Art Supply No Buy: I’m throwing in the towel!

Do I regret attempting to go an entire 365 day year without buying any new art supplies? Absolutely not! Is it time for me to admit defeat however? Ultimately, yes.

This isn’t to say that I’m now going to go on a wild shopping spree and buy every single thing that has tempted me over the course of this year! I intend to continue on with a Low Buy for the foreseeable future. I want to buy new supplies on a “need” basis, rather than just because I’m itching to try something new. There’s no need for me to buy, for example, chalk pastels if I haven’t already come up with a project in my head that would benefit from having that particular supply.

Earlier this month I decided I wanted to make my 1 year old a low hanging gallery wall in our shared bedroom with simple artworks for her to admire. The biggest problem with this though, is that we had run out of nontoxic art supplies! The crayons we had bought for her to use were constantly going in her mouth, so we would dispose of them as she’d break them to prevent a choking accident. I needed her to be able to touch the art, even rip it off the wall and chew on it if she so desired. Nontoxic supplies are an absolute must for a project such as this.

And for a while I had been wanting some cheap water-based markers for coloring pages and quick washes of color in my sketchbooks. I love my alcohol markers but they always ghost and sometimes bleed through pages. They are also inherently more expensive, even though we use the inexpensive Ohuhu brand, so I am a bit precious with them. Using them for coloring pages feels wasteful somehow, even when it’s my own lineart I am coloring!

So I caved, and I bought a 50 count set of Creatology water-based markers. (NOT sponsored.) I have to say, I am extremely satisfied with this purchase, and I find they were worth breaking my No Buy over. And with this purchase, I was able to do what I set out to do, and created a cute gallery wall for my daughter’s viewing pleasure!

At first I felt a lot of guilt about this purchase, despite buying them for a good reason at such a low cost. As I investigated these feelings I started to wonder who I was even doing the No Buy for! I have concluded that my circumstances have changed since the time I decided to do a No Buy in the first place, and I have already grown significantly as an artist through this challenge. Finishing up 5 abandoned sketchbooks in 10 months is no small feat after all! This challenge also helped me realize I really do thrive while working on just one main sketchbook at a time!

Something else that necessitates changing up some of my tools is that I’ve realized I’m leaving my mandala period. It slowly snuck up on me and I never saw it coming, but creating mandala art no longer brings the same kind of joy it once did. For some naive reason I thought I’d be specializing in mandala forever… Now I question why I ever expected that. I’m certain I will still create mandalas on occasion, especially digitally for coloring pages, but they’re just not my main thing anymore and I have recently come to accept that. Now I am missing the giant set of Ohuhus I bought and donated out of buyer’s remorse… when I was specializing in mandala it felt unnecessary, but they would definitely suit the work I am making now so much better. Oh well, live and learn.

So while I might be unceremoniously ending my No Buy early, I promise it’s with the best of intentions. I have zero regrets about taking on this No Buy, and zero regrets about ending it earlier than planned! I have learned so much and I intend to carry those lessons with me through the rest of my life.

I will see you all again in the next few days as we welcome in November and celebrate the ending of Inktober! Until then, take care, and I hope you have a wonderful day!