I recently asked Nick Howarth a friend and artist on my Artist Directory to share his knowledge on the subject of creativity and what kills it. With the recent bans on alcohol sales, I’ve noticed an increase in people wanting to tap into their creative sides and do more art. I was wondering if there was a correlation and from my point of view, I am seeing one. Please enjoy and I truly hope that this helps you in your art journey. Natasha
How To Destroy Your Creativity In One Easy Step
Artists are special people. They are able to pull things out of their minds and realize it as a physical presentation. It is a beautiful ability to have. People the world over are in awe of such people and can sit and study the details, curves and colours of a piece of art for hours. The artist has managed to communicate an idea that resonates with the observer and it just makes them feel good.
To be able to communicate an idea, an artist (or anyone for that matter) needs to be sound and sober to communicate it properly. A clear and focused mind communicates the best. A mind clouded by a mind altering substance such as alcohol cannot communicate clearly. It sees the world differently than what is real. Try to have a casual chat with a drunk person at a party when you are sober. It can be rather annoying. The drunk person thinks he is communicating meaningful and sound ideas in a clear and concise way. This is what he sees from his viewpoint, but far from what those around him see. A drunk person always thinks he is doing a lot better than he actually is, like driving. This is why people like the feeling of being drunk. It’s all false though.
A person, when drunk, views the world through a distorted lens. The world cannot be seen or experienced as it really is. A version of reality that is seen by him or her is not the same version seen by someone who is of sober mind. This is why irrational behaviour is so common in a home where one or more drunk people live. Just try to argue with someone who is drunk and you’ll have a horrific experience and be left with a morbid feeling of bewilderment. You could also ask yourself at this point if you would want this person looking after your child or driving your car.
When it comes to art, it should be clever and beautiful so that it says something meaningful to the observer. If it makes no sense to the observer and is low quality communication or irrational, the sober observer will be disappointed or even disgusted in the piece of art.
So in a nutshell, if you want to destroy creative talent, add alcohol. It is a solution wherein one can preserve many things. The foetus of a sheep, a frog or an internal organ for later study in the science classroom can all be preserved by alcohol, but creative artistic ability is not one of them.
For an artist, displaying a piece of art is like exposing the core of your bare soul to the world for people to poke and prod at. It is extremely destructive to the artist when his art is criticized or dissed. He feels dead inside when this happens. Unfortunately there are people that thrive on criticizing the art of others. They feel threatened by the creativity of another and insidiously try to destroy it. Sometime the artist turns to alcohol to try to kill the pain and drown the horrible feeling of failure, that in fact was created by the comments or disapproving looks of the “not so creative.” This is where the art in the artist dies and fades away.
Alcohol: The One Easy Step to the Destruction of Creativity. Don’t fall for it. Keep your integrity to yourself and stay true. Artists are the future and need to be protected and nurtured.
Please let me know what you think. Do you feel more creative when you drink less? Have you noticed that you have wanted to create more since not drinking? Let us know in the comments.
Need inspiration in these trying times? These arty quotes and sayings are just for you.
If you are anything like me then you are tired of the negativity all over the radio, television and social media. Thats why I wanted to make this special compilation of arty and creative quotes to inspire you to create more in life. I find I feel my best when I am painting, puzzling or outdoors with my family. Turning off all the negativity really does improve my mood and productivity. I truly hope that you are inspired by these quotes to make something.
" Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life." Pablo Picasso
“Every child is an artist; the problem is staying an artist when you grow up” – Pablo Picasso
“If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced” – Vincent Van Gogh
“Creativity takes courage.” – Henri Matisse
“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” – Andy Warhol
“We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.” – Bob Ross
"The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that was'nt there before." – Neil Gaiman
“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” – Leonardo da Vinci
“Every artist was first an amateur.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” – Vincent van Gogh
“Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.” – Claude Monet
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” – Georgia O’Keeffe
“I hold that the perfection of form and beauty is contained in the sum of all men.” – Albrecht Dürer
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Degas
“In art, what we want is the certainty that one spark of original genius shall not be extinguished.” – Mary Cassatt
“A work of art which isn’t based on feeling isn’t art at all.” – Paul Cézanne
“Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.” – Ai Weiwei
“Creativity is contagious, pass it on.” – Albert Einstein
“Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.” – Salvador Dali
“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.” – Jack London
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last, you create what you will.” – George Bernard Shaw
“Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” – Charles Mingus
“Originality is nothing but judicious imitation.” – Voltaire
“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.” – Ray Bradbury
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.” – Steve Jobs
“Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.” – Cecil B. DeMille
“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not’?” – George Bernard Shaw
“You can’t use up creativity. The more the you use, the more you have.” –Maya Angelou
“Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you’re passionate about something, then you’re more willing to take risks.” – Yo-Yo Ma
“It is wise to learn; it is God-like to create.” – John Saxe
“Creativity is piercing the mundane to find the marvelous.” – Bill Moyers
“There is no must in art because art is free.” – Kandinsky
“Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm.” – Earl Nightingale
“Creative work is a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got.” – Steven Pressfield
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams
“Art is the stored honey of the human soul.” – Theodore Dreiser
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” – Thomas Merton
“Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.” – Edgar Degas
“I think of art as the highest level of creativity. To me, it is one of the greatest sources of enjoyment.” – David Rockefeller
“To practice any art, no matter how well or how badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. So do it.” – Kurt Vonnegut
“The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live only as you can.” – Neil Gaiman
“Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas.” – Donatella Versace
“I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart.” – Vincent van Gogh
“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” – Edward Hopper
“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” – Andy Warhol
“Great art picks up where nature ends.” – Marc Chagall
“The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.” – Piet Mondrian
“Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.” – Salvador Dali
“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” – Francis Bacon
“To create one’s own world takes courage.” – Georgia O’Keeffe
“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.” – Auguste Rodin
“It is important to express oneself…provided the feelings are real and are taken from you own experience.” – Berthe Morisot
“To be an artist is to believe in life.” – Henry Moore
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over it became a butterfly.” – Chuang Tzu
“Every good painter paints what he is.” – Jackson Pollock
“In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” – Georgia O’Keeffe
“What moves men of genius, or rather what inspires their work, is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.” – Eugene Delacroix
“Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing.” – Marc Chagall
“Don’t be an art critic, but paint, there lies salvation.” – Paul Cézanne
“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” – Marc Chagall
“A good artist has less time than ideas.” – Martin Kippenberger
“I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.” – Frida Kahlo
“I paint for myself. I don’t know how to do anything else, anyway. Also, I have to earn my living, and occupy myself.” – Francis Bacon
“Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.” – Leonardo da Vinci
“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” – Michelangelo
“Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye, it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.” – Edvard Munch
“Painting is a means of self-enlightenment.” – John Olsen
“Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.” – Twyla Tharp
“An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.” – Charles Horton Cooley
“Creativity is the greatests rebellion in existence.” –Osho
“One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.” –Leonardo da Vinci
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle
“No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist.” – Oscar Wilde
“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.” – Pablo Picasso
“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.” – Stella Adler
“I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say, ‘he feels deeply, he feels tenderly.” – Vincent Van Gogh
“Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.” – Pablo Picasso
“An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.” – James McNeill Whistler
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent Van Gogh
“Inspiration does exist, but it must find you working.” – Pablo Picasso
“The artist’s world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep.” – Paul Strand
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Seuss
“If a man devotes himself to art, much evil is avoided that happens otherwise if one is idle.” – Albrecht Dürer
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” – Pablo Picasso
“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” – Leonardo Da Vinci
“Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Andy Warhol
“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud.” – Émile Zola
“It's not just about creativity, it's about the person you are becoming while you're creating.” – Charlie Peacock
“I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.” – Vincent Van Gogh
“The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.” – Michelangelo
“The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.” – Robert Henri
“I invent nothing, I rediscover.” – Auguste Rodin
“I would rather die of passion than of boredom.” – Vincent van Gogh
“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” – Henry Ward Beecher
“The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good’ sense.” – Pablo Picasso
“Creativity is magic. Don’t examine it too closely.” – Edward Albee
“Art is not a thing, it is a way.” – Elbert Hubbard
“Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet.” – Paul Klee
“Art is a line around your thoughts.” – Gustav Klimt
“Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.” – Pablo Picasso
"Art is as natural as sunshine and as vital as nourishment." - Mary Anne F. Khol
Oil paints are known for being more pigmented than watercolour and acrylics. This can make oil paintings look like a scene that you can truly just walk into and immerse yourself in. This addition of pigment is known to give the color of these paints a lifelike and splendid appearance. Many people prefer this to water-based paints.
Oil paints have been used for hundreds of years and have stood the test of time with great durability and steadfast colour. Oil paints are one of the great classic media. Despite oils being slow to dry the colours do not change or fade and this slow-drying feature allows for the artist to make changes, fix and alter different areas of their work easily. (Drying can range from a few hours to a few days, giving you time to make adjustments and correct areas you don’t like).
