Cheap Paint
Art imitating life (AIL)…
I love going to Open Studios… you get to peek at what other artists use and how they have their studio space set up. What I’ve found is that most artists will use any and everything. They mix different company’s paints all willy nilly (I do this, too)… and usually their paints are all a jumble.
My mother does a lot of needle point. She once did a pillow case for me and I couldn’t use it because it was too rough on my skin.
I’ve noticed a lot of disconnect between the sort of artists I met at university and a lot of the artists I see online and the artists I grew up with. The uni and online artists seem to be more focused on brands and the quality of the products they were using, as well as keeping their work clean and designed.
The artists I grew up with on the other hand, would always pick out the cheapest paint (we didn’t have much of choice) and when we couldn’t afford that (cheap paint or cheap booze, guess which tended to win) we’d paint using our fingers and mud or make sculptures of out rubbish (usually empty bitter cans). It didn’t matter if wasn’t pretty, or that it ignored colour theory or the rule of thirds or whatever else. It was art, it was fun.
You know what the best part is? Out of all the professional working artists I’ve met as an adult, the successful ones share, to different extents, the same mentality we did. Following trends isn’t as good as creating them, after all.
Sorry for the off-topic wall of text, this update stirred up a lot of memories.
I (eventually) learned the lesson of paying more for quality after I’d misplaced my 20th pen for the 20th time. I went out and bought a Cross Pen for about $25 and then I NEVER lost it. Before long I learned not to lose my cheaper pens, either. Next was a Swiss Army knife – a great tool for computer repair-type people – and then sunglasses, flashlights, and etc.
IF you can afford it, the higher quality is almost always worth it. Just be careful not to mix up “higher quality” with “name brand”. Those two don’t always go together.
You get what you pay for. Buyer beware.
I remember going backpacking and rock climbing (big, tall rocks, where you use ropes and lotsa gear) long ago. One of the guys in charge of our group had a great saying, “I’m too poor to afford cheap boots.”
Cheap stuff tends to fall apart quickly and need replacing often. Also breakage is not a good thing if you’re far from civilization and depending on your gear.
Yikes, returning used paints for a refund, or at least an exchange? Really? Boy howdy, I’d sure not want to be the one who buys some paints and finds them used and all cross-contaminated.
Sad thing though with prices is that quality tends to plateau at a certain level, and after that ever smaller increases in quality come at ever greater increases in price. The law of diminishing returns, folks.
Well, got into town (Monterey) late yesterday afternoon to visit with the fam for Easter, and low and behold, today’s a First Friday, aka: “Fun Friday,” a time honored art walk day of festivizing at brig’s Cartoonery. Brought a festive Hawaiian shirt as I did not have one on my last visit for “Tiki Friday,” and lotsa fun visual and audio decorationing, but got to thinking… Today’s Good Friday also, as in the observed Jesus dying day. Can we still festivize come evening time? Whoo hoo?? Some cultures really do up big day of the dead parties. Uh, life goes on?!
Yes, Stick, I am told we will be eating our way (in chocolate) through the stations of the cross. Shalom!
jude… Yay, nice to know. I’ll try to hunt up a black tie to go with the Hawaiian shirt, all the same. Must say, I’ll pass on the chocolatey eating through the 12 stages of the crucifiction. Gotta respect the culture somewhat.
Here’s something unfortunate. A rare, newly born, earless rabbit was to be a big star at a German zoo. There was to be a big new conference introducing the rabbit to the country. The day before a news crew came to film the happily frolicking bunny…and the cameraman accidently stepped on him. Oops. They’re having the earless bunny stuffed.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,821389,00.html
Jack is right… you get what you pay for. There are times when cheap and low quality is fine… you wouldn’t give a 5 year old a 20 dollar tube of paint…. or in most cases, a ten year old.
Dave… I love that memories were stirred…. like paint on a palette… swirling expensive or non-expensive acrylic colors together to apply to …. um…. what were we talking about?
Pete… high quality pens…. I consider 4 dollar art pens worthy of my attention… and I get whacko if I don’t know where they are. I get pretty whacko if I can’t find my stuff in general. I’m weird like that.
stick… This First Friday, all kinds of things lined up… Jesus Death Day, Passover, Full moon, we’ll celebrate them all…. I promise to have peeps and horseradish…
Joe… silly…. needlepoint is for looks only… you put it on a pillow for show… not for use. What is it a needlepoint of?
Smile. Peep Passover. Amen.
Brig,
A whitetail deer with antlers.
I don’t keep enough pillows to display it.
Now my mom is knitting caps for premies.