Cruelty Free Art supplies

I've been a vegetarian for a very very long time now and for the most part I make an effort to buy animal free and cruelty free products, however there is a great lack of information on cruelty free products for artists.
I'm going to try to debunk some myths and bring some of my research together here.

There is the obvious - animal hair brushes - No they do not sit and give the weasels a trim then let them romp in fields of clover. Its FUR.. It's part of the FUR industry. Sable brushes are essentially a small mink coat on a stick. You'd be hard pressed to find a brush made from an animal that isn't dead - it's not profitable to cuddle them and love them. They are tormented, then killed, skinned and their fur moves along to it's various applications. Yes, to a manufacturer it does make sense to kill them, not shave or brush them. It all comes down to the dollar. Sable Brushes - not so lovely.

In some cases the brushes are the left overs of other industries (fur and food), and in some cases it is actually brushed off animals like camels and then sold, and put through a sorting machine etc... but this isn't usually the case. Be leary of animal brushes.

Myth: Synthetic brushes are inferior to animal hair brushes. Whoever told you that is a damn fool. Back in the day, when synthetics were new, yes of course they had some major flaws but as synthetics grow in popularity they have some major advantages over the natural hair brushes. For example, synthetic watercolour brushes have superior spring in them over a sable. Synthetics are manufactured with hollows along the shaft of the bristle to simulate the natural hair and increasing the water holding capacity of the brushes.

Solvents will break down any brush, buying natural hair brushes doesn't make you immune to the  damage of a solvent. The key word is the product - it is a solvent... 

Your best bet is to do away with solvents in your paint all together. It's safer for you, safer for your painting, and safer for the earth. Thin with oil, clean with soap.


As a side note, I use all synthetics in my oil paint, when i used to use solvents, and now when I don't. I've never lost a brush to solvents.

Any brush you buy will last as long as you allow it through proper care and storage.

Pigments are another area for concern for some people. There are some pigments you should avoid.

Bone black and/or Ivory black (can be labelled either way) is made from charred animal bones. avoid. If you're looking on the back, the bone/ivory black pigment code is PBk9. You'd be surprised which paints have black in it (Golden has a list on their website). There is another pigment called Cochineal is a scarlet dye made from ground up female cochineal insects, However, I've not seen this pigment anywhere on any pigments lists so it's possible it's no longer used.
If you need some information on pigments this website has some awesome information on pigments specifically used in watercolours, but in general it applies to oil, acrylic and other paints as well.


Myth: Most watercolours have an ox gall binder


Not so! Most companies have switched to using Gum Arabic as a binder, which is a tree based product. Ox gall is a product that is harvested from ox galls (no kidding?!). By the way, Gall is bile. It's pretty gross to think of it in your paint, so I don't know why anyone would use it, but it is still available to purchase, and some companies may still use it or include it as a binder in their paint. Just look on the label.


Some papers, and canvas use animal product sizing. Rabbit skin glue is a traditional sizing for canvas, and is sometimes used in Gesso. Gelatin is often used as a paper sizing. There are alternatives to these of course, as there always is. Polyvinyl acetate or PVA glue is a better sizing because it won't yellow or crack with age.
In many (if not all, actually) cases the animal products are going to yellow or crack with age where the synthetic equivalent will not. So it's best to avoid anyway.


In many cases the term "traditional" when applied to gesso, or grounds will mean animal products.


What you can do to find out more information about your products.
Find the website for the brand you like - the actual manufacturers website.
Often times they will have moderate information on the products, but usually a way of contacting them for asking questions. the good companies will get back to you. 
Most importantly, if you are contacting them, asking questions about the environmental and humane aspects of the products they manufacture, they will know that people are out there paying attention, caring and thinking about where they spend their money. They will make more efforts to provide this information publicly and to be concious of where they get their ingredients. when leaders of the industry do it, other will follow suit.


