Total Art Soul - for artists

I use a mixture of cups, plastic pots and an actual brush holder (bought for 99p from The Works in the UK) to store my brushes.... I keep crafting bits that I use for card-making in a variety of old tool-boxes and chinese take-away containers!

I have a cheap plastic palette that I also bought when I first started painting, which was again only 99p. It's so easy to scrape off the acrylic paint on there. However, I do tend to use bits of card that are lying around, too!!! I'm afraid my studio at the moment is so cluttered with things I'm using, I can't really see what's there!!!

It's becoming increasingly obvious, much to our amusement, that us arty types start the job then go find the things we need to do it as they come up. We're also a lot more practical than people give us credit for, making use of all sorts of odds and ends

I use jar lids to mix paints, and cornflake boxes to clip my art to. I rather like using an old make up brush too.

Like everyone else, I have an assortment of containers and objects I use for my work, mostly housed in a big old tallboy which I got from a junkshop.

I also have accumulated masses of things I know will come in handy one day. I even have a container containing dozens of attractive feathers I've picked up on my walks, lots of nice stones and loads of shells, bits of driftwood. There isn't much room left to work any more. My grandson wandered in there during the Summer and we haven't found him yet. I'm sure he's OK, probably living off the unfinished sandwiches and stuff.

What I'd really like someone to invent is a studio which can be unfolded out into a much larger studio when required (I'm sure I saw Inspector Gadget using one once) Oh, and also one of those things that cleans and tidies it all up regularly....I think they are called a wife or something. The model I have (a mark 2 partner) is great around the house but just doesn't work at all in the studio for some reason.

Let me know if you come up with anything......

I'll be very suprised if mighty fine art does not get severely beaten with a cushion for that

I was highly delighted recently when I got a request for some seaside themed images - out came the three boxes of shells and pebbles Thankfully, Rich is a hoarder too - and delights in bringing me nice feathers etc so thinking about it, we're going to need one of those exapanding studio things too.....should that be made out of bits of cardboard and jam jars too, just so we'd feel at home ?

I really have a rather eclectic collection of odds and ends - collecting different brushes for different things is a packrat endeavor of its own!

For drawing, I mostly use mechanical pencils for detail work, but I keep sandpaper strips handy just in case.

As for painting, I mostly do acrylics ~ and for that I have three standbys:

1) a plastic tray for a brush bath (formerly a microwave dinner tray)

2) a cap from an instant shaving can that sits in the tray that holds clean water for thinning purposes, and

3) some old hand towels for bleeding excess water from brushes.

I've also found flimsy plastic sheets (like disposable 'cutting boards') to be indispensable for mixing paint on. All you have to do is curl or bend the sheet and all the globs of dried paint peel right off ~ instant clean sheet for the next project!