ARTISTIC SATURDAY | Art supplies first impressions

Hello, my fellow artists.

So this is my first post on this blog (no s**t Sherlock) and I'd like to talk a little bit about my last Saturday afternoon, when I went to Prague and treated myself to some art supplies. c:

Sometimes I just want to get out of my house and be on my own. Not necessarilly because something bad happened at home, but I just can't stand being between the same four walls or walking around the same neighbourhood with my (although very lovely) dog on the lead. And at that point I often find myself stuffing my bag with art supplies, getting on a bus to the capital city and looking for places where I could draw/paint afterwards.

Therefore, I cooked some vegetarian lunch for my parents, kissed my doggie on the head and basically ran out of the front door to catch the earliest bus. And, of course, I had my heavy backpack filled with art goodies and some money, 'cause I kinda knew, that I will end up buying some more art goodies when I get to the 'art shop area'.

Only one hour later, I was already strolling through a book shop, looking for a specific book - Milk and Honey. Much to my surprise, they had it even in English, so I grabbed it immediately and continued to stroll. I spent a little over a reasonable time in the "Art books" area, but, to be honest, every book I was willing to buy was in German. Hell if I know German. So then, on my way back, I was pointing out to books that I've read, rating them in my head, and contemplating, whether I should re-read them. But for now, I had a little black book of poetry in my hands, so I decided to continue my journey.

I had few things on my list - bookshop, art shops, café, drawing and an art exhibition. If I were to write them in a to-do list, not all of them would be ticked, but we'll get to that later. Considering the path I should be going to visit all the the places I wanted, I went to one of the art shops next. And this is where we get to the actual art.

My favourite art shop is called Altamira (I didn't exactly understand the name until we properly discussed primeval art at school) and it's in the city center. It has two shops - one of them is more crafty and the second one holds more drawing and painting supplies, which is the one I always go to, and this day was not an exception. I've always loved the shop and even offered to work there part-time a few times, until I realised, I do not have ANY spare time with my school timetable and other responsibilities. But we're not here to talk about work, pfff, we need to get to THE ART.

I brought my teeny weeny handy dandy notebook where I've written all the things I saw on their website and wanted to try out. It included some stuff, that I don't really need (like a painting apron, brush dryer and a roll-up pencil case, that I already have) and something I'd like to get (chalk pastels, natural charcoal, a huge canvas and coloured pencils in 'portrait colours'). I ended up getting three things in total: the charcoal, the pencils and a very cheap no-name (but awesome) tan sketchbook (that I F**KING LOVE OKAY).

After that, I went to my favourite café called Platýz Café, where they remember me pretty well and always take my order with the words: "Same as usual?" and tried everything out, which is, by the way, also a thing I always do in this café, because everytime, I seem to have at least one new art supply with me. If you're curious, I got myself an Americano with an extra espresso shot, 'cause I like my coffee black and strong. B-)

I am not here to talk about the book, but I'll say I had a 'little' flick through and the next day copied some of the poems and drew something inspired by them. But let's talk about the drawing supplies!

Firstly, I want to talk about the charcoal sticks. I mean, not really talk, because I don't have much to say 'bout them. They are..okay. Like, honestly, okay. I am not very experienced with natural charcoal and I didn't even pay that much attention to them that day. But they seem okay (hehe). Or may I say.. usual, standart, normal, ordinary, regular, nothing special, unexceptional..ugh, so many words I could use to just say "they are okay." When I do my professional research and try them out a bit more, I'll tell ya, what I really think. (but I expect them to be okay)

ANYWAY

Secondly, the sketchbook:

OH MY HOLY OVERLORD, I love it. Fine, it's nothing extra special, it's just a soft cover sketchbook with brown paper (of average quality), that doesn't even carry a brand - but I love it. It's exactly what I was looking for. Nothing fancy, not blimmin' 100 sheets, CHEAP AF, and the perfect colour of tan textured paper, that will make my light pencils pop out like crazy. (I'll tell you what I found it the other art shop later) I tested my new pencils on it straight away and towards the end of my coffee session, designed the front cover. (I was in a rush and just wrote "Andy Dre's tan sketchbook" in my somewhat-caligraphic handwriting, but dun worry, I'll add some stickers later on c: ) I have a vision of filling it in with gorgeous coloured artwork, but as I know myself, It'll end up being overflowed with random sketches, that I don't even like. That's my art in a nutshell.