Read the labels on your products. Be aware of what you are purchasing and be aware of what those things are. If you don't know what something is on your label Google it! If google gives you half answers email the company directly, download their literature. There's always answers.
Here are some websites for some brands I could think of off the top of my head... why not ask them some tough questions ;)


Golden paints
Gamblin
winsor newton
Holbein
Grumbacher
Georgian Paint
Daniel Smith




Useful links
Cruelty free art supplies
Vegans list of art supplies
Vegan and Vegetarian artists group on Facebook

Live Marker Colouring

Tuesday June 22 at 12pm PST I'll be colouring an image of Abade live on my live stream. please come check it out if you have time. I'll be leaving the recording up there if I can, so you can watch the recording later if you want to :)

this will be my first time doing a live stream so even if you can't attend, let me know if you're interested in these sort of things. The response I receive now will dictate whether i take the time to do these again.
Feel free to use this time to ask me questions about using markers too.

Thanks! 

Upcoming Free Demos

Airbrush Mixed Media

Wednesday March 17th 2-3pm

Opus Framing and Art

120 Lonsdale Avenue 

North Vancouver

I will be doing an airbrush demo demonstrating the techniques and tools used to create my piece "Noplan".

 I will be focusing on Airbrush Techniques.

Sculpey

Wednesday April 21st 2-2pm

Opus Framing and Art

120 Lonsdale Avenue 

North Vancouver

I will be demonstrating techniques for using Super Sculpey. I will cover creating an armature, baking, tools and techniques. I will briefly discuss painting sculptures as well.

These Demo's are always free to attend, and there are many more that come up often, some by more famous people as well! check OpusFraming.com for more!

Airbrush Paint Review & information

(Cross posted from Animated Guru)

I've also been changing up my airbrush paint so here are some reviews of Airbrush paint I've used:

Golden Airbrush paint sucks... It claims to be useful for paper and illustration but I did light coats and it seemed like it was just way too watery. It seemed like it took too many layers to get even a moderate colour covereage, even of the opaque colours! I do not recommend it even for paper.

Com*art and Medea is what came with my airbrush. It's good. I wouldn't rave about it, but for what Golden should have been able to do, these ones actually do it.

Createx is a great one. I find I have to thin it a little since its quite thick, but I painted Metal with it and its a dream. They also have decent mediums, top coats and stuff. Recommended for painting with sculpture and metal!

Now, Having said all that, I don't think I'll be using any of those much any more with the exception of Createx for some things because I discovered something far better to all of them.

Golden Fluid Acrylics + Golden Airbrush Medium = WIN

Right now Golden has a promo going on that is if you by 6 1oz or 3 4oz bottles of Golden Fluid Acrylics you get a 4oz bottle of Titanium White for free.
 I got mine! got to any Opus Framing Location in B.C., they're participating and also have the Fluids on sale for the month of March. The Price is definitely right! (Friends of mine, I can pick up some for you if you cant get to an Opus, Let me know!)

Okay so this Golden Airbrush Medium is mixed with the Fluid acrylics in a 1:1 Ratio. and I've put them in mixing bottles.

That website I just linked is a great resource with 2 videos on how to use the Fluid Acrylics for airbrush!

I really love this fluid acrylics! I never liked painting with acrylics because it was difficult to get a thin even coverage coat without brush strokes or that sort of globby look, and as mentioned I had trouble with the other paints applying to sculpture before. These are beautiful!

I'm doing a demo on March 17th 2-3pm at Opus framing and Art 120 lonsdale ave in North vancouver on my painting technique for my previous airbrush painting


Noplan by `guruubii on deviantART

and I'll be going over my tools and the techniques. I've been preparing some samples :)
see my work station:

There are 3 panels there, the green one being worked on is drying from gold leafing :)
In the picture:
on the box is my airbrush matte topcoat, the box for my airbrush, Opus acrylic polymer medium, a couple of my mix bottles of colour, airbrush cleaner, and my table cleaning station with my airbrush shoved in it. there are also 2 pieces of broken Sculpey wing and a frisket film cut out.
beside the box is a bag with the bits of my Abade sculpture in it XD
on the board I was painting on is my heat gun (my best friend), the green painting has gold leaf on it, and beside that is a package of gold leaf (imitation), up against the back is the 2 other paintings I had going.
all for my demo.

