How my “no buy art supplies” year is going

Rescued Series
gouache portrait paintings
on torn cardboard

Here, all waste will be viewed as a recycling opportunity.
Beezer Molten

I haven’t mentioned it in a while, but if you’re wondering how I’m doing on my “no buy art supplies” year, it’s actually going better than I expected. When I first started, I felt like I was white knuckling it, and had a pretty bad case of fomo going on. I saw artists on youtube showing their art supply hauls, and I knew I couldn’t buy anything until 2025. Whomp whomp. Kinda sucked there for a minute. 

Often when you think
you’re at the end of something,
you’re at the beginning
of something else.
Fred Rogers

Really, though, it’s been such a positive experience once I changed how I was looking at this no buy challenge. Instead of focusing on all the supplies I couldn’t buy, I started to look at alllll the supplies I already own. Decluttering my mess became my focus, instead of adding more to my already overstuffed drawers & shelves.

It’s now mid September, and I’ve only purchased 2 items this year – white & black gouache to replace what I had used up.

My mindset is so different these days, I didn’t even want to buy the replacements, but I knew it was a need, not a want, in order to keep painting. I squeezed every drop of paint out of those tubes, let me tell you. ha!

I still look at art supplies now & then if I see an artist using something interesting. The only thing I’ve seen in the past 9 months that I might try sometime is liquid charcoal, and some pencils, but I’m not going to rush to buy this stuff on Jan 1st. I’m pretty clear now on the difference between wanting and needing art supplies. I don’t need those items. I still have shelves & drawers full of paint to use up, and I haven’t even touched the boxes of hardboard panels & canvas in storage. I’m going to continue to use what I have for as long as it takes.

I look forward to the day when my studio is free from all the clutter, and I only have a tiny box of gouache, and some oil pastels taking up space on my work table. Ahh..I’m not going to miss the mess, and my bank account will thank me for it, also. Win/win. 

I’m listing this entire series on Daily Paintworks and some are in my eBay store. More paintings are available in my shop. 

Thanks for stopping by.

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