connell over 30 years ago. Her son Garth got involved in the business and just happens to be an organic chemist. He worked in the background fine tuning and perfecting the recipes used today. Our recipes remain our closest guarded secret and are without a doubt one of the most important keys to Artiste Oils success. 

 

See Professional South African Artist Matt Z's review on Artiste Oils

Being a parent of two boys and always wanting to get the best gift for their age and development, spending hard earned cash and then your child forgets it in two minutes, finds and empty box and has endless hours of fun playing with it. Ever happened to you?

 Well I found this to be one of the best gifts I have come across for my children that I just had to stock them so that other parents could give them to their children or have a go to gift for other children. I bought the Bi-Pane Crafty Cardboard and the Pirate Ship Crafty Cardboard for my two sons and I bought the Oven Crafty Cardboard for my neice. They absolutely loved working with with these, colouring in and painting their toys. Thats also whats really cool about these gifts is that once they are done decorating they can play all kinds of pretend games with them afterwards.

  

 There are other crafty kits in the range like the Bakery, Beauty Salon, Car Workshop, Happy House and Washing Machine and they currently cost R85.00 which is great value for the amount of time your children will spend enjoying these crafty colour-in cardboard gift sets. Each set includes a paint set except the Bi-plane and Pirate Ship which come with crayons.

I really wanted a cool protea painting in my lounge but couldnt find one I liked and I found them to be quite expensive so I thought why do I just paint one myself, that way I get exactly what I want, the correct size and I get to feel good making it too. You can do this too! See the steps in this article now.

Up-scaling or up-cycling old furniture and other household items with Pinty Plus Chalk Spray is such a fun and creative way to make those ugly, used and tired things you have which you are about to chuck out into new and beautiful pieces that create impact in your home.

After visiting the Daville Baillie Gallery I was lucky enough to get this in depth interview with Matthew Krouse, its an interesting interview for artists and art buyers in the South African art scene.

When I was about 12 years old I received my first art painting set for my birthday. It was in a cool box, had six high quality oils, a brush and some canvas. This was one of the best gifts that I have ever received and one of the few that I still remember. After painting my first painting with these oils, I have never looked back and my love affair with this medium has only grown. To me there is nothing better than that feeling of when I am creating, the peace and the joy that comes with making art has no comparison and that’s why I have created some great new gift art kits to be sold on Addicted To Art. I want to share the joy of giving a child the tools to create their own works and to possibly inspire them to do something in the art world too. I have made up sketching sets, water colour painting sets, acrylic painting sets and Marker sets too but I have decided to feature the Oil painting deluxe set because I was inspired by the memory of my first oils gift set. I current have two oils kits, one being the Artiste Oil Painting Starter Kit and the other being the Artiste Oil Painting Deluxe Kit.

Victoria Yards - Is redefining the Joburg inner-city landscape Last week I visited Victoria Yards in Johannesburg, and even though it’s not officially opened I had such a fabulous time that I thought you should know about it. Victoria Yards is an inner-city development near town. Its address is 24 Victoria Road Lorentzville, South Africa. I was a bit nervous about the area but found secure parking as well as guards on patrol and once I walked in it was like walking into another world of green veggies and awesome face brick. I loved it instantly!

Matthew Ziranek Addicted To Art Interview "I'm a different kind of artist. One who likes to get things done." MattZ Matthew Ziranek recently joined our free Artist Directory. He was chosen by Addicted To Art (me) to be it's first featured artist. I have interviewed him in depth on himself and his art in our new Blog.