Is oil paint the right choice for you?
If you’re a slow painter, deliberate and cautious (perhaps used to spending hours on a single drawing) then I’d recommend oils. You’ll need to prop the windows open and wear your paint clothes, but at least you won’t have to rush like with waterbased paints. Its one of the most forgiving media when it comes to blending, mixing and correcting.
Creative Diamond and Paint Kits that give you the same feeling that artists get when doing art but without needing to be an artist or have art lessons.
A wide choice of subjects to paint or stick with diamonds. With the use of the brightly coloured acrylic paints or diamonds enclosed, these kits offer artists the opportunity to produce a beautiful acrylic painting or diamond painting of which they will be proud.
Painting By Numbers with acrylics or diamonds as a hobby has become a popular stress reduction trend for adults and children. It stimulates your brain and boosts creative thinking, focus and concentration. The activity makes you feel calmer, more relaxed and reduces anxiety and stress levels
What is Painting By Numbers
Painting by Numbers is a printed image on a board or canvas where a picture is divided into shapes, each marked with a number that corresponds to a particular color. You paint in each shape and ultimately the picture emerges as a finished painting.
What's in Painting by Numbers Kit?
A Painting by Numbers kit will include a brush or brushes, little pots of paint in however many colors you'll need, and a printed outline of the picture.
How to Paint by the Numbers
1. Paint one number colour at a time from biggest area to smallest
2. Work from top to bottom. This wastes the least amount of paint and saves time on brush washing.
Tips for Successful Painting by the Numbers
1. If there is only one brush supplied in the kit consider purchasing a brush set with it to help with larger areas.
2. have a glass or plasic jar and serviette near for washing and drying your brush.
3. Dont overload the brush with paint or spread the bristles out flat as this will damage your brush.
4. Lightly glide the brush along the surface.
More Than One Number (or Mixed Colors)
You'll notice some shapes have two numbers in them, not just one. This indicates that you need to mix two colors together. Equal proportions should give you a suitable color, but don't dip your brush from one paint container into the next as you'll contaminate the colors.
Mix a little of the two colors on a palette or paper plate. Dont mix it on the board or canvas as this can crate a bit of a mess with too much paint.
Keep Paint Colors Clean
Always clean the brush before dipping it into another color. A little of a dark color very quickly ruin a light color! If you do this, don't stir it in but use the corner of a clean cloth or piece of paper towel to try to remove it.
Diamond Paintings is the art of gluing cut rhinestones to a textile canvas to make a gorgeous, three dimensional picture. Diamond Painting is a new craft hobby that's a mix between Paint By Numbers and Cross Stitch. With Diamond Painting, you apply thousands of tiny resin "diamonds" to a coded adhesive canvas to create shimmering Diamond Art.
What's in Diamond Painting Kit?
The patternon a gridded adhesive canvas, enough drills to complete your project and the tools needed.
How to Paint by Diamonds
1. Supplies
Unpack your supplies or your kit which includes your pattern, canvas, enough tiles and the tools.
2. Storage
the tiles come in packets of about 200 of each colour. You can purchase sealable plastic containers to put your drills in after you opent the packets to keep them all together.
3. Pen Tool
Peel back the plastic layer from the glue and press into it with the end of the diamond pen tool. this will help the drills to stick to it when you pick them up.
4.Tiles Or Drills
5. To Start, choose a symbol and according to its colour chart on the pattern, place some drills in the plastic tray. Shake it a bit so that the 5D side faces upwards.
6. Sticky Canvas
Peel back the protective sheet from the canvas and start sticking the drills accordin to the pattern until finished.
7. Hang On Wall
When complet, put some heavy books on top to ensure all tiles are firmly in place and then get it framed to hang on your wall.
Buying Local Hand-made Knitted Goods Is Good For All - Baby Gifts You Will Just Love
These days we might not be attending as many baby showers and parties as usual but that's where Addicted To Art comes in. We will deliver these beautiful and unique gifts to the expecting mothers door and you will be super proud of the gift that gets unwrapped, hopefully seeing via some group chat or internet platform like Skype or Zoom.
I want to introduce this lovely local, woman owned clothing brand Ollie & Quinn because I absolutely love and adore their creations, my babies were lucky enough to wear and be named after a few of the collections. Yes, my mother Isabel and Aunt Gay are the amazing ladies behind these wonderful baby clothes. I am very excited to share this hand-made knitwear with you. Perfect for keeping your baby warm and snug or as a very special and unique baby shower gift. Your babies’ closet won’t be complete till you have all the colours and styles available.
