First Impressions & Studio Chat- Sennelier Oil Sticks & More!

[@helgaleifsdottir5191]

loving you scanning paintings, on a canvas, brilliant, and more amazing ideas, thank you.

[@eaupoetique]

😍 Loving this painting & the colors you chose for the oil sticks! I also love the tone on tone textural elements! Gorgeous! 🤗🎨✨🌸

[@iritlandgraf]

Thank you so much 😀

[@gnostie]

Very nice video. A number of well-reasoned decisions which have saved me time and given new ideas.

[@iritlandgraf]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Julie-vy3oz]

In glad you talked about the watercolor grounds! I’ve always wondered about that. The canvases are juicy yummy!

[@iritlandgraf]

Glad you like them!

[@pattyleib]

A great video Irit! I learn so much from you. I really do appreciate you!

[@iritlandgraf]

Thank you so much Patty 😀😀❤️❤️❤️

[@AnitasDreams]

I LOVE your artwork & how SMART to have it printed on canvas. Thanks for sharing your journey on different products & processes. I can't wait till we have a nice warm day when I can sit outside & play with my watercolors. I also want to swatch out colors using my new stamp set I purchased from you.

[@iritlandgraf]

Thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️

[@nancyloomis3046]

I think your printing on canvas is a fabulous thing and your art is beautiful! It’s something I will explore too as I’m getting ready to get my work ready for sale, online, to start with. And I also use digital tools for some creations, but will always use traditional tools and always disclose the media/process I use as it may be relevant. Original art, no matter how it’s produced is not a “cheap” process. It takes time and skill. Having your work printed on canvas and “gallery-wrapped” on wooden frames is the way to go! 👍😊

[@iritlandgraf]

I completely agree. I love the idea of being able to sell affordable prints that look great, and one can choose which size, have it made mostly in their continent and quickly delivered.

[@ChrissieNicely]

Thank you for raising all these points and sharing your experiences. This is really helpful. 🤩🥰😘 I have some inks that I like to use for Gelli printing (where no brushes are needed) and I am always looking for "the perfect gold" also in watercolour. I have some Coliro Finetec watercolours and a set of Schmincke Horadam Metallic paints that contains a few different gold tones all of which I love. However, I am not sure if I could get those paints from Schmincke open stock once they are used up. (I should ask them!) The Coliro Finetec are definitely wonderful. AND I am determined to get the Kremer Pigment golds at some point. As far as the sourcing of mica is concerned, I do worry.... but console myself with the fact that watercolourists use a only a tiny fraction of what the car and cosmetics industries use. Although I always have that thought at the back of my mind when purchasing these products. 😣

[@iritlandgraf]

I totally get it, finding those perfect colors is always hard! And also thinking about where and how paints are made/sourced, I wish there was more readily available information about enviromently friendly and ethical art supplies.

[@ChrissieNicely]

@@iritlandgraf Indeed!

[@lynncooper1781]

What a Beautiful video thank you for sharing Irit,I came across a canvas similar to yours, years ago and instead of painting over it it was beautiful just the way it was but I decided to use it as a underpainting for a landscape scene and it come out beautiful,see there's never an ending to new possibilities and imaginations.❤🌹🌹🌹🌹👍

[@iritlandgraf]

My pleasure 😊

[@impish22]

I love what you said about how to choose what medium to use.. and that how much you enjoy using the product is all part if it.. for instance... I have tried pastels (the chalk kind).. and I just don't enjoy it... I like oil pastels... but not the chalk type...

[@iritlandgraf]

Exactly!! The experience is just as important to me!

[@janinawiegratz8464]

Aaaaawww, love the printed canvas (the second one you showed) 😍😍😍

[@iritlandgraf]

Yay, thank you!

[@Angie-pl3uw]

I enjoyed watching this. The Sennelier seems like a good bet. Is it very strong smelling? And I loved the canvas with one flower. It’s beautiful, Irit’s. Thanks for sharing!

[@iritlandgraf]

Glad you enjoyed! No, it doesn't have a strong smell :)

[@susansacco7583]

Your paintings on canvas are gorgeous! I’ve seen them in your beautiful shop and can’t wait to purchase for my birthday. I’m loving adding little touches of oil pastels to paintings. I use a q tip with matte gel over the top of pastels until Ivan figure out better way to keep them from transferring. Your oil sticks are pretty and really nice that they dry. That pink😍! The experience of using oil pastels/ oil sticks on a painting is so enjoyable. Thanks so much for sharing lovely products that work for you.

[@iritlandgraf]

Thank you Susan!! Glad you enjoyed!

[@brandiduff811]

I agree 100% about the watercolor grounds. I've tried two brands and don't like either. With Daniel Smith I felt it was too plasticky and the paint kept lifting off and took forever to dry. With Golden the paint got immediately sucked into the ground and u couldn't get any flow. I'm done them both. I'm glad to see what your shared about the oil sticks. I found a gold and a silver oil stick (Shiva brand) at my art re-use center for US$1 each but I haven't peeled the skin off to use it yet. I have the sennelier 3d abstract liner, I'm not in love but might use it with my acrylic based mixed media.

