I don’t think i’m a good artist.
Ok… its a lie. is there any such thing as a good artist? maybe. i think judging harshly on our work or how we work is part of the call for artist. we compare ourselves to others so easily, so quickly! But heres my thoughts anyway.
Im not great at sketch booking. i love it when i draw in there dont get me wrong but finding the energy and time to actually draw is…. exhausting sometimes. i always see ‘take 5 minutes to draw a day!’ well i would if i had any idea WHAT to draw in the first place. I see so many beautiful sketchbooks, reportage, dedicated sketchbooks for different things, do people actually keep to them or is it all false? like is one page perfect and the other side is a badly drawn horse? maybe. i keep saying im working on my sketchbook more and its true i HAVE started to use it more.. but not to an extent where my skill is going to grow. maybe a snails pace but thats kind of sad.
process. process of drawing. what does that even mean? im the type of perosn who thinks of one idea and draws it and there it is. terrible habit and not anyway helping stretch the idea out but thats just how my mind works. ive been trying to… fix it somehow by forcing myself to draw other things or the same idea but slightly different and i guess thats the process right? again i go back to other artists portflios or youtube videos and stare at mine then theirs then mine again going well where has this gone wrong cause clearly something did!
this feels like a mess of a blog post but i think we’ve all gathered this isnt going to be coherent. this may seem like a self deprecating blog but it isnt trust me! i just like a good whine.
what else makes me a not very good bad kind of artists? i leave my brushes in my water. i rarely clean my paint palettes cause that means going down stairs which means forgetting a bajillion things. i have about… 10? unfinished sketchbooks that i claim is for this this and that but really its because i just wanted a new one. I keep meaning to expand my reading on the arts, be more spiritual and connect with art more, but. who actually has the time? i guess i do have the time. but it feels like i dont.
i have the artist way and have for… two months nearly and i havent even began to start it. i feel like i need to mark a month on my calendar that just says ONLY READING AND PRACTICING THIS BOOK. though i guess that isnt the point of the book but maybe thats the only way ill get through it in one piece. i feel like there was this massive surge to talk on this book and now its a pressure to do everything within it and expand from that to other books to help your practice. a great idea… i need to be kicked into doing these things.
I hate anatomy. I know its important but its more fun to guess where the arm points than to study and have the drawing come out nothing like i want it to. does that happen to you aswell? trying to draw something without a reference getting frustrated that it doent look right and then using said reference and it turning out a completely different style to what you do normally so you have to start all over again? say that without breathing because thats how i wrote it. again leading back to sketchbooks, this would be a great area to practice. but in my silly mind that feels wasteful. BAD ARTIST DING NOISE. how can something that will grow my skill be wasteful?
i feel this blog doesnt make sense but its 4:30am and im rambling every thought off my head.
i know im not a BAD artists, probably not the best one out there, but i do try to be. maybe if i take vitamins itll help somehow. placebos. i do miss the sun i somehow worked better with light that isnt paynes grey.
To end this off, i think every artist thinks this and if you dont. well i dont even know you so thats fine. as long as i draw something that i love who really cares if it doesnt have 50 versions behind it? me but we ignore that. Did this make sense? probaly not but ill add cute photos throughout anyway. Bye :p
My fave art supplies jan-feb 2025
I’ve tried many MANY art supplies, but so far this year i’ve had very clear favorites.. and honestly i do believe that art supplies and having ones that click with you change the way you work and grow your skills.
I am a main lover of watercolour *the crowd gasps* i think imo its on of the best paints to use, i get told often “i dont know how you use watercolour! its so hard to use!!” and it confuses me… but i guess if you start out with an art supply you have a different experience. see i started out with watercolour so to me its easy! but if you start with something like acrylic and bond with it well than a watered down free flowing paint might not be as easy right away! now not that I’m saying watercolour is easy it frustrates me to no end most days but i still wouldn’t change it for another base paint.
I joined in onto the acryla gouache train, however we didn’t click we didn’t bond like me and watercolour… i do use it every now ans then but i never itch to make a painting using that art supply… sorry </3
At Christmas one of my presents was ⊹₊⟡⋆PAN PASTELS⊹₊⟡⋆ i had been after them for some time but hadn’t found a place that sold them (in person) desperately and not in giant groups of colours i didn’t care for bare one. so this was a huge surprise and i immediately in love. i think I’ve used them everyday since getting them… the texture mwah stunning. and just recently starting to overlay them? i love it. however what i haven’t cracked is the sponges. why do they crack? why does wiping them off never work? and HOW do you easily put them on the stick? i found the method that works best is hot soapy water and making a makeshift washing machine with a frother! a genius in stem i know..
so what are my top fave art supplies of this month!
WATERCOLOUR
Pan pastel
pencils
mono eraser
my teenytiny pocket sketchbook
my one single graduate brus
Have these changed ever? probably not and unless some insanely amazing supply gets dropped on my door… i dont think it will…
now.. i love a good pocket sketchbook like no other but this one? this one is just chefs kisses all around! plith!! (plith? pilth?) stunning. i came across their sketchbooks last year im unsure what YouTuber or Instagram artist i saw use it but now its who DOESN’T use them. i got myself a giant one to try out, risky i know, but i loved the paper i loved how it was ivory and not stark white. and i loved LOVED that it layed flat. full flat. and even with the pocket size the paper is the same and the flatness is the same! sometimes i find pocket notebooks to have different papers to their larger counter parts but these are the same which i find to be very lovely and it holds all kinds of mediums so well. I use a lot of different sketchbooks and papers but this brand is the top as its taken over leuchtturm 1917. the only issue i had with the leuchtturm 1917 is the different papers and somehow ending up with the wrong type. i seriously need to start taking photos of sketchbooks i like so i can shop much more easily.
Lets talk brushes. i have many many brushes. but one. one is my favorite. the graduate no.4 round brush Daler and Rowney. this is my main guy he never lets me down. do i have fancy brushes that cost the world? yes i do however they don’t beat this £2 brush that is falling apart and is bent because yes i am that artist that forgets their brushes in water. It just seems to always hold enough water that i don’t get blots or dry brush. amazing stunning. I have other graduate brushes the same exact brand yet somehow some mythic power this brush is just gold glowing perfect. i fear the day i will have to get a new one.
