You color my world-

In the spirit of February‘s theme, love and passion, I thought I might share a little bit about what tools of the trade that I love to use as an artist. I remember frantically looking up professional artist's webpages for their techniques and tools, and I am elated that I can pay something of the sort forward.

I picked up drawing with a graphite pencil, I was enamored with the way a simple gray tone when used properly could tease out the darks in the lights of a portrait, creating a gorgeous 2D sculpture, a soft and solid form.

Faber Castel pencils were the first tools in my hands and the first pencils found under the cushions of my parent's seats.

Continuing with my love of traditional art, I then began working with pen and ink, because now that my eye and hand were trained to create realistically proportioned art pieces, I wanted to make them last longer, etched and carved into paper by ink instead of faintly sitting on top a

paper with easily erasable pencil.

Micron pens and UW brush ink pens are my go-to tools when I'm in the pen and ink mood.

Pens also forced me to concentrate harder, to not slip up and make mistakes because I couldn't erase them!! I also love that they flow! The flow of ink is almost a sensory delight, because I don't have to sharpen my pencil or worry about what angle to draw from.

I had a habit of drawing in pen and ink went on for a year or so, where I would draw everything from buildings to animals to abstract geometric patterns.

I then moved on to Posca pens, which are a water-based paint ink that you can use on essentially all surfaces. It’s almost like acrylic paint in a pen, so I was able to quickly produce large swatches of color for the background, and then small detailed shapes for the foregrounds, with a wide range of colors. I am especially passionate about Posca pens because they allow me to draw on Hydroflasks, guitars, mirrors, and more. Being able to take my art onto new and unusual surfaces always delights me.

I have also really enjoyed working with spray paint, especially Montana paints. While I don’t write texts or script like a graffiti artist, I love using spray paint! In my experience, it allows you to create larger scale paintings and the huge sweeping movement just feel like playing, almost smooth like dancing. Spray painting can be an intensely physical activity. It makes me feel like a kid again! Painting with aerosol also takes me to outdoor places to find proper ventilation, which I love because I’ll paint inside my house for weeks, which can become unintentionally routine and stifling, but with spray paint I am forced to get outside!

These are the tools that color my world, adding awesomeness to every day. I hope you feel the itch to pick up some thing colorful near you and see what happens.

-Abigail