December/January 2023 Edition

Departments

On Location: Johannes Wessmark

Explore the studios or plein air setups of some of the world’s best artists.

 1. Sil-Air airbrush compressor with an associated spray gun. I have several guns, but I mostly use my Sata Graph (in the holder), Iwata and Infinity from Harder & Steenbeck.

2.  Airbrush paints from Com-Art, Liquitex, FW, Amsterdam and Ceatex. Liquitex is my favorite with very strong pigment and nice flow.

3.  Hearing protection is good to use when I sand the canvas after priming it.

4.  I order my canvas from Claessens on roll and tape or staple it to a board. Most of my paintings are going abroad when finished, and this makes it easy to ship them rolled in a tube. On this particular canvas is my piece In the Air Tonight, just finished.

5.  My adjustable easel from Mabef is a must since my canvases vary a lot in size.

6.  My set of brushes is made up of a large variety of brands. Most brands on the market are good so I don’t have a particular favorite. Generally, however, they are very small so I can work with tiny details. Notice my homemade brush holder, cut from a piece of cardboard. Simple, cheap and unbeatable.

7.  These oil-based colored pencils from Posca are quite soft and very nice to work with on top of the acrylic on the canvas. I have been working with colored pencils of all kinds for over 40 years, so I have a lot of them. If I had to choose one single set it would be the Luminance 6901 from Caran d’Ache with its 76 different colors.

8.  An adjustable dentist’s chair on wheels. Perfect when you want to move back from your work to see it at a distance.  —