In the morning Andrew gave me a birthday card with the most amazing loving message inside. We left work in the afternoon to go shopping for my birthday present! As an early birthday present I had gotten a place on the 21 Secrets course which is all kinds of awesome. So as the rest of my birthday present I wanted to get art supplies!

We went to Atlantis, which as far as I know is the biggest art supply store in central London. I had a few things in mind that I wanted to look at, but was also quite keen to just browse and see what struck my fancy. I think that’s so great about mixed media art, you never know what tools you’re going to use and you can potentially use anything. It’s very inspirational to just walk around the store to look at stuff and think about how it could be used.

I’m very excited about the things I got! I got:

Desktop Easel
I’ve never had an easel before and I’m really excited to try it out! The one I got folds up into a box which can also be used for storing some supplies. Really handy!

A3 Sketchbook/Journal
I’ve been keen to start working a bit bigger. I like working in a book, rather than loose pages, because of the cohesiveness of having a finished ‘book’ of art once it is full. It’ll be exciting to use this in conjunction with the easel and also try my hand at some abstract stuff (following one of the 21 Secrets classes).

Caran d’Ache Neocolor II
I always get some new colours whenever I shop for art supplies (I already had the tin of 15 and an assortment of skin tones and reds). I went for greens/blues/violets as those were colours I was attracted to and want to start using a bit more.

Brushes
I got three sturdy brushes of a slightly bigger size than I usually get, to go along with working in the A3 journal.

Palette Knife
I thought this would be fun to have to apply paint/mediums to create different textures than when applying with a brush.

Brayer
I love the aesthetic of brayering paint on my paintings. I already had one but it’s so big it’s hard to avoid areas I don’t want to touch (like a pretty face), so I went for the smallest size this time.

Acrylic Paints
I wanted to get some heavy body acrylics for Tam’s 21 Secrets class but unfortunately they were out of the colours I wanted (two different type of flesh-tones). So instead I got some regular acrylics in those colours. I’m sure I’ll be able to make them work for the class and they’re handy to have in any case.

Texture Medium
Or something like it, I forget the exact name. Basically an opaque gel medium to create interesting texture.

I think that was it! I’m so excited to start playing with my new toys!!

In other news, this morning Andrew and I went for our third ultrasound scan. Usually you only have 2 scans (that’s standard in the UK anyway), but at my 20 week scan I had a low lying placenta (where the placenta covers (part of) the cervix, which means you would have to have a c-section). It is fairly common for it to be low early on, and usually it will move up, but they need to monitor that to be sure. The scan went well and they told me my placenta has moved up. I am so happy and relieved!! Everything is fine with the baby as well. His measurements are pretty much average, although apparently he has long legs! He weighs approx 2.5kg at the moment.

We’ve got an appointment with my midwife this afternoon to discuss my birth plan. So very happy to be able to discuss a natural birth!

Atlantis • Aldgate, E1
http://www.atlantisart.co.uk
A huge shop (biggest in the UK according to their website) with pretty much any art supplies you can think of. Lots of supplies for fine art, but also things for kids, plenty of materials for mixed media artists (they do both natural and bleached beeswax). Huge range of Golden & Liquitex products. Best thing about Atlantis is that their prices are very very good.

Blade Rubber • Bloomsbury, WC1
http://www.bladerubberstamps.co.uk
This shop is a must for art journalers. They don’t just do rubber stamps but a ton of papercrafting accessories and more. They do a lot of mixed media & art journaling essentials. It’s the only shop I’ve found that actually stocks things like Stewart Gill paints, mica flakes and specialist magazines. They are unfortunately quite expensive but you do have the advantage of seeing the supplies in the flesh rather than guessing what something is like when you buy online. They also do classes.

Cass Art • Charing Cross, WC2 – Soho, W1 – Hampstead, NW3 – Kensington, W8
http://www.cassart.co.uk
They have a few branches and do great deals on quite a lot of their stock. Paper, sketchbooks, Promarkers (sets) and Caran d’Ache watersolubles (sets) are really competitively priced. I haven’t been to their flagship store, but their smaller store on Charing Cross road is great for picking up a few essentials.

Cornelissen • Bloomsbury, WC1
http://www.cornelissen.com
Quite fine art focussed, but I would recommend going in here even if you’re not interested in what they sell: the inside of the shop is amazing! It’s what you’d imagine stepping into a 19th century art shop would be like. Apart from the obvious they sell some interesting stuff (I found some type of gold coloured powder in there, never seen that anywhere else) and tucked away at the back you can find discounted supplies.

Cowling & Wilcox Ltd • Soho, W1 – Shoreditch, E1 – Camberwell, SE5
http://www.cowlingandwilcox.com
It’s been a few years since I went into this shop but I think they’re quite similar in terms of stock to Cass Art.

Hobbycraft • Croydon, CR0 – Greenford, UB6 – Romford, RM1 – Watford, WD17
http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk
You have to travel a bit further out of town, but the size of the store makes up for it. Prices aren’t as low as you might expect, but the shop is great for browsing because they have so much. They cover almost every area of art and craft. I especially like going into the aisle with art supplies for kids, you can pick up some nice things for mixed media projects for a lot less money than the stuff that’s specifically targetted at art journaling.

John Lewis • Oxford Street, W1
http://www.johnlewis.com
The haberdashery department in John Lewis has some nice bits & bobs. I’ve only been there for my knitting/crocheting needs, but they also do lots of little accessories (embellishments, ribbons etc) and I think they’re picking up on crafters’ needs a bit more over the past couple of years.

London Graphic Centre • Covent Garden, WC2
http://www.londongraphics.co.uk
I love this shop because it’s got a lot and is so central. They are a bit pricey though. In the ranges of drawing/watercolour pencils, (watersoluble) oil pastels, conte crayons etc they sell single colours of almost everything which can be very handy. They sell an adequate range of paints & mediums although if you really want to go to town on those I’d still recommend Atlantis.

I went to the FABULOUS store Hobbycraft yesterday and got lots of little things (I’m so art supply obsessed, it’s an addiction!). Stuff I bought that you can see on this page are embossing metal (why is it never possible to attain the same result as in the pictures on the packaging even though I followed the inscructions to the letter????), patterned stamps (they were in the kids section of all places! They’re awesome to create patterned backgrounds with), cheap white paint (£1.49 for 500ml of the stuff!!), and rub on words.