Huge Art Haul! Testing and playing with paint, pastels and pencils

[@NatashaNewtonArt]

Yes, I'm here. And I'm enjoying it immensely! ;)

[@monkeymintaka]

Yay! Glad you enjoyed it Natasha!

[@dhowell9000]

The chain continues!! Thanks for sharing!!❤️❤️

[@monkeymintaka]

😂 did you see something you would like to buy?

[@Danadane314]

😂”I don’t know why they put them in two big boxes!” 😂❤😊You’re adorable! Great haul!

[@monkeymintaka]

I know it’s so wasteful! But they are pretty good with paper packaging so at least it’s recyclable:)

[@1Letter23Numbers.]

Love that rainbow bridge at the end! Thanks for sharing your new supplies.

[@monkeymintaka]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@danieljamesbinderystu2968]

Hey there, your vid popped up on my auto play, I have random vids playing on my studio and Bindery monitors, while iam working. I use 91% isopropyl alcohol with soft pastels and pastel pencils, even pan pastels. It works much better than water! Water will make them very mud-like and can muddy up colors that mix. Isopropyl alcohol dries much faster, it sinks the pigment deeper into the paper ( regular ), sanded paper, and pastelmat. It allows the pastel pigments to mix cleanly, because it does the job and dries up quickly... instead of staying on the paper and muddling colors up. I only use PASTELMAT, or Lux Archival sanded paper... I can NOT use that cheap dimpled paper lol, it makes me cringe just thinking about it 🤣. Just a friendly tip for you, if you want to try it out, or not... up to you lol. Have a good one

[@monkeymintaka]

thanks for your detailed comment! I have heard of using alcohol with the pastels but was hoping water would work fine. Maybe I need to try some in the future :)

[@ArtySubu]

Oh yay! Love the Seawhite sketchbooks! And the Liquitex and Golden! I tend to not like the shininess of acrylic, so always add matt medium and then it looks almost like flat gouache.

[@monkeymintaka]

Oh matte medium! I was wondering what that was 😂 would you think adding that would be better than buying the so flat paint, because it’s very expensive 🙈

[@Danadane314]

The ArtGraf tailor’s chalk are my favorite! I’ve never even thought to mix them with paints/gouache. 😮

[@monkeymintaka]

They are really lovely. I need to use them more.

[@impish22]

how did I miss this one ? thanks for sharing

[@monkeymintaka]

hope you enjoyed it :)

[@LucyLocksArt]

really inspired by all your new supplies, always the best way to find new things to try :) Thank you

[@monkeymintaka]

That’s great Lucy! Yea I love finding new materials through other artists :) much more fun than browsing Jackson’s and hoping for the best 😊

[@bazutaartstudio]

I haven't really enjoyed acrylics for a while now but when I did paint with them I did use both those brands and did prefer the Golden brand. I have looked at those art graph blocks many times and have been tempted to buy them but always restrain lol. And yes! the DUST! that is a big turn off for me with soft pastels but I never thought about using them like watercolours. They are just pigment and binder after all. I think the even have gum arabic in them. I feel an experiment of my own coming on lol

[@monkeymintaka]

I never really liked acrylics either but now I want to paint bigger I feel like I need something that’s going to be faster to cover the surface. I was a bit disappointed with the Jackson’s pastels tbh, I was hoping they would dissolve a lot better. Would love to see an experiment! 🤓

[@lulabelle33]

I love the Art Graf Tailor shapes and use them a lot. I have white red yellow and blue which was a game changer. I too started trying pastels with water which I nd rd heard of in all my art schooling. I loved your sketch with the pastels. The Sandi effect is potent!!! Lol. I use a lot of acrylics. Mostly soft body and also gouache

[@monkeymintaka]

I hardly use mine, but they are super fun!

[@Ansjevis]

Rembrandt soft pastels work perfect whit water!! They are my favorite at the moment ❤

[@monkeymintaka]

Jackson’s we’re having a unison ale so I just bought a few new unison pastels. When I next am feeling the itch for a few new colours I’ll try the Rembrandt!

[@Ansjevis]

@@monkeymintaka I would love to see the new colors. I also love the unison pastels!

[@helenkosmicki3283]

Yes! I’m here and loving it

[@monkeymintaka]

Ahh thanks Helen :)

[@whiteirisarchive4624]

I have product recommendations 😀 1. Pebeo matt acrylics : They are a craft paint (not sure about lightfastness). They might be a good option because they have a variety of colors and are less expensive. For the price you can experiment with more colors. 2. Brusho crystal colors: They are watercolor crystals. You can mix the colors by sprinkling them on wet paper. I have seen them used with water and brushes and also water in a spray bottle/spritzer. Great for mixed media, but really vibrant. I agree. When I watch art videos, I get easily tempted to try and buy more art supplies. Seeing someone use products gives a better idea of what the actual colors look like versus product photos online. That is what gets me in trouble.