Hope that was interesting to you airbrushers :>
I might try to do an online or video demo of my techniques in the future if there is any interest for it.
Next month I will be doing a Sculpey Demo as well, so stay tuned for some sculpey information soon :)

Archival storage - canvas

The first post I made covered archival storage of art on paper. Now we move onto Canvas. Most of the archival qualities of canvas paintings come with how they're created.

Supports grounds and gessos

If you've got a painting on Canvas, you're in luck. Much less work. HAHA! There are very few steps to keeping these safe and preserved. There are 2 aspects to consider: your foundation and your varnish.

Depending on the paint you are using (acrylic or oil) you need a proper surface to paint on that will help keep your painting alive for a long time. In general Linen and Canvas are both fabulous. If you are stretching it over stretcher bars, make sure they're sturdy enough for the size. larger paintings should have gussets, cross braces and heavy duty bars to support them. This will prevent bowing and breakage.

The gesso or ground you use has to be appropriate to the paint you are using. Example, using an oil ground for acrylic paintings could lead to many problems including sagging peeling and rotting depending on the type of ground. Always use an acrylic gesso for acrylics. You can use an acrylic gesso for oil painting as well, but make dang sure its dry, and don't mix it in with oil paint. Oil paint can safely go on top of acrylic but not underneath or mixed in.

For oils use a ground for oil paints. I wont go into them here because gamblin has a fabulous write up here on their products that says more than I could, and says it better.

Be cautious of using surfaces like Masonite that can be oily and highly acidic. Painting on cardboard is also a terrible idea if you want it to last.

Varnishes

Acrylic paint in has a polymer base with pigments added; Its plastic with colour. That alone makes it about more durable than you probably realize. If you've chosen artist quality paints and used light fast colours you're doing great and probably don't even need a varnish. There are a few aesthetic considerations in regards to a finishing layer. Sometimes different pigments will vary the sheen of your work in which case you might want to give it a later of a varnish or a layer that will at least unify your sheen. you can get several products. A plain ol' Acrylic gel medium (polymer medium) with your desired sheen (gloss, matte, semi gloss or satin) makes a great final layer for acrylics. Best of all its the same material that your paints made of, only clear. it will make your bright and dark colours pop if you use a gloss. If you use a matte gel keep in mind the matting agent added to this is not clear. so over dark colours it might look milky.
As always test on something else first.
You can also get some varnishes to block some of that hideous UV that kills colours. Golden Paints has a product called a UVLS varnish. It comes in gloss and matte and blocks UV light from attacking your colours. This is useful if you are selling your piece to make sure the buyer gets the most of the work.

For oil paintings on canvas, you can get many resin and solvent based Varnishes. This gets to be a complicated topic sometimes, but in general I find Gamblin to be the most reliable resource for Oil painters out there. They have a synthetic resin varnish, and many types of damar and mastic varnishes. Damar has a reputation for yellowing over time. Gamvar is a very reputable product for an oil painting varnish. The main thing to look for is "removable" and "non yellowing".
Most varnishes are "removable". This is a frequently misinterpreted word. It's not removable by you, it's removable by conservationists. It means that the people restoring your painting professionally if there is damage or you're 100 years dead and they're restoring it, they remove the varnish layer to fix and restore the painted layer.

For acrylic paintings at least (I've actually not heard of this with oils) you need an isolation coat if you're going to varnish. and Isolation coat is a layer of non removable product applied between your paint and your varnish. I've generally used a polymer medium since its clear and I've used them in the painting anyways. That works well.

Storing

There are a few ways to store your paintings. you can either leave them as they are, stack and store them with barrier paper. be sure to leave space between each painting. Paint must breathe to be happy. You can use any number of things to space them out, little bumpers stuck to the back corners of the canvases is good. As long as you leave air flow you're okay. Then you can stack. Make sure to not leave anything leaning on the canvas itself as it will cause dents and rips over time. always stack then with the weight on the bars.

