23beCumming24

 There are certain supplies that always get a bad rap, and not because of the supplies themselves. I'm talking about cheap and kids art supplies! Personally, I don't have any problems using whatever supply I can get my hands on. Sure, there are some that handle better, blend better, mix better, etc. etc. etc.. But, that doesn't mean you can't make long lasting and beautiful artwork with the cheaper andor kids grade supplies. And, alot of the time, I will find cheap/kids supplies of mediums/tools that I'd never heard of or used before! So, they're like my gateway "drug" into getting more expensive versionsπŸ˜‚ (sometimes, anyways πŸ˜‚). 

    As an example of one such cheap/kids grade art supply that I've used and found to be pretty fun and make beautiful textures with are the tempera paint sticks by Kwik Stix. Below you can see a portrait I made of the super talented Alan Cumming using the tempera sticks, a little acrylic white paint and a pallet knife to scrape and move the paint around. The paper I used was, however, not mixed media paper but pastel paper πŸ˜‚. 

Alan Cumming

    I had never heard of paint sticks before so, when I saw these, I started to think of ideas on what to make with them. It honestly felt like I was cutting/crushing up bits of glue stick with my pallet knife πŸ˜‚ so, naturally, I felt like I wasn't doing something right! But it also gave me a oil-meets-impasto style vibe as I worked the paints around, blending them with my dotting tools and  colour shaper tools and also smearing larger portions around, or mixing the colors together, with my pallet knife. Here's a quick speed painting of how I painted over my sketch. (sorry for the bad quality. The original file got corrupted, so I was left with the Instagram version πŸ˜­).

For the reference photo, I actually combined three images of Alan Cumming that I liked since I liked different things from each image - one had the face expression I liked, he had some really fun hair going on in another one, and the last he was wearing this really nice patterned pink and white suit that I wanted to incorporate too. This was also my last portrait in 2023 and the first one I made in 2024, so I ended up calling it 23beCumming24 just for a laugh. All in all, the paint sticks were fun and challenging to use, mostly because I'd never used something like them before πŸ˜‚. As for their quality, they dried almost like a smooth plastic and didn't have any issue after I sprayed them with a clear sealer. He's as happy as can be perched upon my wall now πŸ˜‚ If frames weren't as expensive (even at the thrift stores) as they are, I'd probably frame him in something nice, maybe a flat white square frame, but he's good and still as vibrant as he was when I started.

Alan Cumming portrait with tempera paint sticks I used.
    I hope you enjoyed 23beCumming24 and were inspired to try out these, and other, cheap/kids art supplies in YOUR future projects! If you do, tag me on social media so I can see YOUR creations! And please feel free to let me know YOUR thoughts on this piece. If you would like to challenge me, please check out my Contact Me page, or, if you'd like to purchase one of my works or a work of your own design, check out my Commission page.

Till next time MMP fans!