Ollie & Quinn is a collaboration of two sisters from Cape Town who were inspired by their young grandchildren and their love of hand knitting.
Their products are made with more than just love and passion. They only use locally sourced, 100% eco-friendly hand dyed and hand-spun bamboo wool which is perfect for new-born babies and growing toddlers. Bamboo wool is soft to the touch, breathable and has natural anti-bacterial and UV protective properties.
Each Ollie & Quinn product is care-fully hand-knitted and stitched with meticulous attention to detail, making every piece unique.
I've always loved Gustav Klimt's (1862-1918) works and he has inspired me to try out gold leaf in my latest art commission.
Gold has been sought after, fought over and desired throughout history and its no surprise that artists have used it in their works too. From the ancient Egyptians in their tombs, Byzantine Art to Klimt. Gold leaf reflects light amazingly, looks really ethereal, has and expensive permanence to it and it is now more readily available to the average person - not just royalty.
On Valentines Day my husband and I went on a date night and happened to go into The Melrose Gallery, I was surprised and happy to see that not one but three of the paintings on display had used gold in their artworks, let me also just say that I didnt see anything on the walls going for less than R 100 000 so obviously even our own local South African Artists are using gold leaf or gold paint in their artworks which are going for a pretty penny.
What is gold leaf?
Gold leafis gold that has been hammered into fine sheets. The process of pounding solid gold into a thin leaf is called goldbeating, and the act of using gold leaf to adorn a surface is called gilding.
How I Added Gold Leaf To My Painting
Step 1: Once I had completed my painting I painted on Dammar Varnish in select areas that I wanted to have the gold on.
Step 2: I cut my gold leaf square into more manageable sections and then flipped them onto the sticky varnished areas.
Step 3: I used one of my brushes to dust off the excess (you can keep the bits for another project)
Step 4: I varnished the whole painting with a spray varnish.
...And that's it
TIPS:
1. Try not to touch the gold leaf with your fingers.I learn't this lesson the hard way and its an expensive mistake.
2. If you would like to buy Gold leaf then you can buy it from Addicted To Art at a special price and get it delivered or go to Honours Boards. Honours Boards specializes in academic, sports honours boards, podiums, pin boards, plaques and they use a lot of gold leaf and gold lettering in their products.
The Perfect Arts & Crafts In A Box - Fluid Art , Jewellery Art, Polymer Clay, Fairy Door , Acrylic Painting, Fabric Painting, 3DArt and Candle Decoupage Kits.
Art kits for you and your kids to get addicted to art and cut down on that screen time. I dont know about you but we seem to be on our phones way too much, well I think getting creative and making things is the solution.
A few weeks ago, I received a call from Ingrid about her kits, we hit it off immediately and I knew they just belonged on my site. As an artist myself I have been putting together different kits which customers are loving but what I liked about hers was that it was all in one box, had instructions and videos and really did give you a chance to see if that craft or arty technique was something you wanted to do without having to outlay tons of money for art materials you might not use. The kits are also packaged perfectly for a DIY art party or team building event for kids and adults. They are also perfect gifts for birthdays or christmas. I am delighted to partner up with Ingrid to bring you these proudly South African Art Kits for you to have fun with and get your creative juices flowing. I am also looking forward to collaborating on a new kit with Ingrid involving dot art. No prior art experience is needed for these kits, so they really are for everyone.
What Ingrid had to say about the kits.
I have been an artist my whole life, drawing from when I could pick up a pencil. I've always wanted to share my love of art, colours, shapes and expression, so I taught at primary school level and had an art shop which had a studio where I taught adults and children the love of art and craft.
So many people are intimidated by the fact that "they can't draw a straight line", but the beauty of Fluid Acrylic art is that straight lines are banned! Anyone can do it! It's a case of selecting the colours that move you and a technique you, like the look of, and then just play! There are no mistakes. If you don't like the look of what you did, simply scrape it off and start over!
The fluid art concept is designed to make yourself feel good. It's also fantastic therapy. It takes you out of your stressful day and gets you into "The Moment" and you feel like you have meditated and just HAD FUN!
The kits are also made to have fun and to enjoy yourself. The materials used are of a great quality, so that you can feel good about what you make.
