What art supplies am I using and what are the kiddos using?  

For younger kiddos I love tempera paint and watercolors.  We buy tempera in bulk…just simple primary colors (red, yellow, blue), white, and sometimes black.  Giving them the opportunity to make their own colors and not be afraid to mix the paint are invaluable.  I will give them a small jar of water to wash their brushes but sometimes I don’t even do that…it encourages them to mix, mix, mix and use all the paint.

Bulk tempera we have enjoyed buying from Dick Blick and Utrecht {which are now a joint company…good news as it appears they now have the same items on sale and you can buy everything at either site. :)}

Once they are old enough to try acrylic or oil: again, basic colors, nothing too fancy.  When I first started painting in oil I used Utrecht oil paint which I loved.  Although I was using turpenoid to mix and clean my brushes (a greener option), it was still very smelly.  Carl and I knew I’d eventually need a studio away from the home, especially the babies.

Then water-mixable oils became available and I never looked back.  Both the kids and I use Winsor and Newton’s Artisan water mixable oil paint.  The paint dries a little faster than traditional oil paint, still of course much slower than acrylic.  Plenty of time to mix and mess with the piece, but absent of smell and toxins: good for kiddos and super easy clean-up as you use water to mix the paint as well as clean the brushes.  It is easy enough that the kiddos can prep, paint and clean up all on their own.  They still use paint shirts, but if some spills or gets on the floor or walls it is easy to wipe clean.

Here is a quick list of my favorite art supplies we enjoy:

• triple primed cotton wrapped canvas
• studio primed wood boards
• personally, I prefer wood boards made in local Charleston by wood turner and friend Kent Winterton (local friends: lmk if you’d like his phone number…he does a beautiful job)
• gesso for my Winterton boards (since they aren’t pre-primed)
• glass palette that can be scraped and washed when ready for new paint
• winsor & newton’s artisan water mixable oil paint
• a beginner’s set of the artisan oils I found for cookergirl on Amazon
• a paint brush set I found for the explorer on Amazon (you don’t need special brushes when using the water mixable oils…where with traditional oils you shouldn’t use the same brushes when using acrylic or watercolor)

Here’s to making and making comfortably!  What are your favorite materials?  What do you recommend?  Leave us some suggestions in the comments, would love to hear what you enjoy! xo ~ katrina