mindful art studio
favorite
SUPPLIES
These are some of the supplies that I most enjoy using in the studio. I believe in having a few, good quality supplies that behave like they should instead of cluttering my space with many that don’t work quite right. This is a link to my Amazon Affiliate store, you can shop there and support my work if you wish. Happy creating!
PAINTS
HIGH FLOW ACRYLICS
My favorite paints – beautiful for layering in journals as backgrounds or the main subject. You can also paint, drip, and blow them in fun, surprising ways.
WATERCOLORS
I love a good travel watercolor set. Not only does it allow me to create on the go, it makes doing watercolor at home seem more accessible too.
Acrylic Paints
I enjoy working with heavy body acrylics because they have a bit more stiffness like an oil paint. Given that I learned to paint on canvas with oils, I prefer these.
BRUSHES
ACRYLIC + MIXED MEDIA BRUSHES
These brushes aare a great all around set. They work for acrylics, watercolor and mixed media. I use them principally with my acrylics, however.
Water Brush
Water brushes are my favorite way to paint with watercolors in my journal. Whether I’m out in the woods, or at my kitchen counter while the water is boiling, having the water in the brush just makes getting started too easy to pass it up.
Script Liner Brush
This is one of my favorite indulgent supplies – a script liner brush. It creates the smallest, most organic flowing lines. It’s meant for writing in paint, which I do occasionally, but usually I use it to create abstract lines, stems of flowers, or strands of hair. We use this brush in my class, BIG ART, as well as some of my live retreats.
PENS + MARKERS
DRAWING PENS
A good drawing pen is so fun to use. Something that doesn’t pool ink when you pause is super important. I love Microns and the variety of nib sizes they offer.
WHITE GEL PEN
I love using gel pens and paint pens on high flow acrylics in my journal. This is my favorite white gel pen. It stays put on the page and doesn’t transfer as much as some other brands.
PAINT PENS
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Posca Paint Pens. They are a blast for creating both drawings and details over acrylic and high flow acrylic paints. What fun!
ART JOURNALS
MOLESKINE
Once you know you are into art journaling, buying a high quality art journal is one of the best investments you can make. I love Moleskine’s watercolor, pocket sized, and accordion journals. Their hard covers and elastics make protecting the books easy, too.
STRATHMORE WATERCOLOR JOURNAL
When I want to work a wee bit bigger, this Strathmore is my go to journal. I love the beautiful cover, and thick, quality paper. I have used my high flow acrylics in 5 or 6 layers and these books held up amazingly well. This means I have room for mistakes and do-overs. YAY!
Handbook Watercolor Journal
Handbook, like Moleskine comes with a handy elastic to hold the journal closed, as well as coming in different fun sizes and colors. These journals also have lovely quality paper, not quite as sturdy as Strathmore, but the price is more economic.
PAPER
WATERCOLOR PAPER
Watercolor paper and I are friends. I use it for painting with watercolors, high flow acrylics, for making inchies, and for making my own handmade journals.
DRAWING PAPER
This is the paper I use for paper cutting. It’s strong but also not so thick that I hurt my hand cutting through it.
MIXED MEDIA PAPER
This is the paper I use to create the “mini masterpieces” with high flow acrylic paint in Fluid Art. It’s a nice strong base for this very heavy technique.
GLUE
YES PASTE
YES paste is my go to adhesive for a lot of jobs. I use it for a lot of the glueing in hand made journals and tunnel journals, as well as glueing small pieces to backgrounds. You apply the glue with an old credit card or a palette knife. I use this in the BIG ART, Fluid Art, and Handmade art journals classes, amongst others.
PVA GLUE
PVA glue is a book binding glue. It’s acid free and is lovely to brush on. I use it in making my own journals and sometimes in collage work too.
GEL MEDIUM
Gel medium is a gel that helps to thin out paint and keep it flowing. However, it also makes an excellent adhesive, which, like PVA, is wonderful when applied with a brush. I think I use YES and PVA almost exclusively now, depending if I want to scrape on or brush on glue.
PAPER CUTTING SUPPLIES
PAPER CUTTING KNIFE
I like to use the Xacto Gripster together with the #11 Excel blades. The Gripster has a very comfortable handle, but the Excel blades are wonderful, but also more economic.
ALVIN SELF-HEALING CUTTING MAT
This is a wonderful, high quality mat. I like the larger size to start because you can work on small, but also larger projects.
PAPER CUTTING PAPER
As I mentioned above, I love the Strathmore drawing paper for paper cutting.
CAMERA AND TECH SUPPLIES
CAMERA HOLDER
People frequently ask how I hold my phone to show my art as I teach. This is the tool that holds the phone for me. I also use a tripod with a clamp holding a piece of wood over my table, depending on what I’m doing. 🙂
RING LIGHT
This is a very bright, pretty light that you can use for helping to light the surface of the table or yourself.
UMBRELLA LIGHT
I have two of these lights to create a natural, bright light that makes the picture look good both in photos and on video.
I’m Amy!
Hi, I’m Amy, the founder of Mindful Art Studio. I believe we are all artists, and I love having the opportunity to help nurture the artist in you. I think buying just a few, high-quality supplies, and then giving yourself permission to just play and experiment, is one of the most powerful things you can do as an artist. You don’t need tons of supplies or complicated techniques. You need supplies with rich color and that do the job they are meant to do so that your practice builds confidence, and you get more joy from your creative practice.