What Products Artist Scott Christensen Recommends

ARTIST SCOTT CHRISTENSEN RECOMMENDS:

"...in less than 10 years, Scott has become arguably one of Australia's finest ocean artists."

Australian Artist Magazine - Issue #279 - September, 2007

Since learning to paint with oils in 1997, Queensland based artist Scott Christensen has since gone on to become one of Australia’s leading painters documenting the unique beauty of the Australian coastline.

His work is characterised by his extreme attention to detail, vibrant colour and photo-realistic, sharp imagery, and is found in both public and private collections across the globe.

 The team at Art Shed Online are beyond excited to partner with the talented and renowned seascape artist on his highly rated online video course that teaches you how to Paint The Ocean.

Keep reading to see the products Scott recommends for creating your very own masterpiece:

ARTWORK PREPARATION

Scott recommends: Mont Marte Visual Art Diary Spiral Bound White Paper A4 110gsm 120 Sheet

To keep track of his ideas and prep for his larger-scale artworks, Scott loves to first start out with a Visual Art Diary. This 120 white page Visual Diary features 110gsm paper, is spiral bound and backed by a heavyweight card to provide a sturdy surface. Visual diaries are fantastic for keeping track of creative ideas and are suitable for use with a wide range of dry sketching media. Great for all levels of artists.

Scott recommends: Faber Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil Tin Of 24

Before creating his vision on canvas, Scott likes to first plan his ideas in pencil, using the Faber Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil Tin Of 24. Polychromos artists' pencils are highly valued internationally by professionals and semi-professionals for their unsurpassed quality. They boast high-quality, acid-free pigments in bright colours, with unsurpassed lightfastness and a soft, vibrant colour laydown. Polychromos is water-resistant and smudge-proof, and the thick 3.8 mm lead has a high break resistance due to a secural bonding process.

Scott recommends: Art Spectrum 1L - Low-Cost Acrylic Gesso

Art Spectrum Low-Cost Acrylic Gesso is a brilliant white, permanently flexible, non-yellowing and waterproof art primer. This gesso can be applied to almost any non-greasy surface, this primer is specially made for flexible painting supports like canvas. Gesso is traditionally used to apply 2-3 coats to un-primed cotton or linen to prime it prior to beginning a painting in oil or acrylic paints. It can also be used to give an extra coat or two to an already primed canvas, or to prime timber panel and boards.

To use, wet your brush before application, and work well into the canvas. The gesso can also be thinned sparingly with water. You’ll typically need to apply 2-3 coats to an un-primed surface.

Scott recommends: Masking Tape 36mm x 50m

This masking tape is of good quality and is easily applied and removed. Suitable for various applications including masking areas of your painting surface. Also suitable for general purpose labelling and taping applications such as bundling, mounting and light packing.

Scott recommends: Mont Marte Palette - Easy Clean 30 x 40cm

Every painter needs a palette. This Easy Clean Wood Palette is laminated with a stain-resistant surface to make cleaning-up a breeze. Made from warp-resistant hardwood so your paints won't drip off the surface. The thumbhole provides the easy handling ability of a traditional style palette. An essential for every artist.

ACRYLIC PAINT

Scott recommends: Atelier Interactive Acrylic Paint

When working with acrylics, Scott reaches for the Atelier Interactive Acrylic Paint. Atelier Interactive is a professional artists’ acrylic paint. Heavy bodied, high in pigment load, lightfast and contains pigments of the finest quality. A great choice for those looking into acrylic painting, from beginners to professionals.

Atelier Interactive handles just like a conventional acrylic, making it a popular choice for both fast and slow drying techniques, and controlled drying techniques. You can ‘delay’ the drying process and ‘control’ the paint's open time for as long as you want, from minutes to hours, simply with water. You can choose when it will dry rapidly again simply by withholding water. Atelier Interactive’s patented formula also allows you to magically re-activate touch-dry paint using Atelier Unlocking Formula to return to wet-in-wet blending techniques!

BRUSHES

Behind every great artist is their favourite tools. Here are Scott’s go-to brushes for creating his signature ocean-scapes:

Scott recommends: Mont Marte Paint Brush Set - Oil Brushes In Wooden Box 7pc

This 7-piece Taklon Oil Brush Set is a great introductory set to professional quality brushes. The 2-tone 0.1mm Taklon bristle is strong enough to use with oil paints and heavy-bodied acrylics. These brushes offer a smooth finish and come in a great range of sizes and shapes.

Scott recommends: Mont Marte Paint Brush Set - Gesso Brush 3pc

This set of Mont Marte Gesso Brushes offers fantastic value for money. The flat head hog bristle shape is perfect for priming canvas, varnishing and for painting large background areas. The soft absorbent bristles hold paint well, making them great for watercolour washes too.

