IKEA Hemnes Bookcases do not sag!

This is an update on my previous posts about the introduction of IKEA Hemnes Bookcases into my home last May.

• Hemnes Bookcase x 4 for "The Art Library" #1 - shows you what I bought - the Hemnes 90cm wide bookcase by IKEA. ie the naked version as per IKEA catalogue
• Hemnes Bookcase x 4 for "The Art Library" #2 - RESULT! - this shows you the top two thirds of the first one we made up - loaded with books
• Reviews: Hemnes Bookcases - after the carpentry! - This shows you what three look like together and screwed to the wall to avoid them toppling.  

One year on I continue to highly recommend these bookcases.  They are the most satisfactory purchase I've ever made in terms of quality and cost and housing books.

The bookcases are made of robust wood and have shown absolutely no signs of sagging due to the very heavy weight of my art books during the last 12 months since I got them.

Here's a picture of the top five shelves of a couple of them.  We are talking seriously heavy weight art books.  I stagger just shifting a small pile of them!  As you can see there is absolutely no sagging after a year doing a good job.

Hemnes bookcases do not sag when used for heavyweight art books

It is worth noting that since many of books are oversized I've had to resort to lying them down on their sides so that I am can then make most effective use of the shelves and space available.  It just takes a little longer to get at the one at the bottom of the pile.

I'd rather do it this way than have yet another bookcase so it can look "smarter".  I'm a fan of shelves stuffed full of books and in case would continue to stuff books in them even if I tried being neater/smarter.

All I ask is that I can have a rigorous library categorisation system (I'm nearly there)

Almost a full size view of Bookcase 2
Shelf 1 (top) Botanical Art - Art history on left and instruction on right
Shelf 2: Design and Composition on left and Colour on right
Shelf 3: Coloured Pencils on left and Pastels on right
Shelf 4: Van Gogh and David Hockney - plus misc. small art history books
Shelf 5: Warercolour painting
Shelf 6: Drawing pads, large and small Moleskine and Daler Rowney sketchbooks plus some very big books

You can click the images to see larger images if you'd like to try and read the titles of my books!

2013 POLL: Which is your favourite make of artist grade soft pastels?

I'm monitoring your favoured brands of pastel and I'd appreciate it if all pastel artists click this link 2013 POLL: Which is your favourite make of artist grade soft pastels? to visit my website Pastels - Resources for Artists and vote on the BRAND NEW POLL for your current favourite make of soft pastel.

Is it the same as in previous years or have you switched allegiance recently?

Kremer Soft Pastels

I've edited the choice of soft pastels this year to those which are currently available in open stock and rated as artist grade soft pastels. That means:

PASTELS ADDED

• Blue Earth (available from Dakota Pastels) and 
• Kremer Pastels (available from Kremer Pigmente - and Jackson Art in UK)

PASTELS DROPPED

• Blick (student grade), and 
• Winsor & Newton (no longer listed as an available product as per 2013 website)

PASTELS AMALGAMATED

• I've amalgamated all the different Diane Townsend Pastels into one category

You can see the trends in terms of the popularity of different makes of soft pastels in yesterday's post Unison is still favourite artist grade soft pastel.

Unison certainly take some beating - they've been top in each one of the four polls I've run to date - however the ranking of the top five pastels changes on a regular basis.

Unison is still favourite artist grade soft pastel

Unison Colour's Soft Pastels are still pastel artists' favourite brand of soft pastels.  The image below is of the poll results after 445 people voted between January 2011 and May 2013.

The chart comes from the opinion poll which asked this question in a poll held on my Pastels - Resources for Artists website.  Only soft pastels available at the beginning of January 2011 were listed (alphabetically) in the poll.

The top three brands of soft pastels are all made in Europe.  They were:

• Unison (18%)
• Sennelier (13%)
• Schminke (9%)

Others which did well included Talens Rembrandt (8%); Terry Ludwig (6%); Winsor & Newton (6%) and Girault (5%).

As in previous polls a lot of smaller brands have carved out a niche and have some support - generally around 2-3%

Soft Pastels Popularity - Trend analysis

Here's what the trends in terms of poll results have looked like over the last 4 times I've reported on which are the favourite brands of soft pastel.

