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10 Surprising Art tools that I can't work without!





Even if you are not an "artist," you probably know the basic materials you would normally use: Canvas or watercolor paper, brushes, acrylic paints, or watercolor paints. The basic stuff that artists have is in abundance.


Did you know, however, that there are a lot of items tucked in the supply closets that we (meaning me and more than likely others) wouldn't be without?


Here's my list, in no particular order.


You need a kneaded eraser. 😂



  • Approx size 1-3/4" x 1-1/4" x 1/4"

  • This little guy is my lifesaver.

  • I make mistakes. I do.

  • I can't be without this.

I have used this little item since my undergrad days as an art major. I don't know who invented this rubbery eraser, but it sure does the trick for the oops, the pencil lines that don't belong, or the charcoal smudges that were not intentional.



A kneaded eraser is an essential artist's tool for erasing, yes, but also for blurring edges, highlighting, and using other subtractive drawing techniques. It is made of a flexible gummy material that you can mold to any form or take a small piece to access hard-to-reach areas. Artists often use a press-and-lift technique with kneaded erasers rather than rubbing them across surfaces. This method leaves paint undisturbed and does not damage even soft paper. Kneaded erasers are versatile and absorb graphite, charcoal, pastel, and chalk on contact.

My kneaded eraser ➡️

You can stretch it into any shape; the dark marks picked up can be smooshed into itself and disappear. I have used an eraser to its death when it's just time for a new one.


This Faber-Castell kneaded eraser comes in a small case, which keeps it from drying out.








 

Yes. I can draw a pretty good straight line, sometimes a decent circle. However, when I am doing an art piece for sale, I want sections of my image to be perfectly formed.





These are my go-to tools when doing details on my pen and ink drawings.



 







You can find them at your local dollar stores (pictured from my local CVS store), Amazon, or most retail stores.

What do I use these for? I never know when they can come in handy. I use them to lightly spray a section of the paper I want to paint. I can also use thinned tempera paints for special effects like snow, rain, or a speckled background.



 

4. An Old Toothbrush

You don't need to throw that old brush away. The stiffer, the better. It's another great technique for splattering paint.



clip from Makani Art (on YouTube)

 

5. Stumps & Tortillions


Yes. I know. These are not just lying around the house. If you love charcoal drawing (like I do), these are in good supply. These are so easy to use, and once you have tried them, you realize that these paper stumps have a lot of uses.




Charcoal pencils and sticks (similar to this one)


Charcoal drawings are not common, but when I do them, these tools are amazing at giving me control of softening and shading areas of my images. I used them on the vintage Christmas images for this season; one is shown here:


 






6. Mr. Clean - Magic Erasers


Yes. We're back to something that you might have around the house. These are amazing for household cleanup and marks on the wall. They are also equally brilliant in taking care of issues with watercolor paint. When I have dropped paint where it was not intended, I clip a small piece of a large pad. Then I wet it lightly, squeezed any extra water off, and patted the errant paint. Violá! A light touch and the paint is gone.


Mr. Clean bars to cut up for clean up.



 

7. Artist Tape

I know artists use painter's tape to mask off sections where they don't want to paint. I do use Painter's tape, and it works pretty well. However, using too much watercolor paint along the edge removes some of the paper.


Recently, I discovered Artists' Tape, which I ordered on Amazon. I like this tape because it has a more linen feel and sticks nicely on watercolor paper. Best feature: It DOES NOT pull off any paper when removed. I bought the three-pack, and the other painter's tape will wind up in my husband's work area.



 

8. Glue

Artists use many different types of adhesives, but here are two basics that every studio should have.

ARTnews Recommends (PVA): Lineco Neutral PH Adhesive



PH is neutral, water-soluble, and dries clear, which is important to the artist. It’s perfect for woodworking, bookbinding, handicrafts, and wallpapering. It’s also useful for sizing a porous medium such as canvas or wood or sealing a finished collage—just covering the surface in a polyvinyl acetate layer.


The Hinging Tape is essential for framing my artwork.











 

9. Cutting Tools

Goodness, I would be lost without my cutting tools.

A utility knife is handy for so many tasks:

Cutting mats, quick trim on paper, the box that arrived with new watercolor paper, and carefully trimming down your colored pencils when they are too short for the sharpener.














10. The Tool Box to Fit You!

This is my "toolbox"! It has the items that I am constantly pulling out. It might contain what you need and give you ideas to add to your "box" for your hobby, craft project, or artwork.