[@monkeymintaka]

Thanks! I will look these up :) the crystals sounds really interesting!

[@whiteirisarchive4624]

@@monkeymintaka Thank you for replying to my comment. The pebeo paints do say vegan friendly on the hobbycraft website. They have different acrylic lines, but I think the matt ones in a bottle would have the best flat finish. Hope to see you in a live stream again 😄

[@emmaneary6120]

Yay for new art stuff! I've got Winsor & Newton Galeria acrylics which I like but whenever I've used pencils with them I've done a very thin layer of paint on textured paper because otherwise you're pretty much trying to draw on a layer of plastic. There are various mediums you can add to them like modelling paste and gritty stuff which is fun for mixed media. My unsolicited tip for using anything pastelly is to clean your desk afterwards as there is always a lot more dust around then you realise and it gets on everything 😂.

[@monkeymintaka]

A thin layer of paint makes it a lot easier! The problem is I love to layer so much, it all becomes a bit of a mess after a while. thankfully neocolors will always come to the rescue as they can draw over anything!

[@AntO-yy8kq]

I’ve only recently started with acrylics too, for the same reason that the acrylic gouache tubes are too small! The golden so flat matte paints are lovely, a lot like holbein acrylic gouache. They had a really strong smell at first but it went away after a few times using them. I also really like the holbein clear gesso mixed in with the golden or liquitex. Even though it’s just gesso, it dries matte. Any matte medium would make it less shiny but I feel like the holbein gesso doesn’t alter the consistency of the paint so much.

[@monkeymintaka]

The soflat matte looks really lovely but someone else mentioned adding in a medium so I think I’ll try that first as it could be a lot cheaper! I have t heard of the clear gesso, I might look into that 👀

[@CazkiwiNZ]

P.S. I totally love how tactile you are with swatching.... so unafraid to just get in there and get messy, testing loud and proud, big and bold! I really need to do that more, stop trying to control even my swatching, babying my supplies ... it does hold me back! P.P.S. Don’t worry about the length of videos.... we who search out and watch haul and swatch videos are here for it all! I love the longer ones... means I don’t have to search as often for something to watch 😝

[@monkeymintaka]

I love a long video too :) Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jcookie9448]

"I didn't buy a white paint... what a noob" I felt that🤣🤣 I think you are all in the same 'artist circle' and just keeps getting inspired by each other! I love watching it! Beautiful colours btw, especially the titan green pale and the smalt hue. I've never seen a heavy body being that transparent before. I'm so impressed by your ability to pinpoint a good colour palette ! I'm not there yet so I have to buy a little bit of everything and "manually" find out which colours/values works and what doesn't . 😅 I find colour harmony super difficult but perhaps that's just me. Lovely video!

[@monkeymintaka]

Thankyou! I have always loved colour, and I have found it probably the easiest part of learning art. But I do find value tricky, like darks and lights, which I am trying to work on!

[@fuzzydragons]

I tend to use liqutex paints in an airbrush and golden paints with a brush

[@monkeymintaka]

OOh airbrushing sounds fun!

[@fuzzydragons]

it can be and its so much quicker when covering big spaces

[@monkeymintaka]

@@fuzzydragons I don’t know if I would trust myself with an airbrush. I make such a mess with just a normal brush 😂

[@fuzzydragons]

they are not too messy to use as long as you dont over fill the paint reservoir and end up with paint everywhere...did that afew times lol

[@samthomart]

April I wonder if you’ve tried Liquitex acrylic gouache in bottles - great coverage….also flat matt. Goes well with other media and in needle nose bottles so lasts a long time… 😊

[@monkeymintaka]

I haven’t heard that liquitex does Goauche! But I just bought a few bits during Black Friday so I should probably have a break til the new year at least 😂

[@samthom9456]

@@monkeymintaka be strong! 😂

[@lulabelle33]

Liquitex Softbody are Matt also their acrylic gouache

[@monkeymintaka]

Ahhh nice, I will look into them

[@FrauRonja]

So cool to see how the different colored pencils go over the acrylic paint. I also really dislike the Faber Castell Polychromos which is really sad because they are produced in my home country. Is there a reason why you are not using the Posca colored pencils anymore? In your newer videos I only see you using the Caran D'ache Luminance pencils.

[@monkeymintaka]

I’ve tried lots of pencils and I do have them all in color coded pots, except for my luminance which are on my desk. I just love the luminance pencils so much, so I tend to reach for them over anything else.

