2019 My Favorite Things Part Two

Gel mediums, modeling paste, and fluid mediums are key to my textured paintings.

Right before Christmas, I posted a fairly in depth list of my favorite things (mostly art supplies of course) for the year. After I hit publish on that post, I started thinking about another half dozen, or dozen (haha, or more) items that should have been included in my must have for 2019 and beyond.

Let’s take a look at what other fun items else hit my list for Part 2 of “My Favorite Things”.

Modeling Paste is a key component to many base layers for my acrylic abstract paintings. I do prefer this brand as it's flexible, which means it adapts well to work on canvas. For wood, I'd use the regular modeling paste.

If you are at all interested in painting in Cold Wax and Oil, first I would suggest joining my Abstracts in Cold Wax and Oil Class which can be found in my Etsy Shop (I will be changing to a new site over the next year-regardless, there won't be an interuption of service). Once you've signed up for my class--you of course will need some wax along with oil paints to get started. Gamblin is my perferred Cold Wax Medium for most of my cold wax applications but I also use Dorland as well.

We could really go down the rabbit-hole of fun things to use when painting with Cold Wax and Oil--but I will try to contain my enthusiasm by just post a few of my favorites.
In my last post, I mentioned the Messermeister scraping tool--while that definitely is top on my list, I also love the Catalyst Wedge (the off-white color) as it is a tad bit firmer for more controlled applications:

Once your base layers are dry, scraping back paint is probably one of the most fun things to do in Cold Wax and Oil Painting. There are so many possibilities as to how you can do this, a good start is to pick up one of these mega tool kits for clay and go to town with all the 'toys' in here:

In addition to scraping back layers, you can also add designs into your wax mixture by applying texture plates like these (tip-look in not only the clay aisle for interesting plates, but also the cake decorating and stamp aisle for embossing/texture plates).

I'm still building my 'catalogue' of oil colors even though I've been painting with Cold Wax for about 4 years now so I like to pick up a few sampler sets of basic colors and then build my palette around those introductory colors. Gamblin has a few sets that are mid range and have a good mix of colors. I would suggest buying large tubes of inexpensive oil paint for your white, off white, and or black.
It's hard to resist the creamy lushness of the R & F Pigment (oil) sticks. Perfect for drawing vivid lines and controlled mark making in your abstract oil paintings. If you are just starting to build you collection, start with white and go from there.

I know, I know...it's hard to just stop at just one! Here's a set of a dozen to get you markmaking until your heart is content:

Slightly different than the R & F pigment sticks, I also enjoy using the Shiva Sticks for mark making with my cold wax paintings. They are firmer than the R & F sticks, and hence also dry faster. This set of 12 for students is a good place to start if you are interested in Shiva painting sticks. The student sticks have slightly less pigment than the professional set, yet are still wonderful for overlaying marks and shading areas of your CW paintings.

Gessobord is a staple in all of my Zen Painting work, my studio is stocked with boards of every size. My favorite brand is the Ampersand Gessobord. You just can't beat it for it's quality and consistency of product. A special package of their 12 x 12 board can be found through this link HERE. (Buy 2 get 1 free) Like to learn more about my Zen Painting? Check out my workshop HERE.

I hope you enjoyed reading about some of my favorite things for 2019! I'll be adding to my list of must haves for 2020 throughout the year as I dive into what I hope is going to be the most creative year, yet! What are some of your favorite things? I'd love to hear what your must haves are. Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

Like to join my latest workshop? Check out "Absolutely Abstracts" and get started today!