Any Artists Out There?

[Gavmacp]

Friend is going to be 40 and looking to buy her a nice present.
She is doing an art course later this year.
Thinking about buying her an easel has anyone got any recommendations?

[DaisyNonna]

Excellent DT
A rare talent

[DTCwordfan]

one coming off the blocks shortly, daisy....thanks though.

[DTCwordfan]

they were 48 and 42 if I remember well, not 28 and 22.....

[DTCwordfan]

sorry - wrong thread!

[jourdain2]

Took 4 minutes to load (something wrong with my computer?) but worth the wait. A lovely drawing DTC.

Gavmacp - I don't know what equipment your friend already has. A table easel is always useful, unless she has one already, because you can work whatever the weather! Otherwise I would go for good, sable brushes. I don't know what media she uses, so can'/t help there. If she is doing a course then maybe she is experimenting a lot, so some medium she doesn't normally use would be very acceptable.

Oil-pastels are expensive to contemplate to start a new direction, so perhaps a set of these?

[jourdain2]

^^^ Forgot to add that if you go the 'oil pastels' route, do sling in appropriate paper!

[DTCwordfan]

exactly....

[Gavmacp]

She asked for caran d'ache crayons and pastels (I think, I did not realize they come as pencils). I have some watercolour paper (wife thinks I am an artist) which I will give to her. They do not have much spare cash and would like to give something (me and a friend) that she would not be able to just go out and buy.

[jourdain2]

Caran d'ache is great - I love them, but not the same as oil pastels, so forget that! I usually use them as sticks, not pencils - but I'm old fashioned. Decent paper is still an essential and it does cost a bit. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to get some. Trying to remember if there is a fixative spray for caran d'ache (a long time ago there was). That is probably one for DTC, he is more up--to-date than I. If there is, it would be good to add.

Even good pencils and paper (with a putty eraser) would be great if she is strapped for cash! :)

[jourdain2]

^^^ Rather think I may have boobed a bit. My understanding of 'caran d'ache' is of the ancient, hard, square sticks I use. Just thought that they may be of similar composition to oil pastels, which are softer and more smudgeable. Over to DTC who is, I think, more up-to-date and may be able to advise on the best paper to use with them. I would have thought that ordinary pastel paper would be OK.

[DTCwordfan]

180g paper or more is best to support the pastels, or a rough press watercolour paper....tip, warm them up slightly before use (like having them in a window), they blend better.....personally, the heavier the better. Don't poo-poo paper as a pressie - really nice paper is more than welcome!

An alternative to paper is to use wood...There's two different types of wood that work very well, the first is the kind that's pressed with a fairly smooth surface,you can see it if you open up a wooden door to a home entertainment center, it'll be what the back of the door is (a light tannish colour), instead of the front which is useless for oil pastel because of the lamination.

If you use that for a 'canvas', it's fairly easy blending and the finished picture turns out to be somewhat glossy. There's no tooth to speak of in it for the pastel to bite on, though, so it takes a bit of getting used to, and a little pastel goes a long way.

The downside is they're often heavy.

The second is regular, cheap sheets of plywood - that holds pastel extremely well but blending can be tricky and takes some getting used to.

[zahur]

You can buy it from online stores like Amazon, eBay, DickBlick or S3 Store (www.artistsupplysource.com). They make shipments worldwide. They have a huge branded collections.