My


  1. PROFESSIONAL Scott 75130 Shop Towels low lint strand cleans glass in my frames.

  2. Tools Claw Hammer, 60-014, 8 Ounce Similar to one shown which I have had for YEARS.

  3. X-Acto® Knife Blades, No. 11 Blade With Safety Dispenser, Pack Of 15 and cutter blades.

  4. Cabinet tip screwdriver. I use this for hard to get to places when I am cutting mats.

  5. Long Nose Pliers. Handy when I am attaching a wire to the framed artworks.

  6. Staedtler Pencil Sharpener. Two hold dials accommodate different sizes.

  7. Shop Towels, 14"x12", 50 Pack You can bet I use these in my art studio.

  8. Uni Kuru Toga Mechanical Pencil. My FAVORITE. Rotates the lead refills.

  9. Cotton Swabs. Lots of use. Dab with paint for little circles. Cleans up small spots.

  10. I can't live without items YOU use for your art, photography, crafts, knitting, candlemaking, or other hobby tools. (Scroll down at the end of this post for comments).



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Delaware Artists - Lineage & the American Style


This is a series on artists who are associated with the state that they lived or worked in primarily. This post is Delaware.


From the establishment of the 17th and 18th centuries, artists carried the traditions of their peers in England and European countries into the New World (see Massachusetts Artists - Portraits and the Soul of America), each pursuing commissions from the prominent and the wealthy.


Enter the 19th century when Academy training developed a "true" American style. One such style was the Brandywine School. This artist colony in Wilmington, Delaware, was founded by artist Howard Pyle.


Howard Pyle

b. 1853 d. 1911




Pyle was known for his widely published adventure novels, magazines, and romances in the early 20th century, where his teachings would influence such notable illustrators as N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, and Norman Rockwell.


Pyle advocated against studying in Europe, hoping his students would find fame and success through American education.


The Brandywine School buildings, which are still standing, are located a short walk from Brandywine Park, a stretch of the riverside park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Of the 500 students who applied to attend Pyle's school in its first year, only twelve were accepted.



An illustration from Howard Pyle Jr. Book of Pirates (1903)

The Brandywine School began a period of generations of artists in the same genre and often from the same family.


Here we have Howard Pyle Jr's work, an illustration from Book of Pirates.


The illustration was in high demand. The boom in illustrated publications provided work for a cadre of male and female illustrators well beyond the Pyle circle. Popular magazines like Harper’s Weekly, Collier’s, and the Saturday Evening Post reached hundreds of thousands of readers each month across the United States and beyond.


Although they were available far and wide, these books and magazines were aimed at the educated, white middle class in the United States, and the stories and illustrations in them reflect those values.















The Wyeth lineage

N.C. Wyeth

b. 1882 - 1945


In 1902, Newell Convers Wyeth joined the Howard Pyle School of Art in Wilmington, Delaware. He quickly became one of the period’s most popular magazine illustrators.



Westward Ho by N.C. Wyeth

Born in Needham, Massachusetts, in 1882, N.C. Wyeth began studying art at a young age. His mother encouraged him to enroll in several art schools, one of which was his acceptance in 1902 into Howard Pyle's School of Illustration in Wilmington, Delaware. After only one and a half years of Pyle's instruction, Wyeth's work began to appear in national magazines such as Collier's, Harpers, Scribner's, and others.


Wyeth went on to produce illustrations for renowned books such as the Scribner Illustration Classics, as well as advertisements and illustrations for the notable publications The Saturday Evening Post, Harper's, Scribner's, Collier's, Century, Outing, and Ladies' Home Journal.


The swashbuckling stories of adventure and romance were extremely popular with artists of the day. N.C. Wyeth's work continues to sell at high prices at Auction.



Henriette Wyeth

b. 1907 d. 1997



Portrait of Patricia Ryan Nixon (1978) by Henriette Wyeth, The White House, Washington, D.C

As the eldest daughter of N.C. Wyeth Henriette followed his advice to “paint the light and air around the subject—paint the mystery” through a series of fantasy paintings that drew her interest in theater and ballet.

Her portraits of society figures and family were exhibited and won awards at juried shows at the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts.













Andrew Wyeth

b. 1917 d. 2009


The youngest of N.C. Wyeth's five children, Andrew is recognized as one of the most influential American artists of the twentieth century. His career as a watercolorist was launched in 1937 when the artist’s first one-man show at Macbeth Gallery in New York drew critical acclaim.




Boy on a Bicycle with Feather by Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth worked primarily in tempera and watercolor, often using the drybrush technique. Wyeth maintained a style strongly oriented toward realism during the heyday of Abstract Expressionism. His paintings suggest rural quietude, isolation, and a somber mood and are usually devoid of modern-day objects like automobiles.