[@FrauRonja]

@@monkeymintaka I need to try those Luminance pencils. They must be very good. :D

[@BunNessa_Art]

I will definitely try to get the art Graf set! I've seen Melanie Chadwick use them and they seemed interesting but lately watching you use them, I want em now lol

[@monkeymintaka]

Oooh I haven’t seen Mel use them! I’ll have to go find the video 👀

[@BunNessa_Art]

@monkeymintaka yeah! I forgot which one but she also used them dry, to add texture 😊

[@octobercat]

I always enjoy your videos. Your art is very inspiring!

[@monkeymintaka]

Thanks so much! I’m glad you’re enjoying them :)

[@CazkiwiNZ]

0:31 Yes, same! We’re all fine, it’s fine....we can all stop when we want! **joins you in your shifty side-eye**

[@monkeymintaka]

😂😂

[@Fie.Franciska]

I bought the liquitex Acrylic gouche set of 12 (I havent tried them yet) but Im like you with it has to dry matte, but they are very expencive for the amount you get but I did read that liquitex basic acrylics dry matte!

[@monkeymintaka]

A few people have said you can mix in matte medium and that helps them dry matte so I will try that soon :)

[@TracieWho]

You don't need white paint to make a paint more opaque. You will lose the saturated color. Try a mixing a little bit of other color opaque color instead. Even a little mars black.

[@monkeymintaka]

Good tip!

[@kerryfraser695]

Love this. . Thanku

[@rubybea]

yayyy new video!! excited to watch this haul while drawing :)

[@monkeymintaka]

Happy drawing :)

[@rubybea]

@@monkeymintaka thank you!

[@rubybea]

@@monkeymintaka also my parents have been decorating and i've been using the small tester pots that you can get from places like farrow and ball. Theres quite a bit of paint in them for covering a sketchbook spread and they dry really matte! they have some nice muted tones too, a bit unusual but i think they'd work really well for a base maybe!

[@monkeymintaka]

@@rubybea oh that sounds cool! I hadn’t thought of using test pots. I will look into it 👀 thanks for the tip :)

[@sandihester]

yes, I'm still here :)

[@monkeymintaka]

Yay! Hope you enjoyed the video 😊

[@sandihester]

@@monkeymintaka I did!

[@thebooksofmylife]

I just started watching and have to say that I loooved the beginning part 😂😆😗

[@monkeymintaka]

😂 enjoy the rest!

[@selmag5819]

love this! watched the video twice over the last few weeks. art graf was never an option for me...now, that has changed. that huge brush is so nice. does is have a name/brand/anything to identify it?

[@monkeymintaka]

I think the brush was just part of a house painting pack we bought when we were decorating our offices :) art Graf is really fun. I would recommend

[@carlamariestudios]

Sandi has definitely been one of the artists that's inspired me lately, and the other one is you! 😊 PS. I've also just recent got myself a set of those artgraf chalk palettes that I am super excited to try! I got the primary color set.

[@monkeymintaka]

Ahh that’s so lovely to hear. What great company to be in 😊 The artgraf really surprised me, I loved using them. Going to try to use them more this week :)

[@WillowRoseArlen]

First! I was just looking at the sticker sheets I have from your shop... I still haven't stuck them to anything because they are just so beautiful I don't want to split them up! Looking forward to the vlog and new supplies. ❤️

[@monkeymintaka]

Ahh that’s funny. I have heard people say that before, but stick them! You can do it 😂

[@WillowRoseArlen]

I really like the earthy color palletes you chose, soft pastels have never been my thing but the colors you picked are really beautiful. :)

[@SashaFitzgerald]

I enjoyed this video so much! I feel very influenced to buy all the pastels and acrylics haha! I’d like to try the so flats too. I love how your paintings turned out 😍 and I think it’s so cool that you can wet the pastels. 💜💜 ps: love your hair too!

[@monkeymintaka]

Thanks sasha! I would like to try the so flat paints but they are so expensive! I am going to try mixing in matte medium first and seeing what that does

[@thebooksofmylife]

Greatly enjoyed the video! I dislike pastels, so most probably nothing will ever make me want to buy them 😅 but the pink one, red 5, was a beautiful colour when dry. I've been eyeing the art graf chalk thingies for some time now, but I really can't allow myself to buy them until I use some of my other art supplies more. I shouldn't buy the weird chalk thingies.... I really shouldn't 👀

[@monkeymintaka]

😂 I am not sure if I will buy anymore of the pastels or if this is just a “let me try them real quick” phase. But it’s always fun to experiment with new materials. That red 5 is probably my fav colour out of the lot 😍

[@coloredcarol8074]

That’s what she said 😂 love the pale green acrylic. It seems these days soft pastels are really popular, you must be the third or fourth person to share about them here. Over my better judgement I got tempted and bought a set only to confirm they’re really not for me… after reading all sort of comments about how you should be careful while using them(gloves, apron, mask, hazmat suit 😝) I decided to stick to watercolour and gouache.

