This blog post is brought to you by the following song so get this one in your head..

Tanya P. emailed me with this question and it is great one so I thought I would try to answer it here:

"Hi Tracy, I really enjoy your Monday Ustream class. It's so fun! I have been wanting to get into art journaling and mixed media canvas painting. But am wondering what are the basics I need to get started? I see that lots of people are doing this but I'm just not sure how to get started, so if you have any tips to offer please send them my way!!  Thanks so much, Tanya"

Now some of my most basic and must have tools I covered here in my travel journaling POST but I thought I would list some of my personal favorite basic needs that keep me inspired!

     

  1. Art Journal/Wet Media or Water color book. – my favorite are Strathmore in your desired size.  I started at about 5 X 7 and now have worked up to 11 X 15!
  2. Watercolor Paints
  3. Acrylic Paints – my favorite are by far DecoArt paints…they are affordable and come in AMAZING colors
  4. Gesso – DecoArt makes a great one!
  5. Charcoal Pencil – my personal favorite is Faber Castell Soft ones or 3B in softness.
  6. Doodling Pens are very handy – I recommend Faber Castell again!
  7. Gelato's by Faber Castell
  8. Flowers – I buy mine at Michael's and pluck them right off the stem.  Inexpensive and fun to play with.
  9. India Ink and a Nib
  10. Decoupage or Modge Podge again I love DecoArt's!
  11. Templates – Crafter's Workshop are some of my fav!

 

Favorite

For me those are some fun and basic items that will really get you going.  And, I share new products just about every week and play with more fun things so I am glad you are tuning in.  I hope that this answered your question as I have a 11 X 15 studio that is filled of things to use but those are my staple products that I go to again and again. 

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LOVE those questions!  I want to put that same question out to everyone of what your basic staples are that you cannot art journal without??  Please leave your comments and share with us!

Have a great and crafty weekend. I know I have a fun new house project I am working on but I am going to carve out some creative time just for ME!

Tracy

"Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, etc…"