In an Art News article in 1955, Andrew gave a rare description of this painting, "My wife had placed the clothes basket up against the house to dry in the sun. Somehow it was forgotten." A rare look into the artist who finds everyday objects fascinating. Andrew's work and friendship with Edward Hopper are strong in their stark and empty compositions.






Autumn Cornfield by Andrew Wyeth published in the Country Gentleman 1950

Unlike his father, Andrew was a reserved and subtle artist who restricted himself to a limited color palette. Although he frequently painted landscapes like the one above, he described himself as an abstractionist.



Jaime Wyeth

b. 1946



Portrait of JFK by Jaime Wyeth. JFK Hyannis Museum 1967

James Wyeth is the second child of Andrew and Betsy Wyeth. In the same way, his father had been brought up, and with much the same influence, he demonstrated the same remarkable skills in drawing as his father had done at comparable ages.


Early on, Wyeth became interested in oil painting, his grandfather's primary medium, although he is also adept in watercolor and tempera, his father's preferred media. He also admired his father's and grandfather's work and that of Howard Pyle, his grandfather's teacher, and American masters Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins. As a boy, Jamie was exposed to art in many ways: the works of his talented family members, art books, attendance at exhibitions, meeting with collectors, and becoming acquainted with art historians.


Wyeth married Phyllis Mills, his muse and frequent model. Phyllis had known John Kennedy as a senator and president. Through his acquaintance with the Kennedy family, Wyeth was commissioned to do a posthumous unofficial Portrait of John F. Kennedy (1967), understanding that he would keep it if the surviving family did not accept it. The portrait has served some time at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Its most recent journey, however, is the request by President Biden to have this portrait spend some time at the White House. ➡️ On Loan from the MFA


So, just as in politics, the lineage is profound in the world of artists. The Adams, Tafts, the Roosevelts, the Kennedys, the Bush families, and dynasties define U.S. presidents. This parallels the art world: The Holbeins, Rosettis, and here in the U.S, the Wyeths, the Lopers.



Edward Loper, Sr.

b. 1916 d. 2011



Edward Loper was an artist and teacher from Delaware, best known for his vibrant palette and juxtaposition of colors. He taught painting for almost 70 years.


1936, during the Great Depression, Loper started working in Delaware for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), rendering drawings of decorative art for the Index of American Design, a large archive of folk art images based in Washington, DC.



Loper started teaching painting in 1940. To escape some of the racism he experienced at home, he began traveling to Quebec City in Canada, where he would paint boldly-colored cityscapes.



St Pierre, Quebec oil on canvas 1980

Following his death, Delaware Today wrote of Loper, "Few local painters have achieved his level of recognition and influence, here and beyond, or have been as beloved by so many students."


His paintings are in the permanent collections of the University Museums at the University of Delaware's Paul R. Jones Collection of African-American Art, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art








Edward Loper, Jr.

b. 1934


Again, the lineage moves through the paint. Edward Loper, Jr. took the reins and jumped into painting with his father's bold, bright colors. Since the late 1960s, his vibrant figurative paintings have been featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout the greater Mid-Atlantic region.

Edward Jr. and Edward Sr. are prominent in the greater Wilmington area, and their art fills the walls at a host of museums, including:






Check Edward Loper Jr.'s website:



Pool Room at 11th and Walnut by Edward Loper Jr. 1971


Continuing to add to the family tradition, Jaime Loper, son of Edward Jr., is Gallery Manager for his dad.




As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission when you purchase from the links in this blog. I only post products I have used satisfactorily or know people who have recommended them. The funds from this partnership help me maintain this website, and I hope it gives my visitors some confidence in the products I promote here.



Books on artists and topics posted here:



 


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10 Amazon product reviews from our household to yours





This is how I start my mornings. This is how I will start this blog, where I will try to describe Amazon products and give the reader a fair review. There are no pros and cons, just a simple evaluation of how much we like the ten products listed. All are household-type products, and many of these I have purchased more than once (giving you a hint at how much we like these).


 



Bigelow Constant Comment Green Teas


I have been sipping these teas since 2003 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I know. I know...does it inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells? I'm not a doctor, but my oncologist said the studies have been positive. See this Mount Sanai article: Tea Green And, here I am. Twenty years later.


Another testament to drinking these teas is that they taste great. The orange/spice one is just a tad more my favorite, but I love them both.


Rating: A++


 


Technology changes with the speed of light, but the older SD cards lie around your office drawers. The cards have your precious pictures from days gone by, but they are hard to retrieve. In addition, the devices don't have slots, or your camera doesn't have Dropbox capabilities, so It's nice to have an adapter for your newer machines. This card reader has been a blessing as I can transfer photos from my older Nikon camera and put them into a cloud or Google Drive.