If you do end up with a dent in your canvas, or your canvas looses its tension you can get a product called "canvas tite" that you can apply to the back of your canvas to return some tension. Its best to avoid the problem though.

The other option is pulling the canvas off the stretcher bars and storing it rolled or flat. This is a good option for space saving but requires more care.
You should roll them with tissue paper with the paint side out, to prevent bulking and cracking of the paint, and store them in a tube wrapped in acid free tissue. let it breathe though.

If you store it flat, use the tissue again and store it in a breathable location. a drawer perhaps.
Wood drawers leach acid so be sure to treat the inside to neutralize the effect.

Never trim the edges of a canvas pulled off stretchers. if you ever need to re-stretch the canvas onto bars you need that space to pull and staple. (canvas stretching is for another post).

That's about all I can recall about canvas off the top of my head. Again do research on your own, and check manufacturers websites.

Archival art storage - Paper

So you've created a masterpiece and now you need to store it. But how do you keep it looking like new forever?

The first step is choosing art materials that can stand the test of time. Use artist grade materials, and light fast colours (more on that in another post someday!). Always work on Acid-Free surfaces (paper, canvas etc) and finally; take care of the final product.

The 3 main factors in damage to art work are light, temperature, and acidity.
When storing your art work there isn't much consideration for presentation, so here are some things you can do.

For art work on paper

Mat your art work in conservation or museum grade mat board. you'd need a full back mat, and a front mat with a window hinged together with Acid Free Hinging tape. Use the same tape to attach your Image to the mat. this does 2 things: Keeps the paper safe and flat so it wont take damage from the outside world, buffers against acidity and moisture (air moisture, not your pop or juice), and leaves some space between your art work and what you are storing it in. you don't want the surface of your art rubbing on something, especially if you have work done on particularly soft paper or a smudge-able medium like pastels or pencils. Any mat board you use should be at least conservation standard. If you're using un-buffered or merely acid free mats, then that doesn't mean acid cant be introduced to the mat board, and consequently your art. Watch for "Acid Burn" on the edges of your image where your mat touches. it looks like light brown burnt edges. also check that the bevel on your mat isn't turning brown. That's acids baby!

You can then store or display your matted art in an archival plastic bag made with polyethylene or polypropylene. If you are storing you might want to slip a piece of Acid Free chloroplast in there to give it added rigidity, and then store it in an acid free storage box. There are some on the market for this very purpose but anything acid-free, lignin-free, and buffered will do.

make sure its stored in an area that wont get light, or moisture to prevent fading and molding. Your art work should last a life time!

If you want to store multiple images together, or for another reason need added protection for your art work, there are a number of inexpensive products you can use.

The Acid Free Tissue is a great product to fold around paintings, or put between 2 paintings when storing short term. You might also want to place a layer of this in front of your art before storing it in the plastic sleeves. That way if something happens and damage does occur and your painting decides to stock to whatever is closest, its the easier to fix tissue and not the plastic sleeve.

Barrier paper is a 2 ply sheet of archival paper that is often used in framing, placed between to matted work and the back board. Its great because its a bit heavier than tissue so it really stays put.

Blotter paper is a highly absorbent heavy weight paper that is conservation quality. It's very absorbent.

Varnishing and Fixatives for Paper

If you are going to be storing pastels, pencils or charcoal work, its a good idea to give it a couple coats of a workable fixative. Make sure the fixative is non yellowing, and test it on scrap test paper before using it on your masterpiece (this goes for everything you do).

there are also some varnishes on the market designed for watercolours and gouache paintings (in addition to ones made for acrylic and oil). They're usually in an aerosol can and require several coats. If you can find one that has a UV barrier in it all the better. These varnishes should protect against light, and physical damage (to a point) and also act as a paint fixative.

