Cold Rainy day out. Long rain too. Hopefully it will help the drought out for this season a little bit. It should have helped the snow pack. But that’s for the powers that be to decide…

I posted something on Facebook the other day, about the most basic rule all aspiring artists should take to heart. Pick tools and media for that matter, that YOU like, so that you will work with them enough to grow comfortable with them. This rule should apply evenly across all media, including computer graphics and Illustration. This is the first step in developing your own style and know tool does the work for you, it only enables you to do the work more comfortably. I still hear lots of people recommending things like Kolinsky Sable brushes for watercolor. But what use is it if your $300.00 Winsor & Newton Series 7, intimidates you to the point you never use it? A $10.00 golden Talon brush will work just as well or close enough, and if you are comfortable using it, you will practice a lot more and get to know it better. Getting to know these tools, is what starts to allow us to find ways of doing things we like. 

Yesterday I was watching a YouTube about getting your photographs noticed, the guy made a very good point. Who is going to remember a technically perfect photo is it looks like 10,000 other technically perfect photos… You need to find a way to shoot pictures that is unique and identifiable as yours. Ansel Adams already did Ansel Adams you don’t need to. Galen Rowell already did Galen Rowell you don’t need to. You need to find you. Whether in Photography or Watercolor, or even Marble. Make what you got work for you. Don’t work for it. I don’t think Jackson Pollock red very much what kinda brush he used.  Do you really think Alexander Calder used artist grade steel in his Sculptures? There was a time when specialty tools denoted something far more special than today. You should be concerned not for brandnames, but for what works best for you. What excites you. What you are comfortable with. Neither Winsor or Newton is going to come out of the grave to help you paint something just because you bought their merchandise. You only have yourself to rely on. Make yourself the better you. Find what you like and work to perfect it the way you want it perfected. Same goes for your media. I have vast experience with colored pencils, watercolor, Oil paints, and gouache as well as Casein. They all put color on a surface and can last 100’s of years if careful about lightfast considerations. Find the one you are most comfortable with. I grew up hearing the drumbeat Oil is King… I like watercolors. Give the average oil painter a set of watercolors and odds are he’ll end up with a mess. Why is oil king? It forgives a lot of sins other media do not. But if Casein is your thing cool. Odds are you’ll be able to pick up oil painting faster than an oil painter will pick up casein. By the way, if you are on a tight budget try Casein… 5000 year old cave paintings don’t lie, it lasts. And it’s cheep. I actually find it fun… but then I like watercolor also…

Have a good day!