Cowan's Art Knowledge & Know How
Colour Theory in a Nutshell
Get familiar with the the colour wheel, value scale, colour terminology, and how this all applies to artistic media.
Know Your Whites
When it comes to painting, there are often several whites to choose from, and not all whites are the same! Whether you paint in oils, acrylics, watercolours, gouache, encaustics, inks, or pastels, there are a few things you should know about whites.
Shiva Oil Paintstiks
Nothing quite compares to the unique characteristics and extraordinary versatility of Shiva Oilstiks; a truly perfect artistic medium.Artist's Block
The good news is that a creative block is only a temporary state! Join us for a pep talk, some inspiration and a dash of comic relief
How to Choose a Colour Palette for Painting
How does one go about choosing a primary colour palette? Whether you paint in oils, watercolours or acrylics there are actually just a few simple factors to take note of
How to Varnish
Regardless of the type of varnish being applied (oil or acrylic, paint-on or spray-on), we're here to lay out some very simple steps for achieving the best possible results when varnishing.
What the Heck is an Isolation Coat?
Like thermal underwear, an isolation coat is a robust extra layer of protection for paintings. Find out when, where, how and why to apply an isolation coat to a painting.
Selecting Paint Brushes
There are only a few considerations to take into account when selecting brushes. Just asking yourself these 3 simple questions will help to narrow down your options significantly.How To Choose A Sketchbook
There's so much information on the cover of a sketchbook that it can look like gibberish. We're here to help you decipher the madness and find the sketchbook to suit your needs
Pastel Madness!
Pastels are a very large and often confusing family of art materials, but they are a very versatile medium and are worth getting acquainted with! We'll go over the differences, the similarities, how to identify the quality, plus some tips on preservation (both for yourself and your artwork).
Pouring Acrylic Crash Course
Acrylic pouring (or dirty pours) are the new craze in art. The unique shapes and patterns from pours can be achieved in countless ways so we tried most of the products and most of the variations just to share with you what works and what doesn't.
Colouring Resin
Resin has become very popular as an art medium with artists finding all kinds of creative uses for it. There are specific resin dyes available, but they seem to be tricky to locate so we wanted to illustrate that some more easily accessible products (that artists may already have in their studios) can be used to successfully colour resin.