More Cost Saving Tips!
If you want to save money then don't buy pre-made. Do it yourself. If you are an artist who primarily paints on canvas, you can save a lot of money by learning how to do things yourself! Stretching your own canvas is not difficult, and it only requires a few common household power tools. Not only do you save money, but you can make your own custom sizes as well. You don't have to paint on canvas either, if it seems like too much effort to build something every time you want to paint, you can also work on masonite panel. Masonite is the same thing as 'hardboard' in art supply stores. You can find a 5' panel of masonite at any hardware store for about $6, and most chains (like Loew's or OSH) will cut the panel into smaller boards for you. You can save a lot of money doing this ... one store bought hardboard will cost the equivalent of about ten you make yourself. Another do-it-yourself tip - learn to mix colors! I am a "pre-mixer" and I only use six colors (including white). So I never buy odd colors that look good in the art store but are rarely used back in the studio. I also have a "tube-wringer" and I do not waste paint! Take a color theory class, or take one of my on-line classes. You really only need a few tubes of paint to make every color in the spectrum. Six large tubes of color is much less expensive than 12 small tubes of various colors!
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"Soothing Tides" 36" x 24" Available here. Saving money is an important responsibility we all have when running our own business. So I thought it might be fun to share some great cost saving tips this week! Trust me, you should use every single one of these.
Shop around I live in Los Angeles so I am lucky that I have the ability & luxury of choosing where to buy my art supplies. Even though I can easily drive to my favorite art store I also have found art supplies at a variety of places, including office supply stores, Wal Mart, large chain stores such as Michael's, or small businesses. I subscribe on my iphone to a lot of Apps such as Michaels and Jerry's Artarama. I follow their specials and coupon offers regularly and often buy my larger canvases at Michael's for 70% off. I promise you that these are great deals. It also pays to shop online. The only disadvantage to buying your supplies online is that they will charge you for shipping. Just be smart as almost every retailer offers free shipping. Look for coupon codes on the home page of the seller's website. Finally, a lot of art stores have extra discounts you should be aware of. Dick Blibk has an online matching program which searches online for any lower prices. They always match any low prices discovered by the computer. Also, Dick Blick has a preferred card that gives you an additional 10% off your entire purchase. And they give art students a 10% discount. Michael's gives an additional 10% discount to teachers as well. So, don't be afraid to be cheap. It really pays off! Haha. |
Leslie
Mom. Wife. Artist. Marketer. Teacher. Radio Show Host. Archives
July 2017
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