New art materials

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Wishlist essentials

A new term calls for new art materials. Here is our pick of the latest must-try products to hit the shelves

1Cos Colours Any product that puts the environment fi rst is a winner in our eyes and that’s why we’ve fallen for Cos Colours. Created by Ameenah Begum when she was still an art student, these shimmery, zero waste watercolours are upcycled from unwanted cosmetics making every single palette unique.

www.coswatercolours.com

2SoFlat Acrylics If you like your paint glare-free, you are going to love these new, velvety-smooth acrylic colours developed by the team at Golden. Thanks to a unique formulation, brushstrokes are minimised in return for uninterrupted fi elds of rich, matt colour. Pick from 40 diff erent hues.

www.goldenpaints.com

3Derwent Shade and

Tone Mixed Media Set

If you want to experiment with shade and tone, try this newly curated set of natural paint colours and pencils. Compact and portable, the 12 pans come with everything you need to paint on the go while the Derwent Drawing, Onyx and Graphic B pencils are ideal for expressive sketching and form drawing, and can also be used over the paints to add interest.

www.derwentart.com

4Edding 5400 Acrylic 3D Double Liner

Mix up your materials with the latest invention from Edding – a liner with two diff erent-sized tips and highly pigmented, artist quality paint within. Use the 26 colours in the range to add details, highlights and other innovative eff ects to your acrylic paintings or simply use alone.

www.edding.com

5Pith Sketchbooks

Another newly launched, eco-friendly enterprise we can’t stop talking about is Pith. Hitting the stationery scene last year, the brand uses sustainable paper and recycled board across its range of high-quality sketchbooks and pledges to plant a tree for every product ordered through its website.

www.pithsupply.com

6AKADEMIE Aquarell

This mix of 12 half pans complete with Instagramable tin will be on every watercolour artist’s lust-after list. But hurry, as this limited edition set from top paint manufacturer

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Schmincke won’t be around for long once it arrives in shops this autumn.

www.schmincke.de/en

7Cass Art Palette Knife Set

Students on a budget can’t go wrong with the aff ordable yet dependable Cass Art Collection. Among the latest launches are these versatile palette knifes. Made from fl exible polished carbon steel, the set is an essential art kit addition.

www.cassart.co.uk

8Zest-It Cold Wax Paints To celebrate 25 years as a go-to brand for paint mediums and solvents, Zest-It has released 25 hues of cold wax paints. They can be used with knifes or brushes, and 15 new colours will join the line-up soon.

www.zest-it.com 9Pitt Graphite Matt Set

Try out the world’s fi rst 14B graphite pencil by getting your hands on this just-launched tin of eight pencils and other drawing accessories from Faber-Castell’s new Pitt Graphite Matt range. Designed to reduce the light refl ections on paper (goodbye shiny laydowns), the set off ers a superior drawing experience.

www.faber-castell.co.uk

10 Jackson’s Indian Ink By working directly with the makers, Jackson’s own line of fi ne art materials features top quality products that don’t break the bank. One of its newest launches is this Indian ink, ideal for students and professionals. Able to be diluted, it’s suitable for line-and-wash work.

www.jacksonsart.com 11Sakura Pigma Micron fi ne liners

You can never have too many pens, especially when they feature the waterproof, fade-resistant and quick drying properties of Pigma ink. Illustrators and artists who love to sketch will be pleased to hear two new nib sizes (60mm and 70mm) have expanded the range.

www.royaltalens.com

12Red Dot Collection This year Rosemary & Co has been celebrating the launch of its new synthetic paintbrush range. Said to feature all the qualities of natural hair, these vegan- and purse-friendly tools, suitable for all mediums, mark a milestone in brush-making and for artists who care about the planet.

www.rosemaryandco.com

Time for change

The global pandemic might not be behind us just yet, but rising from the rubble of destruction and despair is a new way of doing and dealing art. Journalist and Gatekeeper magazine co-founder Natascha Ng reports on how these changes are already impacting the artworld

Few industries have been lucky enough to remain unscathed by the pandemic, but while some have stuttered and stagnated, the artworld has seen a number of changes – which are arguably for the better. Not least because an elitist environment, in which a few market controllers held the monopoly, has been exchanged for a culture of goodwill and collaboration.

The transformation came from within, as artists banded together, creating initiatives, events and economic models to support their peers and communities when hardship hit all over the globe.

One of the most influential initiatives within the artworld to arise during the pandemic was the Artist Support Pledge (ASP). Artist Matthew Burrows started the hashtag-based movement on Instagram during the first lockdown back in March 2020. Based on a culture of generosity, the open movement connects “communities committed to an equitable and sustainable economy for artists and makers”.

It works like this: creatives post images of their artwork on Instagram, using the hashtag #artistsupportpledge and adding general details about the piece, as well as a price (no more than £200). The initiative then relies on the honesty of artists to repay £200 for every £1,000 made back into the system by purchasing someone else’s work.

Matthew explains where the idea came from: “On 16th March, I had to cancel two forthcoming workshops, as well as a solo show, due to Covid-19. It seemed that every message I received was regarding exhibitions closing, galleries closing, work ending.

“I felt a wave of desperation, acknowledging that this was going to be really bad for artists. I thought I’ve got this culture of trust and generosity and this network; I can use the people in that to support one another. It had to be an economy, a means to financially support each other. It was just a matter of coming up with an economic formula that worked – a low price entry and an act of generosity through paying back into the system.”

Community-focused and open to all, ASP now operates on a global scale and in January 2021, Matthew estimated the scheme had generated £70 million in sales.

“Sharing economies are at the forefront of economic thinking so it’s prescient that ASP’s impact has caught on,” the artist explained in an interview with Wallpaper magazine. “Fundamentally ASP is a movement which operates through cultural values for the good of the many and not merely the few.”

New wave collectors

Equally, ASP has sparked a growth in entry-level collectors. You could argue that the growth in emerging artists influenced the increase of new art buyers, but it’s like asking which came first, the chicken or the egg. What is certain is the move away from a top-down industry that creates a winner’s market. Ultimately, it’s a movement towards a more sustainable, circular model that makes art more accessible to both artists and art

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Honor Freeman illustrates for Gatekeeper magazine