• As you can see Unison has averaged c.20% +/- 2% and has consistently topped the poll for the last 6 years.  
• Sennelier has continues to maintain its lead over Schminke
• Talens Rembrandt continues to challenge for third place - but isn't achieving at the moment
• Terry Ludwig continues to lead the USA 'pack' of artisan pastel makers

BRAND OF PASTEL	2011-2013	2011	2010	2006-2009
Unison	18%	22.1%	21.9%	19.6%
Sennelier	13%	14.7%	13.3%	15.9%
Schminke	9%	6.6%	15.2%	11.7%
Talens Rembrandt	8%	11.2%	9.4%	9.4%
Terry Ludwig	6%	6.6%	6.1%	11.7%
Winsor & Newton	6%		4.7%	6%
Girault	5%		5%	3.1%

Notes:

1. the 2006-09 poll was run continuously for three years and had 
2. the 2010 Poll ran for a year and had 361 responses
3. the 2011 Poll was checked in February 2012 and had 252 responses - so the poll was left to run until the end of 2012.  
4. The 2011-12 Poll was not various reasons led to the final tot-up to this poll not happening until now (mid-May 2013)
5. The 2013 Poll will not be a full year and may run until the end of 2014.

Previous Polls

• Soft Pastels: What's your favourite make? (2011 results)
• Which is your favourite make of soft pastels? (2010 Poll Results)
• Opinion Poll: Which is your favourite make of soft pastels? (200609 results)

Unison Pastels

Unison Pastels - Resources for Pastel Artists is the website I created after Unison came top of the first three polls.  It provides more links to information about the pastels and the products available.  You can see pictures of the shades available - and what I've produced while using them.

Unison Pastels - Colour Charts

I came across an offer of three handmade laminated colour charts for Unison Pastels made by Unison Colour this morning.  It struck me I'd never done a post about Unison Pastels colour charts - so here it is!

Colour charts - and colour charts for pastels

Colour charts are available in a number of different ways.

• printed - needs to be matched to CMYK colours to get the colours right
• digital file - to be viewed on screen hence needs to be matched to the RGB colours (but then it will be wrong if printed out as it won't be set up for a CMYK colour scheme!)
• handmade - "as is"

See my Colour Theory for Artists site for the RGB (light) and CMYK (print) processes referenced above.

Inevitably, a printed colour chart is easy to produce but does not always match up with real colour.  This is one of the reasons why Old Holland Oil Colours have a hand painted colour strip on each tube of paint - so that the purchaser of an expensive paint can see the real colour when laid down.  It's why some manufacturers produce hand-coloured paint charts.

However when it comes to pastels there's a problem.  A hand-coloured chart cannot be stored either by the retailer or the consumer as the pastel will be rubbed off.  One pinned up in a studio will come to no harm - but these are probably best produced by the artist for the colour range they use.

Unison Pastel Colour Charts

Normally I access colour charts for Unison Pastels by looking at their website.  Unison have colour charts available as a printed chart (which you can obtain by emailing them) and on-screen colour indexed charts.  Both sets of charts are for their:

Unison Pastels - Colour Charts

Colour Sets

• Orange 1-18
• Red 1-18
• Red Earth 1-18
• Yellow 1-18
• Brown Earth 1-18
• Green 1-36
• YGE 1-18
• BGE 1-18
• Blue Green 1-18
• Blue Violet 1-18
• Grey 1-36
• Additional 1 - 18
• Additional 19-54
• Dark 1-18
• Light 1-18
• Special Collection
• Portrait 1-12
• Turquoise 1-6
• Natural Earth 1-18
• Heavenly Shadows

AND for their

Selection Sets

• Starter 8
• Portrait 8
• Landscape 8
• Bright 8
• Light 8
• Dark 8
• Starter 18
• Portrait 18
• Landscape 18
• Starter 36
• Portrait 36
• Landscape 36
• Starter 72
• Landscape 72
• Portrait 72 (UK & EUROPE)

AND for their

Half Stick Sets

• Half Stick 16 Set
• Half Stick 30 Set
• Half Stick 63 Set

Retailers' sets

I never buy retailer's sets unless I can see the index number itemised for every colour in the set - on the basis I've probably already got them!

JACKSON ARTS

A couple of special selection sets are available via Jackson Art where they provide good images of the colours - but no listing as to the index numbers of the colours chosen.

