Blog

Cleaning brushes

In this blog Jane takes a look at cleaning your brushes. She uses acrylics and has found that soapy warm water does the trick and then a good rinse...

Using gold leaf for your art or craftwork

Adding a touch of luxury to your work Using gold leaf, whether it’s the real thing at 23ct or imitation gold leaf, will add luxury to your art or...

Neocolor wax crayons

Rather good wax pastels Neocolor wax crayons - these rather good wax pastels are available in permanent or water soluble.Water soluble colours...

Page layouts

Jane shares a page layout project from her college days where she practiced the art of laying out a page for various purposes. Largley a...

Using tracing paper

Jane said "I have used tracing paper for a few projects and I thought it would be a good medium to take a closer look at."What is tracing paper?...

Self portraits – why do artists do them?

I screamed inwardly... A question that has been on my mind for many years has been - Why do artists do self portraits? I thought this may be an...

Texture paste – adding body to your artwork

Adding a heavy body feel to your work This week Jane uses Texture paste on a few pieces of her art.Texture paste is a great medium when you want to...

Using acetate for drawing

Acetate is a great medium Recently Jane has talked us through using different papers for acrylics & oils, watercolours, pastels & chalk. She...

Drawing Buildings

Love drawing buildings Jane loves drawing buildings and here shows, and talks about, some examples she has done over the years.Using perspective is...

Quality of canvas for artists

The quality of canvas availableJane said "We sell many stretched canvases for people to paint on, including making bespoke sizes. We also sell...

Music for framing…

Celebrating pictures framers Groglass, a supplier to custom framers everywhere has created a new song / video to celebrate the work of the framing...

What is pouring medium?

The next big art craze - have you experimented yet?Jane said "At the moment a big art craze is pouring medium so, as I know little about this...

What is epoxy used for in art?

Using epoxy resin in your art & craftworkToday Jane takes a brief look at the use of epoxy in art & craft work.What is Epoxy Resin Epoxy...

Painting by numbers

Painting by numbers and why is it so popular Today Jane talks about Painting by Numbers. You might think that Jane, as an accomplished artist,...

Our Gallery has moved floors

New, lighter, airier galleryWe have been keeping ourselves busy, in a Covid secure fashion, and have moved our gallery upstairs on to the first...

Using water soluble pencils as a watercolour

Artists can be staid and follow specific rules they have set for themselves or they can be flexible and adapt. They can enjoy using their creative...

Drawing – Scaling up an image using a grid

Using a grid to scale up a drawingToday Jane tells us about a drawing technique which some people swear by. Using a grid to scale up an image. She...

Plaster figure restoration

Restoring a plaster figureThis plaster figure was brought in broken, tatty and badly worn. We have filled it, glued it and re-painted it so it looks...

Colour Wheels

Why use a colour wheel? This week Jane takes a quick look at colour wheels. Depending on the types of art you create and your 'eye for colour' you...

Box Framing

Always made to order...We often get asked about box frames, mostly if we sell them ready made. We don’t sell ready made box frames but we can make a...

Antique chair restoration

Restoring antique chairsRemember a time when people could visit shops? Well, back when that was still acceptable, a client brought in a couple of...

Watercolour pans vs tubes

Painting with Watercolours Jane said "we get asked about watercolour pans a lot in the shop by people thinking about taking up Watercolour painting,...

Griffin oil colour

Fast drying oil colours Jane has continued her look at oil paints last with this review of the Griffin Alkyd oil colour range. Last week Jane looked...

Water soluble oils

Oil paints without the smells Jane has looked at Oil Paints previously. Here she is looking at the Winsor & Newton Artisan Oil Paints. What is...