HINTS & TIPS

The purpose of this page was to invite artists from anywhere in the world to leave their art related tip. As this service is regularly misused I regret that I have had to remove the facility. However, the remaining legitimate tips are printed below.

From

Tip

Sandi Keogh,
Warrnambool Artist Society, Australia

Pastels - Use a small fine metal rasp to sharpen pastels for fine detailed work, use a small wire brush to clean rasp.

Barbara

Masking - Put soap on your brush before using masking fluid and you won't need to wash your brush as frequently.

Christine

Watercolour - In order to retard the drying time when using watercolour add a little clear washing up liquid to the paint. This is particularly useful in warmer weather.

David

Watercolour - When you are doing a wash, as long as you keep a bead of colour at the bottom of the stroke, it doesn't matter how many times you dip in on your way across the page.

Christine

Pastel - To avoid getting pastel all over your fingers use disposable gloves. They also protect your fingers when using a rougher surface

Graham

Brushes - Use a block of florists' oasis to hold your brushes.

Christine

Pastel - When wanting more intense colour in the foreground as in vegetation or flowers, scrape off the pastel onto the paper with a craft knife and press hard into the paper with your finger or a palette knife.

Graham

Watercolour - Place masking tape over the paint left on your palette so that it doesn't dry up.

Sheila

Masking Fluid - Use an old dried up felt tip pen to apply masking fluid instead of a brush.