Storage sleeves and boxes

Instead of the crystal clear bags, and storing things individually wrapped, you can also get some portfolio storage and presentation folders. Itoya has some great products for this! if you do go this route make sure any portfolio you get is PVC free for the plastic, and acid free and buffered sleeve inserts )the usually black piece of paper inside each sleeve). you can get them either attached in the book or with removable sleeves. Just make sure you choose the right size for your art. Too big and they'll slip slide all over the place and get damaged, too small and you force it in and ruin it. The sizes listed on the books are the paper size that it can hold.

you can also roll and store large works in PVC Free plastic tubes. I'm personally not a big fan of this method as I've seen in my job people trying to uncurl these pieces to frame them and causing huge damage in the form of rips and creases to it. if you do store work rolled and need to flatten it out please use care! don't force it into a flat shape before it's really. (When babies are born, they take a while to uncurl - if you pull a painting from a tube, its your baby! Give it the time your baby needs.) Gently un roll it, a little but, have someone hold the first edge while you unroll the rest of the way. if you have something flat the same size as your image lay it on top to flatten it out as you uncurl. don't force it or you'll get creases.( try to use a barrier paper or something between your work and the surface you use the flatten). You can also roll it back on itself the opposite way it was rolled. this is trickier, especially with heavier paper, but you can leave it curled backwards for a couple hours and it will be almost flat. If its a really precious work, leave it in the tube and hand it over to a professional.

Definitions

Acid Free: This means that the paper is free of acids that will cause it to deteriorate over time and damage the other items that it touches. Good to note: If a product doesn't say its Acid Free, it's not in most cases. Except with pens, when most pens are acid free but they don't mention it.
It's a misconception that Acid Free is more expensive. In Most cases its on par with prices of acidic products but only sometimes slightly higher. Given that it expends the life of your work, its an acceptable cost.

Non Acidic: Non Acidic does not mean Acid Free! It means its been buffered to an Acid free level (maybe even only on one side) and that it will return to an acidic state over time.

PVC free: Refers to plastics only. PVC's present in plastic will cause deterioration over time. it will turn into goo. Rubber bands have PVC in them and you can tell when you've had something in an elastic too long it gets gooey or brittle.

Buffered: has an alkaline reserve, usually 2-5% calcium carbonate. The buffering counteracts the effects within the material or in the environment, providing long term protection. Buffered paper should have a pH neutral level of 7.5 to 9.5

Un-buffered or Non-buffered: lacks the buffering reserve to prevent future acidity. It is used with materials that are sensitive to a higher pH level. Un-buffered paper should have a pH neutral level of 7.0 to 7.5

pH level: the measure of acidity and alkalinity. The scale ranges from 0-14, with 7 being neutral.

Conservation quality: it is both acid-free and lignin-free, and is inherently neutral, not merely buffered to a neutral pH level.

Museum Quality: The standards set by museums for storage and presentation. The absolute best of the best. Often used interchangeably with conservation quality, but the terms also very by manufacturer (in regards to mat board).

Do more research

There is a Website called FACTS: Fine art Care and Treatment Standards. This is an unbelievable resource.

Check out the manufacturers of the mat board and products on the web. Most good companies have a website with information and FAQ's.Ask Questions, get answers. Google is your friend.

Check your art store: if you're local art store is any good their staff will be knowledgeable and hopefully artists themselves. Opus Framing and Art is the absolute best and the website has a great blog. Ask Questions! The staff at opus are an endless resource for me (and being staff myself, I've become a resource for others obviously. We all share one thing: an obsessive knowledge of art supplies!)

Well I think I've covered all I can think of for this right now, stay tuned for more! There's just too much to say!

verve gallery auction

MY art is up for auction (as well as others) on Ebay right now! proceeds go to the Boys and girls club of Canada! This is a collection of pieces that were painted by 6 artists of various backgrounds. The pieces were painted live at the RDS Skate Supply Lower Lonsdale Block Party and Skate Competition. Each artist was given a 3' x 4' canvas and some spray paint (compliments of Opus Framing and Art).

my painting is in it:

Charity Painting by `guruubii on deviantART

View Ebay Auctions: [link]

My painting for auction: [link]

Please pass this along and spread the word for the sake of the chillin's and for my ego. HAHA! its for a really good cause :)
Thanks guys!