There are just enough items in the kits to give you the exposure to a new art/craft form without having to purchase huge amounts before you know if you will enjoy it. If you find that you love it after you have done a kit, you can then go and buy bigger quantities of what was in the kit. It's experimental without a massive financial commitment!
The teaching I mentioned comes in the form of online tutorials which are available for the kits, as well as techniques of fluid art.
*****
More Art Less Screen Time!
I'm not sure if you have noticed but kids and adults are becoming more and more addicted to their screens and I am not excluding myself. Being a business owner and working from home constantly trying to promote and expand my business is a full time job and I am doing it mostly from my laptop and phone. I'm constantly creating little videos and images for social media etc but then I realized that I have to put it down especially when the kids get home because my 3 year old keeps asking to look at my pictures and trying to take the phone and my 7 year old keeps asking to watch T.V. What is the solution here??? Well, I decided to set a good example and so I put my phone away and started to paint. Guess what happened next? Yip, they came asking me if they could paint and make things too. What a win! These kits are perfect to get you off your phone making something and the feeling you get while doing art is so calming and peaceful and what a great way to spend quality time with your children. There is a real sense of accomplishment after finishing a project which is beyond what you get from being on your phone or watching T.V for hours.
Most of the kits are on my site and we are working tirelessly to get them all up for the holiday season, I will update this blog post as they come online but even if they are not all on the site you can still buy them as they are available to purchase. In the mean time I will just list everything here for now and you can just pop me an email if you would like one of the kits now.
FLUID KITS
STRING FLUID KIT R250
STRAW FLUID KIT R250
SWIPE FLUID KIT R250
FLIP CUP FLUID KIT R250
PARTY KIT R325
CHRISTMAS BALLS KIT R425
ACRYLIC JEWELRY KIT R330
MINI POT FLUID ART KIT R310
DECODEN KITS
BOOK COVER KITS R285
JAR TOP KITS R285
HAIR SALON KITS R285
FAIRY DOOR KITS
WOOD FAIRY DOOR R275
STONE FAIRY DOOR R275
TOADSTOOL FAIRY DOOR R275
ACRYLIC PAINTING KITS
CHILDREN'S ACRYLIC PAINTING KITS R325
ADULT'S ACRYLIC PAINTING KITS R325
FABRIC PAINTING KITS
CHILDREN'S FABRIC PAINTING KITS R285
ADULT'S FABRIC PAINTING KITS R285
We hope that you love the kits as much as we do!!! >>SHOP ALL KITS NOW
The Chameleon Blend Range is like nothing you have ever seen before.
Seeing this range (pens, fine liners, colour tops, coloured pencils and accessories), especially how you can blend the colours or even change colours without lifting the pen is truly new and amazing. In my wildest dreams as a teenager I never thought of it but boy if I did, I would have wanted these! Now, as an adult my mind is blown away by these awesome pens etc that truly do give the ability to shade and colour like pencils but with markers.
Chameleon Art Products design and produce a family of professional quality innovative art tools that will help you unlock the world of colour. They are imported from the Uk to us here in South Africa and I can’t wait for everyone to find out about this range and all the amazing things you can do with them.
Chameleon is for you if you’re a curious kid, aspiring amateur, keen colourist or a creative crafter, Chameleon will help you achieve the results you dream of. Or if you’re an ambitious student, accomplished artist or a design professional, Chameleon will add a new level of control and finesse to your art bag of tricks.
Their patented family of art products is totally unique. Using their tools you can create depth, dimension, gradients, highlights, shading and shadows. In the past this would only have only been possible with an extensive range of art materials.
Chameleon Pens
You can now do a realistic gradation and shading when you have a Chameleon Pen, you can get many tones of a particular shade - all from one marker.
Chameleon Pens are not just an average marker - they give you the power to change colour easily. Each pen goes from as light as a hint of a tint to rich tones.
It works buy Just picking the colour you want, infuse it with the Mixing Chamber, wait for 15 seconds and begin shading. As you colour, you’ll see the tones transform from light to dark - creating a beautiful gradient.
Chameleon Colour Tops
It’s pretty much impossible to blend marker colours especially if they are totally different like purple and green for instance. Well, that’s where using Chameleon Colour Tops come in because you can now you can give your artwork seamless blends of multiple colours.
Add Chameleon Colour Tops to your Chameleon Pens to get over 1000 colour blending combinations. Even opposite colours like orange and green can be blended together without a seam!
