Helloooo out there!! Can anybody hear meeee?
Ha ha… little isolation humour for ya.
So we here at Lupine have some online art classes coming up. It’s all very exciting and we’re all pumped for them, but it adds a bit of a barrier for our students as we can no longer provide all the supplies necessary for each class.
Thankfully we have really great art supply stores on the island such as Benjamin Moore House of Colour in Courtenay and Iron Oxide in Nanaimo. Not only have these art stores stepped up by offering pick-up and delivery services, but they’ve also put together great art packs for us. You can call and ask for the Lupine Watercolour, Acrylic, or Drawing Art pack and they will set you up with all you need!
Unfortunately, however, supplies are getting harder to get as manufacturers close down and orders stop getting shipped.
This is the time we, as artists, need to adapt!
Ideally, of course, we order what we need/want from the art supply store. If this is doable – great!
If not, I bet you have supplies around your house with which you can make do. If you don’t have canvas or heavy paper to paint on, break into your recycling! You can cut a square of cardboard, gesso it, and paint on that. If you don’t have gesso, any colour of house paint will do. Or if you’ve taken classes with me before, flip over your old paintings and paint on the back. If you have old canvases you don’t love, paint over them!
If you want to take a watercolour class, but only have acrylic or tempera paint around – just water them down to make your own “watercolours”.
If you don’t have a paintbrush, are there things around your house you might be able to use instead? Cotton swabs, yarn, strips of fabric, cutting strips into the end of cardboard… This is the time to get creative! Look at everything around your home and think to yourself “Could I use that to make marks with? How could I adapt it?” How about revisiting your Kindergarten years, and using those fingers? Sometimes when you are forced to use unusual materials, you end up creating something you never thought you would make!
Happy creating!