It's super easy to use. Compatible with Windows/10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista, Mac OS, Linux, Chrome OS.




Rating: A


 



This is brilliant. MAKES HANGING FAST & EASY: The Picture Perfect Hanging System can help make your blank walls a beautiful art display.


This Hanging System is an all-in-one kit with all the hardware necessary to mount, level, and hang your favorite works of art or wall decor. The only tools needed are a hammer and a screwdriver. This is a two-pack; each can hold up to 50 lb.


My husband and I were able to hang a framed picture in a matter of minutes and marveled at the tiny level included to help position the hanger brackets. We both agreed that this pack is ingenious.


Rating: A+


 

I bought this after we moved into a home with a fabulous kitchen. Vowing to cook more, I thought this looked intriguing. I don't regret my purchase because this book has easy recipes that fill almost any muffin tin. What could be easier? Not just muffins but quick-serve appetizers and sides to gourmet entrees, pizza cups, and desserts. Scoop a bit of cooking spray and a mix of ingredients into the pan...and violá! A quick, yummy breakfast or lunch treat that doesn't have you in the kitchen for hours!


Rating: A+


 



We're in a new house just three years old, after thirty-five years in our former home. This one is going to stay clean. (!) However, dragging out the full vacuum cleaner is a chore in itself. This one is accessible, has attachments for specific places, and is battery-operated. Plus, it has a wall holder to charge when not in use. The vacuum cleaner has a Crevice Nozzle* Hair Brush* Water Absorption Nozzle, and Filter* Adapter*. The material of the filter is non-woven fabric, which can be cleaned of dust with tap water. The dustbuster filter can block dust particles.

Weight is just 2.2 lb. Nice little vac.


Rating: A+


 

This lid protects your microwave from splatters and spots. The BPA-free plastic and silicone topper covers food to encourage even cooking and to keep food inside for a cleaner microwave. This lid has many features, including an easy grip at the top. Easy, clean collapses for storage and choice of color. We have had this for quite a while, and it still looks new.


Rating: A+


 




Medium point tip magnetic dry-erase markers in 6 assorted colors: black, purple, red, orange, blue, and green. Non-toxic, low-odor ink with a bold color laydown works on all dry-erase surfaces and dries quickly.

  • Magnetic marker caps feature built-in felt erasers. The dry-erase marker ink erases easily.

  • The contoured marker cap shape prevents the markers from rolling off any flat surface or tray.

  • Perfect for whiteboards and glass boards in the office, classroom, or at home


We thought these would work nicely on our calendar dry-erase board. They do, with this exception: two markers keep losing the felt erasers (we haven't attempted to put a little glue on them). Also, two colors (the orange and the lime green) don't show up well from a distance, so we have stopped using those colors).


Rating: B


 


This is a pack of 200, which is ok with me because I use them on the cabinet doors, drawers, and the backs of frames we hang in our new home. These are particularly nice, as they have a clear transparent color, strong self-adhesive backing, anti-slip soft material, and suitable thickness. The adhesion is exceptional, although if I had to reposition one, with a good tug, I could move it to another spot.


Rating: A

 


This adjustable bamboo organizer expands to fit any drawer and has nine separate compartments, making it perfect for organizing things in any room of your home. Easily find kitchen flatware, accessories, and the cutlery you need for that perfect meal.


I found this organizer on Amazon and liked it for its attractive material (as opposed to the plastic types that are more common). It does look beautiful in our new kitchen (as if a visitor would be perusing our tableware for the aesthetics). Utensils fit in the slots quite nicely, and you can reconfigure the size of the compartments if needed.


Two issues: 1. the whole piece moves a lot in the drawer. It was missing a bamboo piece that should lock it at the bottom. (see the picture for a hole at the bottom that I think should have a bamboo stick to extend the piece. Some reviews on Amazon mention this function.


2. The sizes of the slots are similar, and I wish you could change the sizes to fit the number of items you wish to store in that slot.


Rating: B+


 




Our new home has beautiful vinyl flooring in the Great Room, Kitchen, and Sunroom areas. We needed something for our furniture legs to protect the floor, and this set did just the trick.


The 2" size is close to most chair legs, so the square and round pieces were easy to apply. The felt is high quality, and just pulling off the paper sheet allows you to set the adhesive against a chair leg. Instructions tell you to hold firm for about 30 seconds.


We also purchased a set from Amazon that could be cut to size for some of our furniture: Furniture Felt Pads. These have come in handy, too, and come in two color choices.


Our experience has been that no pads have come off any legs in the nine months we have lived here.


Ratin






 


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