[@iritlandgraf]

Yes, they suck! I prefer Daniel Smith's to Qor, which is really liquid and I would guess needs to be applied multiple times, but even with the nice consistency of the Daniel Smith one, the experience is quite underwhelming compared to paper, and the results as well.

[@bluedeva]

Thank you so much for talking about watercolour mediums and their restrictions compared to scanning and printing onto canvas. I’ve been thinking of trying it but didn’t want to end up with watercolour mediums that I will never end up using again. You’re a life saver (or should that be bank balance saver 😉😄). I’ve recently been playing with different coloured metal leaf for highlights and finishing touches but it’s very addictive 😄😉 Absolutely love your canvas designs, they are so gorgeous 🤗🥰 oil sticks are so much fun especially mixing them so that you can thin them down a little bit 🤗🥰

[@iritlandgraf]

So glad you found it helpful! Thank you for the kind words!

[@a.humphries8678]

Lovely video. Thanks for sharing.

[@iritlandgraf]

Thanks for watching!

[@deborahruth5072]

Love it. Too much fun and too many ideas running thru my mind now. lol

[@iritlandgraf]

Have fun!

[@lindsayjayne2169]

Those Sennelier sticks do look super appealing!! Oh and I may have an explanation for why the RF stick is taking much longer to dry. It's likely just the color, since red pigments are the largest pigments, they have the longest drying time when it comes to oil paints. I learned that the hard way once.. I had a painting that took literally 6 months to dry!!😅 (keeping in mind it was large and had MANY layers) Anyways hope that helps, it is a pretty color after all!💗 Great video as always:)

[@iritlandgraf]

Interesting! I didn't know that. Those are the kind of things I guess one learns when you go to proper art school, well, learn something new every day! Thank you, glad you enjoyed the video!

[@lindsayjayne2169]

@@iritlandgraf Oh gosh, I didn't go to art school either!😅 Actually most of my knowledge around color theory came from the many years spent in the cosmetics/hair industry. I'm sure I retained 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 knowledge from what I was taught in cosmetology class in highschool too.. maybe!?🤷🏼‍♀️ LoL. It's nice that wherever you learn color theory it's the same across any medium!

[@sunlight5296]

Gorgeous canvas! Irit, have you tried tempera sticks? I am new to watercolour and mixed media products and just diving in into this world of art. I have bought a set of Tempera Paint Sticks from Shuttle Art Store in Amazon after watching one of Michelle Kral's tutorials and they are fun to use. They dry very quickly. I might use them later with my little one too.

[@iritlandgraf]

Thanks Elena! No I haven't, will check them out, thanks for sharing 😀❤️

[@sunlight5296]

@@iritlandgraf You are welcome! Love your videos, they are a pleasure to watch! ❤️

[@iritlandgraf]

Thank you so much Elena😀❤️

[@Christine_R]

I have some metallic acrylic paints, too. Just some cheaper ones by the El Greco brand (about 3-5€ at Müller in Germany). I picked up the bronze and silver.. gold was sold out at that time. Speaking of teal... I need more teal watercolors! I'm running out of my Cobalt Turquoise/Teal. Maybe I'll try some different teal and turquoise colors when I order more watercolors next time. So annoying when you are running out of your favorite colors...

[@iritlandgraf]

Teal forever!! Yeah, metallics can get expensive so for best value acrylic studio lines are the best bet IMO.

[@nancyloomis3046]

Sorry for my wordy messages. Thanks for sharing your process, Irit! I’m in the U.S. and have been collecting art supplies like crazy lately: 4 different brands of oil pastels and oil sticks, plus, plus. My local fine art store, where I regularly shop (prices comparable with Blick’s,) sells R&F paint sticks. For me, they are prohibitively expensive. I think the lowest price I’ve seen for their smaller size for 1 stick is like $15 for maybe 1 or 2 of the colors & it goes way up from there. Way out of my budget. I’m sure the quality is there, but I would have to be much further along in my art journey and sales success to buy a set of R&F. I think a lot of encaustic artists use them so they must really work well for that. I’m sure they’ve got the highest lightfast ratings and are highly concentrated, but for that price, I can’t afford to try them out...although I think I did see a mini-set somewhere that was affordable. I may see if I can find that again.😊

[@iritlandgraf]

Glad you enjoyed Nancy! My philosophy when it comes to buying art supplies is if you use it, enjoy it, have the budget for it, then it's a winner. If either one of those 3 is missing, that's just a shame. I wish I could say I make only great decisions, but I don't. The thing is, if you're not in art school or take in person art classes and have access to tons of different mediums to try before buying, there's really no way of finding what works for you unless you buy it. But after many many disappointments I do try to pick up one or two of a new supply, in colors that are easy for me to use and see if it works for me before I commit to large sets.

