BLOG WATCHERS: SUPER SPECIAL SECRET SUPPLIES

Do you have any special devices or tools that are unique to your creative process?
Are there specific items here that have significant meaning to you?

I love this question because I really enjoy using special devices/tools/materials in my creative process.  As I mentioned in my earlier post I work with my materials when they are wet and then about two days later when they are dry.  When I first started working with wet materials I wasn't very intentional with measuring out the water (or vinegar, or bleach, etc.).  Until a friend of mine suggested I try using a pipette.  It changed the process for me.  With pipettes I am able to control the materials a lot easier, draw with them better, and even remove the liquid from the piece if I need too.  And they are super cheap too- I bought an entire bag of 100 for less than $6.  I can reuse the same pipette for a week or two, but I don't feel bad for throwing them away either b/c they're affordable.  In short, they are awesome! 

pipettes are awesome.

old glass jar of iron filings.

The glass jars that I have started to collect my materials in are beginning to become more important to me as well.  Last semester, I took a mini road trip with a friend of mine from undergrad.  We traveled up and down much of I-75 in search of abandoned houses.  One of the abandoned barns we found had a massive amount of old glass jars laying around.  Naturally, I took them (noone was using them and the place hadn't been touched in YEARS).  I like that I can see how much of a materials I have left.  Before, I was wasting a lot of my dyes because I was pouring them directly from the package they came in.  Now I am able to see how much I'm using and the materials last much longer.  Its weird but glass jars are becoming a collectible and important to my art making process. 

sample page from my current sketchbook.

The Sketchbook....
is very important to my creative process and to almost every artist that I know; therefore not special or super secret, but still important.  I write in mine everyday.  I used to be a lot more obsessive about my sketchbook than I am now.  Before, I would keep it on my passenger seat in my car and pull over whenever an idea came to me.  I'm not that obsessed now.  I'm somewhat more selective about the ideas that I put in my sketchbook.  Now, if a great idea comes to me when I'm driving in the car, I usually dwell on it and develop it in my head until I get home; then I take the time to right it down.  I'm constantly taping notes in my sketchbook for times when its not readily handy to me.  Sometimes I journal but mostly I jolt down anything of interest- artists to check out, big ideas, small ideas, sketches of what work would look like displayed, quotes, deadlines, etc etc.  I usually need a new sketchbook about every 3-4 months.  I only use strathmore hardbound 8.5 x 11 sketchbooks.  I don't know why.  I've used a lot of different sizes and varieties of sketchbooks but this one makes the most since to me.  The size is perfect.  The quality is great -- I tend to be very rough with my sketchbooks and this brand is able to survive a lot of damage.  I have two rules with sketchbooks.  1) only one sketchbook at a time 2) never start on the first page EVER.  I usually start somewhere in the first 1/3 of the book.  There is something that can be very overwhelming with a blank sketchbook (or a blank canvas).  So by starting in the middle somewhere all pretentiousness is gone.  Its no longer a proper book and anything goes. 

only this one and only one at a time and never at the beginning.

That's all of the super special secret supplies that I can think of right now. 
Next week we'll be answering:
Do you work on one project at a time or several? How do you come up with titles? DUE: MARCH 7TH

Make sure you check out Brandon's responses to this week's question - as a teaser BOB ROSS is included in his post.  :)


Peggs.