Toolbox

I'm often asked what brand of paint I use or what is my favourite tool, so today I thought I could share my toolbox with you.

If you are familiar with my artwork, you know that I love bright colours and I'm able to attain great results because of the quality of paint I use. When I started painting, I thought my Pebeo student grade acrylics were very good, until I tasted the real thing. The highly-pigmented, rich, top-quality acrylics of Golden Paints.

I especially love their fluid acrylics. They flow smoothly and evenly from your brush, which is ideal for creating uniform brushstrokes. The heavy body ones are creamy and perfect to create texture. I also work a lot with the DeSerres acrylics. Their quality compares to Golden's and the colours offered are very similar. Unfortunately, they are only available in Canada so I have to stock them whenever I go or someone comes from there. Another favourite is Sennelier Abstract. Heavy body, super creamy/buttery texture, they feel like cake icing.

I use large brushes for backgrounds and thin for details but all the layers in between are made with different tools. I use my fingers a lot, and my very fave instruments are between brushes and palette knives: they are Catalyst silicon blades. They spread the paint so easily and create marks that I cannot achieve with an hairy brush. I can even etch the paint with them without changing tool.

I also play with a lot of mark making tools. In fact, I'm trying just anything that I can find around the house, at the hardware store or in the kids toys box. So far I made marks with bubble wrap, corrugated cardboard, kids foam play mat, caps and lids, stampers, stencils, playdough tools, nets, Legos, toothbrushes, credit cards and more! I like to make marks that are unique to me and I'm always looking for new ways to create some. Another indispensable in the studio is the spray bottle. I love to spray those fluid acrylics that bottle is tha best for creating the perfect drips.

As for the surfaces I use, when it's not stretched canvases, I paint on Acrylic Paper. My favourite brand so far is Canson - either the Canva-Paper, which is almost like fabric and perfectly textured or the Mix Media Artboards - very heavy boards that hold a lot of layers and never crimp. So now you know my secrets! They are essential to make painting go smoothly and to create work that is satisfying to me.