Shopping For Art Supplies

Things are heating up in my cluttered, but lovely little studio. I am working on the finished illustrations for BOOM BOOM, and I need to replenish my stock of art supplies.

First stop, Daiso, the Japanese dollar-store franchise and my idea of a fun time.

This is what I call a good haul: a sink mat (“prevent slips without scratching dishes efficiently”), sink drain covers (“hair prevent sheet for overflow of a bath”), foam craft stickers, cellulose sponge cloth, plastic lace doilies, various shaped erasers, silicone container wrap, silicone hot pads, silicone coasters and a silicone cleansing pad (“It fits the form of the nose!”).

You see, as a printmaker, I can use whatever I want to make images. As long as I can cover the surface with ink and print with it somehow, it’s worth toting back to my studio to test out.

I keep my test swatches in a large binder. When I want to embellish an image with a texture or pattern, I look to see what I have that might work. I’m not sure which of these new supplies will end up being used for the images in BOOM BOOM, but I’m sure at least one of them will.

I also find items to print with at hardware stores, fabric stores, and thrift stores. I store the materials in drawers in my studio. You can see I’ve accumulated much stuff.

When I get to talk to kids about the books I’ve worked on, I like to show them some of my art materials and have them try to find where I used the textures in my illustrations. And I tell them that you don’t have to get all your art supplies at the art supply store. You can make art out of all kinds of things, you just have to keep your eyes open and think like a printmaker!