Christmas Art Stash 2022

I thought I’d put up here all the new art gear I’ve been gifted today as it’s a bit of a sneak preview of what to expect in 2023.

You’ll see in the picture above:

– a new brush.  It was a size that I needed.  Not much to say about that.

– three new books.  All on coloured pencil.  I’ll be posting reviews on these once I’ve read them and made notes.

– two supergranulating Schmincke sets.  There’s a set of tundra paints; I’ve been using tundra during 2022 and my colours were going to need topping up soon.  And there’s a new set, the desert colours.  I’m looking forward to trying those out and am expecting them to create hot atmospheres without me really trying.  I also still have the Shire colours in my collection.  Both these sets I opened today are in the 15ml tubes in fancy wooden boxes and ooze luxury.

– finally there are two sets of Artgraf colours, nine colours in all.  These are highly packed graphite colour blocks like tailors’ chalks.  They can be used as pans or can be drawn with and the marks wetted afterwards.  I may use them as pans for dash and splashes or could try drawing figures or portraits using not just the corners but also the edges.  I can’t wait to use these, probably trying out some ideas from the Bill Buchman book.