Alright, enough with the eternal paint questions that haunt my minimalistic dreams…

Onto the REAL stuff…rather, my favorite media when creating 2D art; colored pencils!  And my all time favorite brand: Prismacolors!

My experience with Prismacolors started a long long time ago when I used to steal my sister’s art supplies to color in my coloring books.  I loved using crayons but when I was really serious, I’d use her Prismacolors.  I also used Prismacolors to draw my first costume renderings.  As I went through school, I’d always be drawn to the brand but I wasn’t always able to use them the way I wanted.  The reason?  It was always so dang expensive!

I’d purchase small sets but last year, I decided to take my overtime pay from work when we were finished with Halloween and buy the entire 150 count Prismacolor Premier. (I purchased mine from Dick Blick…the set is actually affordable from this particular website.  Here’s the page:  http://www.dickblick.com/items/20508-0150/ )  It was a whopping $95, but it was worth every penny.  I feel like the box should be set upon a golden pillow with a spot light shining upon it…

OK. Maybe not.  But I hold this brand to a very high standard.  This brand has a wide variety of markers, pastels, and colored pencils, but my experience comes from the Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils.  Compared to the other colored pencils I’ve used in the past, this particular brand has the smoothest and vibrant hue I have seen in a colored pencil.  The only problem I have come across when using these pencils is how soft the lead is and what happens when one drops a pencil…you get chunks of lead that decides to break on you right when you are coloring that tiny little detail…

Another thing about this particular brand is how smooth the finished effect is.  You can purchase colorless blender pencils to help smooth the pigment onto the surface of your paper, making the pencil strokes disappear.

What is the relationship between Prismacolor and minimalism in my world?  Well…like the acrylic paint, it’s a complicated one.  I purchased this set last year and finally used them last week.  I was afraid to use this set because of how expensive it was.  I grew up not having these particular pencils because of the price.  Now that I finally was able to afford them, I didn’t touch them because…well…I don’t know why.  To me, minimalism is to use what you own.  To have these particular pencils up on a shelf collecting dust was to go against this idea I was trying to learn so that I can live by and make my life more meaningful.  So, just like I did with all my previous painting media, I created a swatch card.   Aint it beautiful?

With every color, I got more and more excited.  I had to get over my fear of using my colored pencils.  But why did I have this fear?  Because I felt guilty that I wasn’t using these very expensive colored pencils on something magical and perfect.  And as I type that it sounds so silly.  I’m not perfect.  I know this.  But why am I putting my art, a product of me, to this such high pedestal?  There are dozens of more sticks of a particular color.  In fact, Prismacolor sells these colors in individual sticks (Black.  Enough said.)

So, after my swatch card was finished, I decided to test them out in a coloring book.  I purchased Selina’s Fenech’s ‘Goddess and Mythology Coloring Book’.  (You can purchase this coloring book here: https://www.amazon.com/Goddess-Mythology-Coloring-Fantasy-Selina/dp/0994585225/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503970483&sr=8-1&keywords=goddess+and+mythology+coloring+book).  And started going to town.  I flipped the book to a particular page and started coloring.

Gaia.  It’s a little less grainy in person, but the colors are just as bright and exciting. And I can’t wait to color more.

Another exploration of minimalism when it comes to this product.  I took apart the previous packaging for the paint to be broken into a smaller container so that I have a tangible, movable box.  I decided, because of how well designed this particular set is for function, to keep it in the same packaging.  In future blogs, I will explore my other brands of coloring media but I went ahead to break down the packaging so that I can have all my colors in one place.

Disclaimer:  I have not received any money from Amazon, Dick Blick, or Selina Fenech for mentioning their business name for the use of their products.  I just can’t say enough how awesome these products are.