Scott recommends: Mont Marte Paint Brush Set - Fat Liner Taklon/Squirrel Sizes 16/10/6

Mont Marte Fat Liner brushes are a fascinating hybrid of fine liner brushes and larger mop brushes. It has a long thin needle of Taklon bristles which is encircled by a soft full belly of short squirrel hair bristles. These brushes have excellent resilience and water capacity. They have the ability to produce long continuous strokes, detailed line work and broad washes. Try this funky effect: Soak the belly of the brush in one colour. Then dip only the needle in clean water and squeeze out with fingers, making it clean so you can add a different colour to the needle. This will blend two colours together in one stroke!

Scott recommends: Unipro Smooth Coat 

Uni-Pro Smooth Coat Synthetic Brushes are commonly seen as a trade brush; however, they are a brilliant stiff-bristled brush perfect for a range of artistic applications. These long-haired synthetic brushes are great for blending large flat areas of a painting in both oil and acrylic and due to their soft smooth bristles, they leave very little trace of a brushstroke in the paint. These brushes are also great for preparing your painting ground with Gesso or your underpainting layer.

Scott recommends: Mont Marte Artist Brush Taklon Flat Wide 50mm

Mont Marte Flat Wide Taklon brushes are perfect for artists looking for a fine smooth finish when applying gesso, varnish and glazes. They are also ideal for large abstract work that requires clean sharp edges.

Scott recommends: Mont Marte Artist Brush Chungking Round 6

Best suited for fine, controlled strokes and signatures of even thickness. The pointed tip allows precise application of colour and consistency of line work.

Scott recommends: Mont Marte Artist Brush Oil Taklon Round 10

The Artist Brush Oil Taklon Round 10 is an ideal brush for fine continuous line work, as it maintains an even controlled stroke that is ideal for outlining. It is also good for making circles by rotating the brush on your painting surface.

The unique rubberized handles that give fantastic brush control and the two-tone blended filaments offer smooth application. It features a large Taklon Filament for great responsiveness and a seamless nickel-plated brass ferrule. It is suitable for use with both oils and heavy-bodied acrylics.

Scott recommends: Mont Marte Artist Brush Oil Taklon Flat 16

Mont Marte’s Artist Brush Oil Taklon Flat 16 produces long fluid marks and is fantastic for filling in large areas of colour and can be used on the side for thinner lines. It features unique rubberized handles that give fantastic brush control and two-tone blended filaments that offer smooth application. It has a large Taklon Filament for great responsiveness and a seamless nickel-plated brass ferrule. This brush is suitable for use with oils and heavy-bodied acrylics.

CANVAS

Scott recommends: The Mont Marte Professional Series Canvas Double Thick

Mont Marte Professional Double Thick stretched canvases feature a 38mm deep frame that offers a contemporary clean-edged look with no further framing required as the deeper edged profile sits the canvas out from the wall. Popularly used by Artists of different levels, from Professional exhibiting Artists to students and beginners - these superior quality canvases provide a sturdy support for various media applications. Commonly used for Oil Paintings and Acrylic Paintings they can also be used for moderate to thick impasto application and collage techniques.

Each of these Double Thick stretched canvases are Triple coated with universal primer and ready to be positioned on your easel and painted on with no need for surface preparation. Corners are neatly folded to gallery standards, and the corners of the stretcher frame are mitred with finger joins allowing for superior strength. The perfect base for your next masterpiece.

Mont Marte Professional Series Canvas Double Thick Features:

• Acid-Free 380gsm Canvas (approximately 11 ounce)
• Unbleached cotton duck comprised of a high-density weave
• Triple Primed
• Mitred corners
• Double rows of staples
• 38mm deep pine wood frame
• Kiln-dried stretcher bars to combat bowing and warping
• Shrink-wrapped and corner protectors

OIL PAINT

Scott recommends: Art Spectrum Oil Paint

When working with oils, Scott reaches for Art Spectrum Oil Paint.

Art Spectrum are Australia's most respected oil paints because they conform to the classic tradition. To make a permanent artists' paint, it is of the utmost importance to not only have permanent, lightfast pigments and pure linseed oil (safflower oil in whites) but to ensure they are thoroughly milled as well. All Art Spectrum colours are triple-milled to ensure that every pigment particle is completely coated with the vehicle, and evenly dispersed, resulting in a stable paint film which has even surface tensions. Art Spectrum oil colours give lasting brilliance and luminosity to paintings, with the finest pigments used in the maximum working strength to impart the best colour quality.

• All the beautiful Art Spectrum oil colours are permanent and non-toxic
• Superior pigment-concentrated colours
• Clean colours and superior colour mixing without muddiness
• Beautiful and unique colours developed for the Australian landscape.

Check out www.painttheocean.com to learn more about Scott’s course, and take a look at his magnificent paintings!

Got questions about these products? Send us an email at customerservice@artshedonline.com.au and our friendly team of artists will do their best to support you!

Happy creating!