Chameleon Fineliners
These new Chameleon Fineliners can instantly blend color for all your writing, journaling, drawing, doodling and colouring needs.
Chameleon Fineliners are perfect for artists, crafters, journalers, students and professionals.
They work by instantly blending colours, all you need to do is switch caps, leave for a few seconds and then you can make colour to colour blends.
Chameleon Pencils
Chameleon Pencils come in a 25 Set but with 50 colours. They are dual ended pencils with two perfectly matched complementary colour tones, ready for you to create beautiful, precise blends. And they’re so easy to use. Just flip to blend.
You can still get lighter and darker tones by varying the pressure on the pencils, but now you can easily blend between the colours with Chameleon Pencils. Simply flip the pencil and tap into the range of tones provided by just a single pencil.
Chameleon Books, Paper & Cards
Playing with highlights and shadows is what gives your artwork that life like depth and dimension. Chameleon Colouring Books and Colour Cards are designed to help make shading much easier to do, and made with high quality in mind so that your work always looks beautiful.
Why I think every artist or aspiring artist should have an easel.
An easel allows you to work vertically which makes your painting more accurate because that is how your artwork will be displayed or hung when it is complete. Generally, people are vertical and view things vertically, using an easel then can help you to have a better and more exact perspective in your art. Easels also protect your art work from spillage of paints and whatever else could be easily knocked over on a flat desk or surface by a stray elbow or running child. Dust also settles less on the artwork if it is standing up rather than horizontal.
For me the two best things about having an easel is that I can step back and look at it from a distance and see what needs to be done to improve my art and I can swivel it to the lighting that I want.
What types of easels are there and which one should I get?
Cheap and cheerful canvas (table) easel sets in 4 different sizes, great for kids, kids parties, art parties, party favours and team building art activities. You could also create your own art gift for a friend or family member with these. Click to go to Canvas Easel Sets and choose the size you want.
2. Table Easels
Table easels are great for working on smaller art work and allow you to sit at the table with your art but you still get the benefit of working vertically. This popular aluminium table easel which can fold away neatly when not in use is lightweight and portable, designed for table top use with a sturdy hinged shelf and non-slip rubber feet. It has fold up arms to support larger works too. They have a foldable design for easy set up and carry. Click to see full easel range.
3. Portable Aluminium Easels
Black and silver aluminium easels are available on my store. I own one of these easels for my own use and its really great! They can't handle massive works, I would say A1 would be max but A2 more comfortable. This easel can be used as a table easel and as a standing easel as it has 3 adjustable sizes. It's also so light weight and comes with a bag, so you can take it anywhere which is a massive bonus if you want to paint or sketch on holiday or if you travel to paint landscapes. Click here to buy a Black Aluminium Easel or a Silver Aluminium Easel Now.
This Lyre easel has a higher quality finish but does come in a flat pack so there will be some minor asembly needed for set up. Lyre easels are also known as A frame easels, are adjustable to suit a sitting or standing artist. They have two legs in the front, and a rear swinging leg at their back.
A Lyre easels shape allows for it to be placed in a corner or other small spaces. The rear leg can also sit completely flat against the body of the easel to allow for easy storage.
This Wooden Studio A Frame easel is fully adjustable and can support canvases up to 127cm in size and can be used in the studio or to display art works.
Whichever easel you choose, have fun creating! Please leave a comment on which is your favourite easel and why.
A fun morning out crafting with a group of mostly ladies, trying out different techniques using Cadence products which are imported from Turkey and are available online.
This is what we created and what I learned from the experience;
Project 1 - Stencilled Mirrored Wooden Tray
*** Step 1 ***
Asuming you start out with a primed tray, which we did. Take your stencil brush and stipple the tray with the Rusty Patina, dont brush it on because you will loose texture and get brush strokes. Cover the tray. I didnt paint the bottom as this wont be seen. Leave to dry.
Spray the glass on the painted side with the Cadence Mirror Effect Spray, used almost all the bottle for the size we used. Allow to dry. You can use a varnish over the mirror to protect from scratching if you like but we did not.
Spray canvas with the different Cadence Mixed Media Sprays. Spray from far to get an even mist and try to keep spray bottle as vertical as possible to avoid big blotches. You can also dab with a cloth to give it a more even finish. Allow to Dry.
*** Step 2 ***
Spray stencil with the Cadence Stencil Adhesive spray and place stencil on canvas. Smear the Cadence Rusty Patina, quite thickly and smoothly. Allow to dry a bit so that you can remove stencil without smudging it.
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