But now, the star of the show - the KOH-I-NOOR artistic pencils in a portrait set.

I could just look at them. Honestly. Only looking at them satisfies my lowkey artistic soul. I absolutely adore how the hexagon-shaped barrels are colour coordinated and everything goes so well together and it's all in this gorgeous tin case and they are all numbered and they have gold bottoms and writing and they are pre-sharpened and just..ahhh I am so pleased.

Fine-fine, that's not really different from any other coloured pencil set, but just so you know, I have never owned a tin of somewhat-fancy coloured pencils. I never really was into coloured pencils. I mean, my simple heart has always admired all the beautiful art pieces, that people can make with these, and then convinced me into buying a Faber-Castell set, that I thought was really fancy and high end, but then realised I bought it in a office supplies shop and that they are stiff. So - stiff.

So when I saw, that our Czechoslovekian brand, that is super popular here, has a smallish set for portraits AND with good online reviews, I got so hyped.

The actual buying process was a little longer than usual. In most cases, I just walk in, say hello to the familiar faces, grab things I need, including some kind of useless bits and pieces, that are on sale. But this time, I met a new employee, who was likeable, but very confused and disoriented in the stock. When I asked for a set of pencils for portrait and added, that KOH-I-NOOR should have one, he denied my assumption, and when he couldn't find anything, he asked his boss (just in case I was right) and she said "Yeah, the czechs have it." His expression was priceless. But hey, I am not judging anyone, I was just happy to have my set and also happy I didn't have to pay a fortune for it. Then, when I got all the other stuff (that I've already talked about), I went to the café (that I've also already talked about) and delved into my today-not-so-creative mind palace.

The first test involved everyone's favourite thing to draw - an eye. At that point I realised how easy it is to lay down the colour, compared to all my previous pencils. With those you have to push down a lot, which makes a harsh line and therefore it's difficult to blend them with each other. But these godnesses just touch the surface and lay down their colour, which, however, is not always 100% the colour of the barrel. It confused me a little bit, because there're two browns next to each other, and the one with a darker barrel is closer to the lighter end of the set lay-out, and the one with the lighter barrel to the darker one. But making swatches always helps (especially in such a pretty tan sketchbook)

Other than that, I am definitely missing black in the set. I ended up using a B-something pencil for the dark contours, but that wasn't as creamy and blendable, as the KOH-I-NOORs can get. But to end it on a positive note, they layer beautifully. I loved making the blushies on the girl's face!

I am planning to play with them a little bit more, and if I like them, I might cheekily buy some more..

To wrap it up, I payed for my coffee and left them a tip as usual, and decided to go back home. BUT before I actually went to the subway station, I checked out the second art shop called Zlatá Lod (they sell Copics there!!), but got almost kicked out, because I stayed over the closing time. However, I saw the same tan sketchbook I bought earlier, but even in different sizes. And I nearly bought one, but then I remembered, why I actually came in here. To get a huge canvas.

So I got one, and used it the very next day. You'll be able to read about that in my next post. 3:)

Then they politely asked me to leave the shop..

/the canvas/

And because it was already too late, I didn't manage to see the exhibition, but I shall not worry, because the're are plenty of different ones in Prague. Then I got going, headed the 'home direction', and even met like 4 people from my dancing crew. (I bet they had a party without me; joke).

When I got home, I had a bigger grin on my face, and after making myself a cup of tea, I sat down and started working on the "big-a*s canvas project", that you can read about in my next post.

But that's everything from that day.. Okay, that's barely a noticable part of it, but it's the only on, that matters.

Hope you liked this post! Let me know if you have any art supplies you bought recently and fell kinda in love with from the start.

Thank you for reading, have a glam day xx

Andy Dre