As an artist who loves working with oil paints and one who is obsessed with avoiding toxic chemicals, I know that the right solvents are essential to achieving the desired results. However, traditional solvents like turpentine are known to be harmful to both the painter and the environment. That’s why I’ve been on a quest…
I am a big proponent of artist safety, especially practicing oil painting at home safety when your studio is actually your bedroom. Having taken too many dumb risks in my youth I put at risk my lungs and eyesight by experimenting with low-quality materials of dubious origins just to save some money (as most struggling…
If you’re an artist looking for the right canvas to use for painting, then you’ve likely heard of primed and unprimed canvases. But what exactly is the difference between the two, and which one should you choose? In this post, I will take you through the primed canvas vs unprimed canvas and discuss the differences,…
There are so many solvents available to artists these days that we are spoilt for choice. Not only that, but back in my day all solvents had a strong pungent smell that took days to go away. Now we have solvents such as Sansodor and Gamsol that are so good they are hard to choose…
Should art prints be matted or does it actually not matter? Matting art prints is a personal choice but I have found over the years that matting art prints is a great way to make your artwork look more polished and presentable when framing or displaying. Matting art prints also helps protect the print from…
Can faded art prints be restored? The sad truth is that there is no way to easily restore faded inks used on art prints without making a copy and reprinting it or using hand restoration methods. In this post, I will describe these two methods in a little more detail so you can decide if…
So, the big question is – can art prints be cleaned? The short answer is yes! Art prints can be cleaned to maintain their appearance. You can clean your art prints as a preventative measure or as a reaction to a stain, spot, or something else that appears on the art print. In this post,…
Are you an artist looking to increase the sales of your artwork by selling art prints on Etsy? As someone who has casually sold on the Etsy platform for several years and as someone who has asked themselves “Can I sell art prints on Etsy?” I can say yes you can and it is easy.…
So are art prints glossy or matte? I believe art prints should be matte as they reflect the light less, matte prints look better when framed under glass and they disperse harsh light such as LED and halogen lights much better leading to fewer blotches of light appearing on the printed surface. One of the…
When it comes to decorating your home, art prints can be a great way to add some personality and style. But are art prints tacky? If you are like me when I started decorating my new home I always wondered, is it ever considered tacky to buy prints of famous paintings or artwork? The answer…
In this blog post, I’ll explore 3 of the best varnishes I have used on my acrylic paints and I will provide some insights on how to choose the best varnishes and why they are so important. I believe the best varnish for acrylic painting on canvas is a brush on varnish, the Liquitex Polymer…
Ever wondered if you could make an oil painting without medium? The short answer ‘yes’, but there is more you should know about this answer because there is medium already added to most commercially purchased oil paints. This is so that the powder pigment used to make oil paint is ready to use from the…
