I thought it would be helpful for people to understand a little about the various media in which I work.
I have included a couple of illustrations of my work to go with the information about each medium as well as the websites of the various manufacturers of the brands I prefer to use.
I recommend using the Artist Quality or Professional Quality product lines which are the only ones I use and they have proven over the years to be well worth the small difference in cost over the student grade variety.
Acrylic
I started in acrylic with a paint manufactured by the American Company Grumbacher and I used their Finest Acrylic paint which was artist quality. Unfortunately, the Finest line was discontinued at the end of 2005. I still have a couple of tubes of paint left that I continue to use as the colours are beautiful.
Now the acrylic paint I use most is manufactured by the Canadian Company D. L.STEVENSON and all of their acrylic paint lines are considered Professional Artists Quality. Unfortunately, as of the fall of 2018 the manufacturing company has been closed.
I am also starting to experiment with some of the Heavy Body and Open lines manufactured by the American Company Golden Artist Colours Incorporated, which are all considered to be Artists Quality.
Charcoal
I have a box of vine charcoal that I purchased in my early 20's which was manufactured by the Dutch company Royal Talens; it is not often that I use the vine charcoal any more as I prefer to use the charcoal pencils manufactured by the American company General Pencil Company, Inc.
Coloured Pencil
The coloured pencils I use are manufactured by the North American company Prismacolor. I use the soft core Premier line of coloured pencils.
Conté
The only Conté I have ever used is from the French manufacturer Conté A Paris. Although they come in a wide variety of colours I tend to stay with the basic four colours of black, white, sanguine and bistre; occasionally I have added a grey when using the sticks.
I also use the Conté pencils which are basically the sticks encased in wood much like a regular graphite pencil.With the pencils the colour sepia is used in place of bistre.
Conté crayons were invented in France in 1795 by Nicolas-Conté and were made especially for sketching and drawing.
Conté crayons are made from a blend of natural pigments, kaolin (which is also called China clay or pipe clay), and graphite.
They are waxier and firmer than soft pastels and tend to produce less dust and because of their hardness allow tight details to be made easily.
The rich, opaque colours are easy to blend together allowing a large range of effects to be produced.
They can be used on a wide variety of grounds and the colour shows well when used against dark coloured backgrounds.
Graphite Pencil
I am down to my last six EAGLE VERIBLACK 315 pencils manufactured in Canada by Eagle Pencil Company from my childhood and I still use them on occasion when I put down my sketch on canvas.
Now for most of my drawings I use a mechanical pencil that has a side click lead advance rather than the traditional top click ones; that way I do not have to stop drawing I just use my thumb to extend the lead and they do not need to be sharpened.
I use both the Staples brand mechanical pencil #19766 and the Bic Clic-Matic with the Bic Criterium HB lead. Both have a very dark HB lead which gives a wide range of greys through to a dense black.
Pastel
I started using oil pastel in my early childhood manufactured by the American Company Grumbacher but once I tried their soft pastels I stayed with them and I still have some of the Artist Quality round pastels. It is a very soft chalk and is exceptional for depth of colour, but lately I have not been able to find them.
The second is manufactured by the Japanese Company HOLBEIN which is a slightly harder pastel, the sticks hold their edges quite well and fine details can easily be achieved.
Pen and Ink
I started with traditional pen and ink using the India ink manufactured by the American Company Speedball and the pen nibs and holders manufactured by the American Company C. Howard Hunt Pen Company.
I use four different nibs to achieve the effect I want in my paintings the #100 Artist, the #102 Crow Quill, the #104 Finest and the #107 Hawk Quill. Both the Crow Quill and Hawk Quill nibs require a special holder as the nib shaft is tubular.About ten years ago I received a set of pens manufactured by the German Company STAEDTLER Mars GmbH & Company KG called 308 Fineliner
Recently I started using Sharpie fine point pens which are manufactured by the American Company Newell Rubbermaid. The pens are water resistant, acid free and come in a variety of colours.
Watercolour
Over the years I have used three different brands of watercolour paint. When I was in my early teens I started with the watercolour paint manufactured by the American Company Grumbacher.
In my mid 20's I started using Royal Talens Rembrant watercolour paint manufactured in Holland until they became very difficult to find in Canada.
It was in the early 1980s when I started using the watercolour paint manufactured by the English Company Winsor & Newton and I have continued with them until the present time.
Water soluble Crayons
I recently purchased a set of NEOCOLOR II Aquarelle Artists' Crayons manufactured by the Swiss Company CARAN d'ACHE and I was given a set of Aquacolor Crayons manufactured by the German Company Lyra as a birthday gift.
Watercolour Pencils
I have three different sets of watercolour pencils the first one manufactured by the English Company Derwent and the second set is of karat aquarell 125 manufactured by the German Company STAEDTLER Mars GmbH & Company KG and I recently received as a stocking stuffer at Christmas a watercolour graphite sketch set manufactured by the American Company Royal & Langnickle. Now I just have to find the time to use them.
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