Art Materials (Manfrotto)

Hello All,

I want to take a moment and talk about support, tripods and monopods to be more specific, and it is Manfrotto's turn in my list art materials.  It is important to have a sturdy support for many reasons; from photographing wildlife to shooting slides. I have continued to use their products for the past ten years; a tripod setup for shooting slides of my artwork and a monopod for when I go on a hike.  Yes there are other brands of camera supports (Gitzo for one) that will do the job, but for price and quality, Manfrotto is hard not to pick.

How much should you plan to spend on a setup? Well a tripod will cost you about $175 - $225, and the head to go with it could cost anywhere from $30 - $200. Prices can go higher or lower depending on where and what you buy, but you get what you pay for. To give you an idea- the grip action ball head I use for my monopod cost around $80 on sale (runs about $100).

Thanks for reading, and remember if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.
Jonathan Parks
http://www.manfrotto.com/
http://www.manfrotto.us/
http://www.gitzo.com/

Art Materials (Recycle) "Encaustic Compatible and Noted"

Encaustic Compatible and Noted

Hi Everyone,

Recyling isn't always about throwing things in the bin. Recycling often takes on the definition for reuse; glass bottles are a good example. The double-well bottle (my favorite) is the perfect container for watercolor; clean water in one, and dirty in the other.

Before you decide its time to throw something in that bin, think about what you might be able to do with it.  Recycling isn't a perfect science anyways. Some things reycle easily while others take more effort. Thinking about it another way might just be better for everyone and the environment.

Here are a few ideas for recycling:  Of course, buy bulk whenever possible. Look at how something is packaged; can you reuse the packaging. Don't dump paint and chemicals down the drain; there are ways to properly dispose of waste; check with your local recycling facilities. And if you reduce and reuse- you may not need to recycle much, or anything at all.

Those of you working in encaustic: scrape up the paint that drips all around your painting; waste not, want not (Even if the colors are all mixed up, melting it down will usually give you a funny grayish purple; and you can at least use it for a base coat when building layers). If you reuse items for palette cups (or the palette) make sure that they are stainless steel or at least lead and iron free.

Thanks for reading
Jonathan Parks

Art Materials (Reuse) "Encaustic Compatible and Noted"

Encaustic Compatible and Noted

I recently made a post titled, "STUFF," and spoke about the things that I will be reusing. Stuff is important to many artist; and if you make mixed media art, you know what I am talking about.  Reuse speaks for itself and there isn't much to add (Read, STUFF).If you work with encaustic- embedding is one thing that comes to mind (Read, Encaustic Resource Pages: Collage and Embedding under Tools and Technique).

Artists also reuse material by making Found Object, Construction, Assemblage, Recycled, Upcycle, types of work.  Whatever you call it, it helps to keep STUFF out of our ecosystem and the strain off overworked recycling facilities.

My personal art tends to have reused material in it quite often. I choose to hide the fact that it may be one mans trash; reusing these treasures in a way that serves my concept without looking like the obvious.

Here are a couple of reuse tips: Use old picture frames. A pencil is more than a writing instrument- dowel rod anyone. Scraps of paper can turn translucent in wax- encasutic is great to embed anything from wooden sticks to paper bits.

Thank you for reading,

Jonathan Parks

Art Materials (Reduce) "Encaustic Noted"

Encaustic Noted

This post goes for anything (paint, wood, metal, clay, encaustic, et cetera.), try to use only what you need. Not only will it save you money in the long run, but it will keep waste out of our ecosystem.

Here are a couple of tips to reduce: Don't squeeze your watercolor paint out into a palette. Take care of your brushes (Encaustic folks should have a brush for each color). Buy bulk when you can; it means less packaging. And make sure you can recycle the packaging. Pay attention to sustainable practices; Strathmore for example has wind powered products. And make your art archival; otherwise your work may end up in the dump.

Read more next time: "Reuse"

Thanks
Jonathan Parks

P.S. I suggest a brush for each color of encaustic because this will eliminate the need for solvents and paraffins to clean those brushes. Scrape of the excess encaustic paint on the edge of the palette cup and wipe the rest away. Graduate the brushes for light colors (colors will rub off on hot brushes and white is the most susceptible) to a darker color when those other colors begin to effect the quality. On Encaustic Resource read: Tools and Technique: Brushes, Palette Cups.

Earth Day

Earth Day is April 22th- How does your art impact the environment?

I am an artist and naturalist, I struggle to find the path to environmentally safe art.  Practically every medium has its environmental downfalls; choosing one medium over the other seems pointless to some degree when considering these concerns.  There are ways to lessen the impact; however, these often require financial means that are out of reach for many artists. So, what to do? The next few posts I will be focusing on this conundrum while talking a little about my own work.

