Psst! My Artist Must-Haves
It’s midnight as I write this, the day after Christmas, and I find myself in a side room at my mother’s house attempting to conduct business as usual. If you’re self-employed, especially in something as messy as art, then you’ll know that uprooting your business and setting up shop someplace else is a Herculean endeavor at the best of times, and I pray that you never need to do it suddenly, urgently, and right before Christmas!
But here I am, and it looks like this to-and-fro between houses will be permanent, and while it sounds good to have two art studios, it’s in fact much less glamorous and the days are peppered with me grumbling “Oh not again, I brought my paints but I forgot my paintbrushes” and my lovely husband, Mike, who handles inventory and packaging, grumbling, “Oh not again, the tape was just delivered and it’s waiting on the steps - at home!”
So I’ve been doing some midnight shopping, and I thought I’d share my must-haves. A little while ago I shared by favorite bargain buys and my favorite splurges, but now I’m going to share the absolutely-can’t-live-withouts. Some of these are for traveling, and some for doubling up on. No affiliate links, just trying to be helpful!
I get them from AliExpress, and they have a beautiful feel to them and gorgeous, subtle hues….until I get paint all over them. Choose the palette combo you like best:
Do you remember the days of agenda binders? These were before those: the size of a checkbook, one fits easily in my purse, even when my purse has a shih-tzu in it. My husband will say: put all your appointments on your phone! As someone who is usually encouraging him to turn to tech more, it’s hypocritical that I then wrinkle my nose and refuse to figure out the calendar on my phone. In the first place, I don’t like all the typos of phone typing; in the second place, I need to visually plan things out at the risk of double booking. So, although last year I had a large, pretty John Derian wall calendar for my infrequent date scribblings, this year I’m in two places and I have four lives to keep track of (including the shih-tzu), so I’ve just gone old school and bought this very boring (black) pocket calendar, and I love it :
It’s not expensive in terms of money, but it’s expensive in terms of guilt. I feel terrible using disposable paper. But it’s So. Much. Easier. I was excited to find this smaller version of 5”x7”, which is perfect since I usually paint miniatures:
In the splurges piece you’ll see the Canvas phone and light ring gooseneck with the marble base which really can’t be beat and is worth the investment, but this little one is good for traveling and is only $7.12:
Just bought this, again from AliExpress. They have camera bags of all sizes, for all types of cameras. Take a look around and find the camera bag that’s just perfect for your camera and all your accessories. I had a smaller one, but I needed a bit more space for recent add-ons and this one is perfect:
Same: I had a smaller one, and I’ve just bought this one, which has space for cables, hard drives, and extra files and papers. It’s perfect for back-and-forths:
Chelsea Classical Studio Lavender and Olive Oil Brush Soap
This soap is so special I’m talking about it again. I’ve been making do with solvent and dish soap to clean my brushes, but the brushes are getting dry and they asked me especially to reorder, so now I’ll have a little bar in both places:
Speaking of washing brushes….
Delta Touch Faucet
I finally decided to replace my kitchen faucet which had been leaking for years, and I discovered that there are such things as “touch” and “touchless” faucets. Well, I tried a couple of models of the touchless first, and they didn’t work at all, and then I tried - to Mike’s dismay - two versions of the touch, and I was - to Mike’s relief - finally satisfied with faucet installation No. 4, the Delta touch faucet.
Of course, he thought it was unnecessary and even ridiculous. I thought it was indulgent too, but I was motivated by the desire to do away with hard water stains on the top of the sink. We laughed at the touch faucet for a good day and a half before we immediately grew so accustomed to it that it seemed like we had never had any other kind of faucet ever before. And now, at my mother’s we find ourselves tapping her faucet and staring at it impatiently, oh, like, fifty times a day, before we realize that she has the regular kind of faucet, which we now consider completely archaic.
What does this have to do with art? Paint-splattered, glue-sticky, gesso-dripping hands, of course!
These range from about $150 to $700, and I’ve just ordered her the cheaper on the spectrum. Mike will be a Very Good Sport about installing (for various reasons) his eighth faucet since the summer, given that he’s as persuaded as I am that the touch faucet is one of the most wonderful inventions of 21st-century life. (And it saves water, too!)
My mother, God bless her, listens to the TV on volume 100 all day whilst off-and-on napping. This means that, with the open floor plan, the entire house is flooded with aggressive sound. And it also means that, simultaneously, one is not allowed to make any sound oneself and Mike and I have to walk around on tiptoes in the middle of the day. Oh, and I should mention that when her otherwise adorable King Charles Spaniel, Lucy, is startled, she barks her little head off.
Since I’m one of those people who is, frustratingly, EXTREMELY sensitive to sensory data, I’ve been going batsh*t crazy. So I dug out my old noise cancelling headphones and hugged them to me tightly in thanks and salvation, even though they only sort of work. Mike looked at me, or rather my headphones, with envy and longing. He’s a bit more stalwart than I am when it comes to sensory data, so now he gets those, and I'm upgrading to the Sony WH-1000XM5s, which are supposed to have the best noise cancellation on the market. If they work, they will be worth every penny of their $300 and I will never take them off. I’ll let you know how they do.
For now, I just wanted to remind you about noise-cancelling headphones in general, in case they could ameliorate your situation. :)
I’ve also doubled up on paint, brushes, Gamsol, gesso, phone chargers, and internet speed, and Mike has doubled up on boxes, bubble wrap, tape, packing labels, and our thermal label printer (also worth it, if you don’t have one yet). We are both figuring out how to double up on sanity, patience, and time, but neither can be purchased directly so we’re doing out best with what we’ve got!
Let me know if you have any suggestions from your own list of must-haves!
