For painters and sketchers:

[Sara Star]

What is your favorite medium?

Do you prefer a restricted palette or all the colors?

Is there a type of medium you tried and it just did not pan out for you? Why?

Any fun tips for other painters/sketchers?

[Sara Star]

So my answers:

My favorite medium is acrylic paint.

I find that a limited palette can really challenge and improve my work, but that for some styles of painting I need access to the whole range.

I have tried working with watercolor paint and I found that it was very difficult to work with, I kept ruining the paper, and I couldn't do as many layers as I like. I cannot use turpentine because of toxicity, so I have just dipped my brush into oils and am still exploring with water soluable oils and alternatives to turpentine.

My tip for painters and sketchers is to do the parts that you love the most on your painting last. A whole painting needs to be worked up together, not doing the main subject first and filling in the background last. In fact I recently learned that doing the background first is helpful.

[Alex Birkett]

Acrylic, because I'm poor
Acrylic is not panning out for me
LOL

[beckie huckaby]

I really haven't done much in acrylic. I like oils alot. I have started my 13 year old daughter on acrylics until she can show me she can be responsible for her own cleanup and take care of her equipment. She seems to like acrylic's. My son is an artist in San Diego and he is poor too. He told me he goes to the paint store and buys their reject colors. If I can't find a less expensive place to buy oil paints I may have to change mediums too. Southwest Washington does no have a good art store.

[Stray Gallery]

If you can venture in to Portland (gasp the horror ;) ) I recommend Utrecht for good deals on quality stuff. I also just watch for coupons and sales at Michael's. If I have 40% off on one item and I buy a tube of cadmium red with it, and get a new coupon to spend next week 40% off, I can accumulate more than you would think. Its a sit and wait approach, but I can do pretty well on Michael's sales. And as of like a month or two ago they started to carry higher quality paints and such. For years I couldn't buy the good stuff there, now they are back on par with Art Media for inventory.

[Angela Baumgartner]

If anyone is ever in Astoria, check out Dots N Doodles art store. Scott and Tim own and run it...and they have companies that they carry their paints come in and do demos and have great samples to share. So not only do you learn new techniques but you get free goodies and a nice couple of guys to chat with art about. They are on Facebook, so you can ask when they have their next event.

[NWShirts/ChrisStevens]

I seem to work in about 5 colors usually when I paint; black, white, blue, yellow ochre and burnt umber or sienna. I love yellow ochre and use it on almost everything I do. It always seems to me like a painting is always kind've made in the last few minutes and everything else is a leadup to that. It's always about all the hard work of painting the foundation of your piece and then the whole thing comes together for me with the last couple of detail strokes.

I work mostly in acrylic, screenprinting, scratchboard and the occasional pen and ink illo.

[Alex Birkett]

Yellow Ochre is FTW, I agree.

[Rachel Hunter]

I prefer oils. It seems like the colors are really bold. I just don't like the clean up afterward. It's a pain in the ass and I usually end up getting frustrated and throwing my brushes away. =S

[NWShirts/ChrisStevens]

Yeah oil is way better but the clean up and setup is a bitch, not to mention the toxins. Acrylics exist because of laziness.

[Sara Star]

Hah, I think of acrylics as an entirely different medium with different possibilities and styles than oil. Acrylics is really a water media, but it has capabilities that watercolors and gauche do not.

My experiences with oils so far haven't been so bad for clean up--I can't use turpentine because I am severely allergic to it, but the turpenoid natural cleans my brushes very nicely and the water soluable oils allow me to use water to thin my paints instead of turpentine. You can also use baby oil to clean your brushes.

[Alex Birkett]

That is weird, I thought oils existed because of pretentiousness. LOL

[Rachel Hunter]

I need to learn how to be more disciplined. I'm probably the laziest artist out there and the messiest! I'm so messy it's ridiculous. Allergies do become a big problem, I'm pretty sensitive to chemicals. I love sharpies but they're a real bitch on my brain cells.