Now that I have finished going through my watercolors, my next order of business to explore is my acrylic paints.  I approached my small set of acrylic paints with a little bit of hesitation because…well…I don’t like using them.  I never really used them in previous applications except for the random wooden art projects I have wanted to work on…and never finished. But I say I have a complicated relationship with them because as I tested them out in my usual way of drawn squares, I reacted more to the colors than I did to the actual paint.  I have always wanted to learn how to use the paint, hence the reason why I kept them.  Well…I tell myself that as an “art supply” hoarder. So, I tested out which paints based on color and quality.  I have various “Anita’s” and “Folk Art” Paints.  I have more metallic and glitter paint than I do normal colors.  I purchased these paints strictly on the color choices because I was drawn to the hues and tones. And who can say no to glitter?  It’s like magic.

Which brings me to “my silly relationship”.  As I went through my various acrylic paints, I struggled with getting rid of them.  I struggled because of the emotions I had with the colors and my desire to keep them.  I literally argued with myself about keeping the metallic and glitter paints.   So, this is a little bump in my art minimalism journey.  I purchased these items, and most of the items I am being overwhelmed with, based on emotions and the idea of creating something big and exciting using them.  And the frustrating thing is with this idea is that I never actually truly used them or finished a project while using them.

I decided to compromise with myself by keeping the paints I have these “emotional” attachment with and donating the colors that I see no need for.  And my conditions are that if I do not use them by January of 2018, then they will be thrown away.

Part of me feels as if I accomplished something but the other part feels like I’ve taken a step backward. It makes me feel uneasy but I think my step to moving forward is to accept this feeling because I need to understand why I’m feeling this way.

It’s also frustrating because my goal was to have the paint I decided to keep by keeping it in the paint tool box I mentioned in the previous post. But alas, I have one too many paint bottles that are preventing that.  That makes me reconsider getting rid of a few more paint bottles…but I have decided to stop obsessing over something silly like acrylic paints and move on.

Are there any minimalists artists out there who struggle with the emotions that art supplies can evoke and inspire ideas?  How do you deal with this?  Do you keep the tools that can help you create something that tells your story?  Or do you get rid of them because they take up space?  How do you cope with “the clutter” that causes the anxiety?  This whole purpose of this blog is my exploration of just that question.  And it’s silly because it’s just paint that started this question within myself…but it’s an object and that’s what part of minimalism that I’m exploring; simplification of objects.

I should just throw them all away…hmph.

 

 

It’s been a little while since I have written…went on a little vacation to Europe!  So, I had a chance to give my brain a little bit of a break…but now, I’m back to the drawing board…or, rather, the minimalism board!

I’ve been thinking about it…I can imagine someone coming across my board and reading my reviews about watercolors…how are the two related?  I have chosen to take the path of a more simplistic life…I’m following the ways of minimalistic thinking.  I’ve been holding onto so many things in my life…over the past few months, my husband and I have gotten rid of almost 15% of what we own….things we have been holding on to in our lives that have both a positive and negative meaning.  Overall, these objects have made our life more difficult.  So, the purpose of this blog is to go through things that have an artistic meaning in my life.  I have had the thought that my art gives my life meaning.  But as I go through the next chapter in my life, a wife, a manager, an artist, I understand that my art does not give my life meaning…it’s actually the other way around.  I give my art life and meaning.

Whoa.  That just got heavy.

But as I was painting and reviewing the watercolors in my art collection, I understand why I kept them…and why I should let them go.  I am basically giving permission to myself to alter my own possessions to make my life less complicated.

And what you see here ladies and gentlemen make my life more simple.  Yes, I understand that I still own this, but I never used my watercolors because it was never in one place.  I had several bags hanging out all over my sewing room…but now I have it in one toolbox where I can actually carry it to somewhere I can use it.  I can’t explain the sense of accomplishment when I actually condensed down my watercolors to one small box.  I can see all my things at once and see what my choices are.  Knowing that I was able to accomplish this small task gives me the confidence I can move on to another thing in my sewing room.  A small step to others but a huge step to me.

 

Now onto everything else…my journey continues!