Tune in and Thank you for reading
Jonathan Parks
http://www.earthday.org/

Art Materials (Evans Encaustics, "Encaustic Compatible")

Encaustic Compatible

Hello encaustic friends and interested parties,

How many encaustic makers/companies are out there? Small ones, big ones, artists trying to earn a few extra bucks making paint? If you live more east coast you might be more inclined to order from R&F, but if you're living westward there is a closer option. I came across Evans Encaustics a few-or-so years back and liked this small company (I like small companies). Anyway, give them a whirl; I particularly like the bisque gray color. They also have a nice looking website.

Thank you for reading
Jonathan Parks
http://www.evansencaustics.com/

Art Materials (STUFF)

Hello Readers,

Where on earth can you find a rubber kidney, a big domino, an old view camera film carrier, game pieces, wood pieces, metal pieces, glass, ephemera, antique like what-not, and a tin wind-up chicken all in the same place?  Well first off you may not actually find those things in that combination since I already did; but, you may find something even better or in a stranger combination.

I wanted to take a short detour from my usual type of art materials post and focus on what I think of as, "what else," is art material.  Recently I went on a short jaunt from ABQ to Santa Fe in search of who-knows-what and found it/some/stuff.  Expectations where high and low and what I learned prior to visiting filled my brain with ideas and things to buy.

Recycled, upcyced- whatever you want to call it- there is a lot of stuff out there to make, include in, or just inspire your artwork.  All the, "stuff," I got came from an artist; Laura Stanziola. Just outside Santa Fe is where she made her home into what looks like a overwhelming well organized store/residence. Inside this store I found many wonderful things, and many things I did not buy- for I had a budget.  Gratefully the prices of these many odd things were not excessive, and for the most part surprisingly inexpensive.

Rubber kidney, rubber intestines, and a rubber heart all 35 cents each. Various game pieces for just pocket change. 75 cents for twin wooden sticks- I thought the price could have been a quarter cheaper but I really liked them. Film carrier- so many ideas. Old marbled paper. A Ceder box. And of course the wind-up chicken.

All right the chicken isn't art material; I just wanted it. Besides that, imagine everything that I can make using a rubber kidney.

Thanks for reading,
Jonathan Parks

Art Materials (Enkaustikos Hot Cakes, "Encaustic Compatible")

Encaustic Compatible (DUH:)
Hello Folks,

As planned, Hot Cakes at fineartstore.  This will be brief for I do not use Hot Cakes or much pre-made encaustic any more.  I have occasionally used them in the past and they do have the convience factor going with their included palette cup; but, if you make your own paint or your short on cash, they probably aren't your cup of tea (or cup of encaustic).  Outside of the price I do not have anything bad to say about them, and if you can get them on sale- go for it.

Thanks for Reading (Next time, Evans Encaustics)
Jonathan Parks
http://www.evansencaustics.com/
http://www.fineartstore.com/

Art Materials (R&F Handmade Paints, "Encaustic Compatible")

Encaustic Compatible  (DUH!:)
Hello All,

R&F, what can I say? If you have any experience or interest in encaustic, two to one, you are or will become aware of them.  Pretty much the source for encaustic, but they also make some pretty sweet oil like bar- pigment sticks, supplier of tools, advice, and whatnots.  Aside from what might seem to be or easily could be a encaustic monopoly, R&F is a bevy of information packed into a decent supplier of what you need to tackle this medium.

Choosing a medium to best express yourself and your work is hard enough, then you have to figure out what brand and everything else that goes along with these two things.  R&F has around eighty colors in 104 and 333 milliliter blocks.  As with most paints that have colors in series which differ in price, R&F's encaustics are also priced according to pigments.  Needless to say if you are an artist on a budget, you can always stick to those less expensive colors.  If you need additives such as damar, caranuba, or more beeswax you can get those too; which is great if you want to make your own paint.

As for their pigment sticks, these are great to use by themselves or in combination with encaustic (Click here for tips on pigment sticks).  The difference in R&F's pigment sticks and other oil bars like Sennelier is that they have a higher pigment concentration and less fillers.  Not that I find anything wrong with Sennelier, they are simply different.

If I have any complaints about R&F they are very minuscule, like most places there is an occasional product that seems overpriced, but that it is all made up with service and quality of their products. 

As always, Thanks for Reading (Next time Hot Cakes)

Jonathan Parks

http://www.rfpaints.com/

http://www.sennelier.fr/en/home.php

http://parksartworkstoolstechnique.blogspot.com/2008/11/paintpigment-sticks.html

Art Materials (Encaustic Compatible)

"Encasutic Compatible"
Hey folks,

I would like to take the next couple of posts and get back to encaustic- so I'm going to be writing about a few places you can get your supplies and other stuff along with my own experiences with them.  Tune in soon for R&F Encaustic Paints.

Thanks for reading.
Jonathan Parks
http://www.rfpaints.com/