[@monkeymintaka]

That pale green is my absolute favourite colour right now! I think i'll only be using them for a bit of mixed media, instead of huge pastel paintings so I hope I won't need a mask or a hazmat suit!

[@artkat31]

I prefer Golden acrylics 😊

[@monkeymintaka]

I think I’m leaning that way! I like the lids better on them too

[@pinkcloud3126]

I'm still here at the supplies party

[@monkeymintaka]

🎉🎉

[@compassionandhumility]

Yes, I'm here. lol

[@monkeymintaka]

🥰

[@meldixon1918]

Yes I’m here 🤓

[@monkeymintaka]

😊

[@ungriacastillo]

That’s me thinking that I can stop anytime o want buying art supplies 😂

[@monkeymintaka]

It’s totally fine! We got this 👀😂

[@wowyummyyy]

😍😍😍😍😍❤🧡💛 💚 💛🧡❤💯💯💯

[@kierusekai]

Bear with me for a second as I ramble about acrylic paint lol. I have a lot to say about it, so don't feel pressured to read this entire comment in one go, I guess 😅 I worked at an art supply store for a few years, and we didn't carry a ton of brands, but we had Liquitex, Golden, Winsor & Newton, and then our house brands. I started off my artists' acrylics journey with all Liquitex Professional paint, but I've come to realize they're a bit overrated. Liquitex, at least at our store, was often just as expensive as Golden, if not more, and went on sale far less often than the other brands. I believe Liquitex also has fewer colors of paint than Golden. I personally haven't gotten too into Golden because it seems as tho if you go with Golden you might get spoiled for artists' grade acrylics and everything else would just be a letdown. I've been thinking I'll gradually move from Liquitex to the house brands of artists' acrylic, just because I feel the house brands are at least as good as Liquitex and less expensive, sometimes by a lot. The main thing is that it's artists' acrylic and not student grade, because with certain techniques, student grade won't cut it. Okay, so the history of these brands is sort of interesting as well (at least if you like to nerd out about art supplies lol). Both Liquitex and Golden have been around for a long time. The founder of Golden had been making paints since the first half of the 20th century, but the formulation and brand Golden didn't come around until AFTER Liquitex produced the first line of the modern formulation of acrylic paints. So Liquitex and Golden are both kinda the OG acrylic paint, in one way or another. Another little tangent, but Liquitex, at least several decades ago, was pretty primo. I don't know about now... but I inherited a box of old art supplies my grandparents had, which included some tubes of Liquitex. They used to come in metal tubes, and these old tubes of paint are still good. They haven't dried out even over what has probably been 50 years! As you can tell now, they don't use metal tubes, which in some ways can be inconvenient, but the design of Liquitex's current tubes is actually one of the things I enjoy about them more than other brands of paint. Because of the design, you can stand them on their caps, which is good if you have limited space. Not so easy to stand other brands of paint on their caps, unfortunately. Lol, did you get through reading all that? 🤣Anyhow, here to say that I always enjoy your videos and your art~ Keep doing what you do, and hmu if you ever want to be a complete nerd about art supplies with me haha 🤓

[@monkeymintaka]

That’s for such a detailed response! It must have been very cool but also very tempting to work in an art shop 👀 I do have a few student grade paints and I just really can’t get on with them, they are so thin and watery. But I definitely enjoyed using the golden and liquitex. I think I may consider indie to use both, as it seemed that it was the pigment of the paint that made it creamy/thin, rather than the brand.

[@kierusekai]

@@monkeymintaka I don't like to completely dismiss student grade acrylics, because I believe they're actually the best and more economical choice if you're doing thick impasto applications, and as long as you're not doing too much precise color mixing. But if you paint in thinner layers, you'll definitely benefit from the higher pigment load in artists' acrylics! That and they just feel so much more satisfying to use, which I think you're saying you'd agree! You're also right in that a lot of the properties of a paint can vary depending on what pigments is in it. Oh, and you also mentioned that you needed to get a tube of white paint, and I just want to make sure you know which to get! If I were you, I'd go with Titanium white, or titanium-zinc white if you want something a bit more laid-back, but I would NOT go with a zinc white, at least not initially! I can elaborate if you need, but in the case that you are familiar with the differences, I don't want to over-explain.