Dick Blick

As you know, I am rarely able to drive. This means I order my stuff online and it comes right to my door. For Christmas this year Scott gave me colored pencils. I ordered them from Dick Blick. They were offering the 150 set of Prismacolor pencils for 99.00. I’ve never seen this set, every color in the line, sold for that price.

Those along with the 12 set of Polychromos pencils from Faber-Castell and 6 Prismacolor white pencils arrived in the mail just before Christmas. Fed-X was the delivery company.

The first thing I noticed was the entire bottom section on the left side was smashed in. The second thing I noticed was the top of the box was open on that end as well. I removed the colored pencils.

Let me begin by saying there was no obvious damage to the products within the box. All three items looked to be in good shape. The problem is, when colored pencils are roughly handled often times the leads inside the casings will break. Let me assure you there is little as frustrating as sharpening your pencil only to have the lead fall out.

Over and over again.

(This happened to me before. I received the Castle Art colored pencils and they were shattered. I contacted the company, although I actually should have contacted Amazon. I didn’t know that. Anyway, Castle Arts sent me a new box of colored pencils. This company, too, has outstanding customer service.)

If the box had held anything other than colored pencils I wouldn’t have had any problem using the products. But colored pencils are an entirely different thing. So I contacted Dick Blick and explained the situation. I received an e-mail very quickly in response. In it I was told I’d receive a Fed-X label to return the items. I haven’t received it yet.

Yesterday when Laurie brought me home, I saw a large box on the porch. In it were the items I’d ordered, very well packaged and in bubble wrap as well. I was astonished!

My thought was they would be replaced once the damaged pencils were returned. But Dick Blick not only replaced my order quickly, they made sure what I ordered was very protected from possible damage.

Dick Blick is my art supplier of choice. Their prices are fair, their sales are fantastic and the customer service is second to none. If you are in need of quality art supplies at reasonable prices, please support Dick Blick (for some reason I can’t provide a link). We should acknowledge and support those businesses which provide high quality products and excellent customer service. This company certainly does both.

It’s Been a VERY Long Journey

We continue to press onward with our home reno. Our latest project is our vinyl plank flooring, which I unrealistically had hoped to have finished by Thanksgiving. It’s coming along very well. I’d say we’re close to 2/3rds finished. Scott and Evan have half the hallway left and the living room.

When you begin a huge project, like a redo of your entire home top to bottom and your landscaping, you hope to have some idea as to how it will look when finished. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, I didn’t actually have a plan of any kind. My cousin, and realtor, told me what color sold best for the walls throughout. And she suggested we paint all the wood in the house, although she didn’t suggest the colors to use.

To be blunt, I chose things based upon cost rather than any consideration of design. As things came together, greige walls, white upper cabinets, trim and doors, and darker gray lower cupboards led to my other choices. Counter tops, hardware and light fixtures. Our new appliances were also chosen based upon cost, rather than personal preference.

As was the original, inexpensive flooring I picked. On clearance and perfect for our house. The laminate was impossible to lay, however, making it clear this is why it was discontinued and cheap. We, eventually, returned it for in-store credit.

While in the process of painting, etc. I found furniture at an on-line auction site. I bid on three living room chairs, a very large ottoman and a couch. All in shades of gray and/or creamy white. Scott built a lovely table for the living room, which holds the T.V. Everything went together well. We also packed up most of our belongings and put them into storage, greatly reducing the visual clutter in our home.

Again and again we were able to find what we needed for a price we could afford. Our landscaping was accomplished by splitting my own plants, my parents plants and free plants from our local nursery. Those were in need of some tender loving care, but they rebounded nicely.

Light fixtures were found at second hand stores and painted to suit. Our main tiles purchased from Habitat for Humanity. Expensive items were purchased either on sale or with significant rebates. The day bed frame bought from the online auction site, the antique brass bed was my husband’s as a child. We were extremely thankful we found what we needed at prices we could afford or used things we already had which were easily altered.

And because we did all the work ourselves, our entire remodel cost around as much as a kitchen remodel hired out. Our project(s) have taken considerably longer because we did it ourselves, but the cost savings has been astonishing. Having done this all with cash, we also haven’t incurred any debt in this process.

Now the last step in our public rooms; the flooring!

We needed to special order this, which means I chose it sight unseen. I’m pleased to say it’s brought everything together beautifully! All the piecemeal parts look cohesive and intentionally done. The overall look is neutral and calming. After touching up some of the puppy damage, everything looks newly painted and pristine. I truly am astonished at how well things turned out.

Slowly, I’m hanging some things on the walls. The mud room has the painting I made of our home’s exterior. I was given the brief by my cousin (and realtor) to make our home neutral with personality. This is quite a challenge. The goal is to make the home neutral enough prospective buyers feel they could live there, yet have some uniqueness to have the home stand out in a positive way. So I thought if these potential buyers were coming to see the house they wouldn’t be offended by a painting of it.

We have a very large metal clock on the wall of the dining room. Another frugal purchase from the online auction site. Scott hung one of my paintings on the wall in the kitchen, but I ordered something else to replace it. I also did a few paint pours. One is for Erin’s old bedroom, done in pinks and peaches to coordinate with Grandma’s quilt she made for my 16th birthday. Another, much larger pour, will hang above our new couch. Both are currently stored in the bedroom until the flooring is finished.

