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Art supplies for best friend's birthday

10 replies

Jellybel · 28/03/2022 22:23

Hello - it's my best friend's birthday soon...she's in her 40's and has had a really tough year. She used to be really good at art and wants to get back into it so I want to buy her some supplies as a gift (decent sketch pad, pencils, watercolours etc). Any ideas for websites with a fast delivery where I can get good quality supplies?

OP posts:
Iwasneverafanofthat · 28/03/2022 22:27

Hi, I've ordered from Cass Art before with no probs - they seem to do a next day delivery option (standard is 3-5 days)

LadyGardenersQuestionTime · 28/03/2022 22:29

Could you buy her a voucher so she can get exactly what she wants?

Jellybel · 29/03/2022 07:37

Thank you! I'll have a look at Cass art or voucher for Cass even

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Phineyj · 29/03/2022 07:49

Zieler Art Supplies are good.

buddhasbelly · 29/03/2022 08:05

Cass art good, Ken Bromley Art Supplies also good. I'd second the voucher as opposed to buying actual things.

I use certain brands/colours of paint, certain types of brushes/canvas etc. Unless you have an idea of what she's used to using?

TheYearOfSmallThings · 29/03/2022 08:06

Definitely give her a voucher - she will want to choose exactly what she needs.

heldinadream · 29/03/2022 08:26

Yes to Cass and Ken Bromley and I'd add in Jackson's. And Arteza for the reason below. I've bought from all 4 and never had any delivery issues.

A thought - when I started back into making art I didn't want good quality stuff I wanted cheap stuff because I wanted to feel free to experiment and find out what materials suited me and what I wanted to work with. It's very, very different painting in oils, watercolours, or acrylics, for instance (and there are other choices). If you buy her oils and she discovers she wants to paint in watercolours the oils will sit around getting old and unusable. Drawing and painting, while related, are different skills and a painter might not draw much other than to discover forms and compositions to translate into paintings while a person who draws might never paint at all!

Arteza is good and while it's not one of the top-range brands/sites the quality is fine for this level of getting into it and for instance they sell large canvases much cheaper than anyone else and they are really just as good as canvases that are five times the price. Art materials is a very complex field! I'd be inclined to a voucher too, because while it's less interesting for you it's probably infinitely more valuable for her and a very exciting journey for her to have the opportunity to browse the range of what's on offer and think about where she wants to start.

If you do decide to buy something rather than a voucher make sure you know what you're doing. Different paints are used with different substrates - watercolours usually on watercolour paper, oils usually on canvas but there are other options, acrylics usually on canvas but again not exclusively. Etc etc.

Obviously I could say a lot more. I feel so passionately about art nowadays and truly wish I'd started years and years ago. You are doing a lovely thing for her. Sorry if I've given you way more info than you need your question just sparked off a LOT of thoughts! Smile

heldinadream · 29/03/2022 08:30

Final thought (maybe!) most art websites have huge amounts of information on their materials but my favourite for info/articles about materials and usage is definitely Jackson's.

www.jacksonsart.com/?msclkid=6fe8a6e1af2f11ecacd95b0ee972bbc1

Outlookmainlyfair · 29/03/2022 08:30

You sound a lovely friend! Agree with Cass art :)

Lurleene · 29/03/2022 08:33

Scawlrbox do subscription art boxes every month and they currently have a sale on with some previous months boxes extremely cheap. They might make a nice gift for someone looking to get back into art. Scrawlrbox

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