Palettes

October 2, 2017 Shivani Sara Sarjan

I think I've tried them all at some point. None of them have stuck. Ive never gone back to using any of these except the last one (which I'm not sure is an actual palette). Now this post may sound a little rant-like but bear with me!

1. Glass palettes

Artist's love these and I really don't get it! They are easy to clean and you can change the backing to make it perfectly 'clean'. But since I work with large formats (usually) and on the floor, I need it to be more portable and convenient than a glass palette can be! They are too heavy and unwieldy for me to keep moving around or even rest of my painting.

2. Wax Paper or Tear Away Palettes

You know, they come in a pack and you basically rip off the pallete and throw it away. Ok, I used these for a while cause I had so many, but once again they didn't stick. They work well for just paint but when I mix in mediums and thinners, they tend to run over the edge or merge. Which leads to disaster as I tend to put my canvas on the dry section of my painting!

3. Wooden and Plastic Palletes

Every artist started with one of those plastic palletes! The ones with the little wells and thumb hole. And of course, the more traditional wooden ones. I really love these for one reason: they keep a piece of each painting. But eventually this turns into a con! I've had palletes that became so caked in paint that they were entirely unusable. And I'd rather not keep spending money on palletes

4. But finally! I found the right one! It's cardboard. Literally cut up pieces of packaging. I know it sounds ridiculous but not only is it cheap it works so well. You can cut out the size you want, shape it to hold more fluid mediums and in the end if you love the colors you can keep it! (That's what I did with the one below) And best of all, its cheap and you're recycling your trash.

(5) Ok this one, I added as an afterthought! There comes a time when you're too lazy to grab another bit of card or maybe you're in the moment and don't want to pause to cut up boxes. I started just using my tarp for simple techniques. Like below, it works really well for pallet knives and those plastic wipers (sorry, I don't know what they're called!)

Sorry about the rant, but hope it helped anyway! If you guys know any other types of pallets, let me know!

Shivani

Planning my Instagram

August 21, 2017 Shivani Sara Sarjan

So, recently I started an Instagram account for my art! It's been a really great source of inspiration and, of course, it allows my art to be seen by more people. I put a little planning ito this as I still haven't found a scheduling app/service that works for me. So here's how I manually plan my feed!

I generally photograph all my work and processes and I put these in a folder. I can then look at these images and group them by project, series, technique etc. I then use Layout (an app associated with Instagram) to organize these photographs into a grid that can be visually followed. I'm quite new to this but let me know if it 'makes sense' to you!

Im trying to introduce some variety to my feed as I think that only 'final' pieces make the feed a little monotonous. It also gives my followers a chance to understand my art and my thought processes as I create. Currently, I post: finals, displays, details, workbook pages, and experimental pieces.

I also use Layout to create a composition of details or works so I can compare or display them together.

To create the "display" photos, I use a web-app called Wall Art. It's pretty limited as you only have a few situations to choose from and you simply place your painting. But for now, its working quite well!

I would love some suggestions 'cause I really have no idea what I'm doing! And if you have any scheduling apps/services, please comment them below!

Shivani

Cleaning your Tools

August 14, 2017 Shivani Sara Sarjan

Cleaning your tools is important if you want to keep using them in a few years! And art tools especially become unusable very quickly! So I've put together a few tips for you:

Metal Palette knives have to be cleaned immediately or they immediately become encrusted with paint and effect mediums. I use a rag, which wipes everything off and leaves your pallet knife as good as new! But I keep some encrusted knives as they create some interesting textures. If its a thin layer of just paint then it can be cleaned off some rubbing alcohol. The plastics knives (left) are the cheapest and I usually buy them to use with effect mediums. They almost never return to original, at the very least getting stained (and then tinting paint it touches).

I'm sure you've been told this a billion times before, but I'm going to say it again. When you're not using the paintbrush while painting; keep it wet and wash it ASAP! Don't leave it standing in your pot of water as that will bend or damage the tip. When washing them, hold it pointing down in the stream of water and gently clean it until the water runs clear.

These are probably the most paint caked tools I own. They're rubber 'brushes' that have chiseled tips. Though they're meant for texture I also use them to clean paint or make sure I get all the paint out of the cup (with fluidart). I even use them to clean my palettes.

Any suggestions? Comment below!

Shivani

Inside my "Studio"

January 2, 2017 Shivani Sara Sarjan

Happy New Year, everybody!! Hope you've got your new year's resolutions in order. But to be honest, mine have never lasted past January.

Since I'm not in any way a professional artist, I don't have a dedicated studio space. I have a Pinterest board for one (check it out!), though!! I have so many dreams of a studio space, entirely dedicated to my art but they aren't reality just yet. So for this post, let me take you through the reality of my "studio".

So this is the set of drawers most of my supplies fit into. Ill take you into it but before that, a short disclaimer: most of this revolves around acrylic paint as thats my primary medium and some of my supplies are not currently in this (they're in a different city which doesnt help when you need them).

My pencils and drawing tablet sit on top of it. I dont own too many pencils; the top box are my faber-castell color pencils and the bottom box is a mixture of sketching pencils (8H - 8B) and charcoal pencils.

This drawer contains my brushes, paint pens, ink pads and my metal palette knives. It's essentially my primary tool drawer. I got the dividers at a kitchen/houshold supplies store.

Ok, this drawer is a little bit of a mess. It contains my plastic palette knives (they're bigger), smaller pots of paints (lots of strange colors), ink, tiny trial canvases, stands (to hold up wet work), a pot of Gouache (bottom left) and my business card making supplies. Yeah, its definitely a huge mess.

Finally, the last drawer which is meant to be a filing drawer but it really is perfect to store paint bottles and tubes. It also holds my flow aid and pouring mediums.

So, this a very incomplete post as it does not include the rest of my dry mediums, fixative sprays tc etc. But I hope you enjoyed this peek into my "organization".

Shivani

Art is a Language is an online portfolio as well as store for Shivani Sarjan’s artwork; focusing on sharing development, processes and final works as well as how an amateur artist may accomplish these.

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