We were well into the remodel when we decided we wouldn’t be moving to Arizona after all. This left me with a neutral color scheme and an uneasy feeling the house no longer had any of me in it. After living with the neutral for four years now, I have come to actually love it.

And I do mean love it.

There is an elegance in a neutral environment. Clean and uncluttered. Nothing harsh or intrusive, just a calm and tranquil place to relax comfortably.

In the past my decorating choices have been eclectic and colorful. And while that is certainly part of who I am, it also feels a bit over for me. I’ve been struggling to incorporate things I chose years ago into the current look of our home. I cannot bring myself to include these things. They cheapen the look we’ve achieved, albeit unintentionally, which is very Joanna Gaines “modern farmhouse”. This is an unexpected plus as our home’s exterior looks very much like an old fashioned farm house.

The neutral walls are the perfect background for any artwork I might like to hang. Simple black frames won’t detract from either the art or the home. Any color will work as an accent, and I’ve chosen red this time around. Nothing permanent. Just touches here and there, easily changed out when I’m bored with it.

While I often offer my recommendations for art supplies, here’s mine for redecorating. Choose neutrals. Embrace minimal decorative elements. Purge your home of anything and everything that isn’t your personal style, useful or meaningful. A top to bottom deep clean, a purge of ugly, broken and useless stuff, a fresh coat of paint and before you know it your house will feel like the haven from the world it was meant to be.

Watercolor Pencil Review and Comparison

Due to some really fantastic sales, I was able to pick up two 72 sets of watercolor pencils. The first is the Kalour set and the second is the Artisto 72 set.

The Kalour set of 72 is 17.99 on Amazon at the time of this writing. The Artisto set is 32.99 on Amazon, but I received 50% off at checkout. Both sets come in a hinged metal box, three layers of pencils. The plastic trays in both sets are flimsy, as is usual with most budget brands. Both sets have names and numbers in gold on the wood casing of each pencil. The barrels are also the color of the lead within them in both sets.

Each set has a printed swatch card included, so you can swatch and keep it in the case. The Artisto set comes with a heavier plastic shield to place between your pages. It also includes a techniques pamphlet and one with other items offered by the Artisto brand.

As usual, I made my own swatches of each set. I colored the top third of each box, using heavy pressure. In both sets, a few of the leads broke under such pressure. None were broken to badly to use without additional sharpening, however. Both sets have nice large leads of comparable size.

Once I colored in the top part of each large rectangle, I wrote the name and number of each color at the bottom. While both sets have information written in gold on the barrels, I found the Artisto set to be much easier to read than the Kalour set.

Now the real test; how do they do when wet?

The Kalour set liquified well and I was able to pull the color down to the bottom of the swatch area as a wash. The heavily colored section at the top remained clearly visible (after liquified) on all but the lightest of colors. The color payload was weaker than I expected. I would describe them all, even the darkest colors, as pastels.

The Artisto set was also swatched out. I colored each top third of my swatch area heavily, as I had with the Kalour set. The colors in the Artisto set were surprisingly vibrant. They have softer leads than the Kalours. Much like my Prismacolor and Artisto colored pencils.

When wet with my brush, the Artisto colors liquified beautifully. They produced a lovely wash too. They remained as vibrant wet as they were dry.

Once wet, they dissolved into a rich watercolor type “paint”. There was no line where the heavily colored top third of the swatch was liquified. Then I dragged the color to the bottom of the swatch in a wash. Which worked beautifully. May I be completely honest here? These pencils provide a much stronger color payload than some of my student grade watercolor paints.

The Artisto watercolor pencils are, by far, my best preforming watercolor pencils. And I have a lot of watercolor pencils.

The two cons about this set: First, two pencils didn’t preform well. These are the metallic silver and gold. This isn’t surprising, as metallic watercolor pencils are a huge disappointment in my experience. Better to purchase metallic watercolor paints. Skip the metallic pencils. And, second, these don’t come open stock. Which means if you use one up you can’t replace just that pencil.

Now, obviously, there are those who desire watercolor pencils for specific purposes. If you plan to use these in portraitures, for example, I would choose the Artisto set. In my opinion, the 72 set has more colors to create skin tones than the Kalour 72 set. If you want to make romantic florals, you may prefer the Kalour set. Those pencils produce a much “softer” looking color palette which is perfect for less vibrant purposes.

Of course you can color your image with much less pressure than I used for my swatches. Using the Artisto pencils with very light pressure would soften the color payload considerably. To the point of pastels, if that’s your preference. So, again, my choice would be the Artisto set. You’ll have more options, which is always a good thing.

Being very frugal, I haven’t purchased the expensive, artist grade watercolor pencils. I’m referring to the Faber Castell Albrecht Durer or the Carin D’Ache watercolor pencils. (I do have the DerWent Inktense pencils, but those are different as they are permanent when dry and use an ink in their leads). I had intended to buy a few of the higher priced pencils open stock. Commonly used colors which I’d be able to use once my comparison between the two (expensive) brands was completed. I may still do the comparison, but not with a thought to purchasing the set which ranked best in my comparison tests.

Right now, both the Kalour 72 set and the Artisto 72 set will take care of my watercolor pencil needs. While I prefer the Artisto set, that’s likely due to the vibrancy of the colors. My art is usually very colorful. But the Kalour set will also be useful when sketching out an acrylic or watercolor painting. The more muted colors work perfectly for that type of project.

This is, again, my opinion. Use your own judgement based upon your needs and budget.