[@a.humphries8678]

I splurged and bought 1. But, since it gets a skin on it Im slow to use it because I feel like it's such a waste to scrape away so much just to use a little. :(

[@crowquillgal1016]

Hey there Irit- lovely stuff as usual!! You inspire me to loosen up and that has been incredinle fun! Regarding oil mediums on paper: my painting teacher had us practice on gessoed paper, both for the tooth, and protection, as oil mediums degrade paper. Paper for oil pastels is likely sized to prevent this, but have you seen any information on how cotton watercolor paper would hold up? (I cringe at sacrificing Arches to test it, but it might not be the worst way to find out.) Last, I found my 24 set of Holbein oil pastels from 1995. They are mostly still soft, colors still amazing..... I PAID $13 for that set!!!! Those were the days ;)

[@iritlandgraf]

Thanks for the info! That is definitely something to consider, if oil degrades paper... It wouldn't be such a problem to apply gesso in those areas where I want to add oil pastels, I will look into it, thanks! I have no idea how paper handles oils, I have really no experience with oils and I am self taught, so no art teachers... I do use a lot of watercolor paper that is not made from cotton, cellulose actually, no idea how that works with oils either. Definitely something to look into! So glad your Holbeins are still going strong!!

[@crowquillgal1016]

@@iritlandgraf if interested, I still have oil studies on gessoed paper from 1994 - (they werent amazing. But the colors were rocking!) I can take a look to see how the paper held up, compared to the papers I used oil pastels for. I hope I can recall which drawings used pastels without solvents! Anyway, if useful info arises, I can respond again here. Your approach to art is very positive- I dont work in a looser style unless I’m relaxing. I hope you know how delightful your work is, and what joyous inspiration it brings ✨

[@iritlandgraf]

Thanks so much for the kind words ❤️❤️❤️ there must be some info out there on the best surf2for oils. canvas is a given, I know there is oil paper, I wonder what material is used and how it is different from other papers 🤔

[@mmilligan2469]

Love these.!

[@iritlandgraf]

Thanks!

[@Decopainterandtea]

Regarding how some of the comments are written that you mentioned, I think with the texting and not using full sentences as before, they may come across as blunt or rude. (perhaps sometimes they are of course). I like to think the best of people and they are probably just trying to help or give you info you might like to explore. Or I could be wrong lol.

[@iritlandgraf]

I know you're right, also many comments are by people whose first language is not English so many things get lost in translation, so yeah, a bit of a rant, but still I wish people wouldn't just assume and write so decisively instead of just asking or suggesting 😉

[@jeanettegillings7202]

@@iritlandgraf hi Irit...like Decopainterandtea I thought the same...perhaps a language issue? but I agree with you... I wish people would think before they write... and never assume... I admire your ethics and in this day and age I think we have to try to do our best to look after the earth...but I’m not going to jump down someone’s throat if they rinse inks etc down the drain, nor would I write anything negative on their KZbin comments... take care. I just realised that I may have sounded like I was accusing you of negative comments! Sheesh. Never would think that Irit. Maybe I better go do a course on the English language and correct communication !!!

[@iritlandgraf]

Yeah I agree Jeanette, I'm sure sometimes I am over sensitive, but it's just frustrating at times. I'm always happy to discuss anything, or answer questions, as long as it's respectful and polite :)

[@KwameCrawford]

You should try out dr ph Martin's tech ink! Pretty much no one has reviewed this ink on YT surprisingly. It's a bottled pigment ink.

[@iritlandgraf]

Thanks for the suggestion! I actually bought a set years ago and never really got into it, it seems like a good product, just never fell in love with it :)

[@mazhuvancherilagency8165]

My young Sister's name is also Irit Love from Kerala in india

[@iritlandgraf]

Haha small world, it's not a common name :)

[@mazhuvancherilagency8165]

@@iritlandgraf yes I thought that my sister only have this name

[@julietoye9872]

🤗💗

[@JoAnneMOwens]

Ohhhh, love the oil sticks! I have always wanted to try oil pastels, but the thing that keeps me for them is that they do not cure. Now I feel like I could try these. I wanted to let your viewers know that both brands of the oil sticks are available on DickBlick.com in the US. Interestingly, the Sennelier are actually about $4-5 cheaper than the R&F sticks! I love and appreciate that you are so experimental, you always give me fabulous ideas! Thank you!

[@iritlandgraf]

Thanks Jo Anne! I admit I no longer add links to Dick Blick since they cancelled their affiliate program, it's just too much work for me, but I know it's a great spot for art supplies in the US!

[@claudiaandrianaivo7205]

Ich lass dir mal eine Umarmung da, einfach weil ich das Gefühl hab, du könntest es gerade gut brauchen.

[@iritlandgraf]

Haha OK I don't say no to a hug 😀

[@jeanettegillings7202]

Hi Irit....when I first saw the blooms on white paper I thought it was a new canvas and I thought “wow”. But I do like your new thought process. ...the gold was lovely but I liked the Antique White I look forward to seeing your final choice. By the way, I can’t see how you could get the same effect on canvas, even with a watercolour medium, your current process is perfect (in my opinion 😊👍🏻). Take care. PS. Lily, your rainbow painting was so pretty and colourful...👏🏻🌈

[@iritlandgraf]

Thanks Jeanette! I think I will probably do a gold version and a white version and see what I like :) Thank you do much for the kind words! Yes, there is no way to get the same results on canvas, with or without watercolor medium.