John's Set is apparently a set of the last colours that John Hersey made prior to his death.

The Ann Oram Set of 30 Half Sticks is new and you can read about it here on the Jackson Arts Blog - New Ann Oram Unison Soft Pastels Set.  Ann Oram taught a still life worksop at Unison's in Northumberland in 2012.

Colour Chart by photograph: 
Unison Pastels - Southwest Colors 

DICK BLICK

Dick Blick in the USA are excellent at listing the sets and associated index numbers of all pastels in each set that they stock.  They also list a number of sets which are available in the USA but not in the UK (see below)

Colour charts are available via photographs of the different sets in which the colour index number can be clearly seen. I'm not sure they have photographs for all the sets they retail.

Here, for example is the Southwest Colors set which is one I nearly bought in 2006 when making a trip out to the South Western States of the USA (see USA Sketchbook - Southwestern States (2006))

The sets they list include:

Portrait Colors: African American | Asian | Caucasian | Latino | Mediterranean | Native American | Portrait Eye Colors

Landscape Colors: Desert Sunset | Northern Sunrise | Polar Ocean | Tropical Ocean | Southwest Colors (includes the Turquoise set of 6)

Artists Colors: Brenda Mattson Portrait

JACK RICHESON

Jack Richeson has a printed color chart of all 402 colours (pdf file) that he stocks.  He uses it to relate the Unison names for Colour Sets to the sets he stocks.  On screen it looks like a pretty good match with the colours in the Unison sets.

Glyn Rand Colour Charts

This morning I discovered the existence of the handmade laminated colour charts for Unison Pastels made by Glyn Rand. He emphasises that his  product is neither affiliated to Unison Colour, nor is it endorsed by them.

A handmade chart gets round the difficulties associated with the RGB/CMYK processes which have to translate colour in reality into another medium of vision or print.

By completing the charts using the pastels and then laminating the charts, these should in theory be the best match with various Unison Pastels.

However there is a BUT....

Actually there are two BUTs....

Unison Pastels - Glyn Rand Colour Charts (Size A3 x 3)

The "But" is because my conclusion about this product is essentially "Nice idea, shame about the execution - and the price".

Why?

BUT.... #1

Well, the charts are NOT set up diagrammatically to provide a clear index of each 18 colour set.  Instead of 18 colours in a vertical column Glyn has chosen to go with just 16.  This means that:

• the colour sets are spread across different columns.  
• all the values are mixed up.  If looking for a light tone and colour you can't scan the bottom of the chart and the light set - as the lights are all over the place.

This would personally drive me absolutely potty and I couldn't look at them - I like my colours rigidly organised according to colour and tone because that allows me to work in an effective way.

In fact every pastel artist I've ever known had all their pastels organised on two dimensions - by colour and tone.  I can't think of any reason why any of them would want a colour chart which wasn't organised in the same way.

BUT.... #2

Personally I think the price of £30 for the three charts is a bit steep when one considers that a laminating machine for A3 paper only costs around about £30 on Amazon!  I don't think a product should ever prompt one to think about buying the kit required to produce the end product rather than the product itself!

If you've already got a lot of Unison Pastels - as I have - I'm drawn to conclude that :

• if you're not bothered by tonal values being all mixed up and don't think you'd have any use for a laminating machine - have a think about the charts
• produce your own if:
• you don't like your tonal values mixed up.....
• and/or think you could find a laminating machine useful

More about Pastels

You can read more about Pastels on my websites

• Pastels - Resources for Artists
• Pastel Paper and Pastel Boards
• Unison Pastels - Resources for Artists
• Pastel Societies - Resources for Artists

Derwent announces NEW helical pencil sharpeners

I'm a huge fan of pencil sharpeners with helical blades.  These are the ones which have a helical blade - that's the one where the cutting edge of the blade spirals around a core.  The reason I like them is because they cut cleanly, efficiently and very effectively.  The best points I've ever got have been produced by a pencil sharpener with a helical blade.

Three years ago Derwent produced a battery powered helical pencil sharpener which I did not recommend.  There were just too many problems (see (Product review: Derwent Battery Operated Helical Pencil Sharpener) 

However having been through that experience, I know they were working hard to understand why the problems had occurred.  As a result, although I've not see one yet, I'm confident that this next batch will be much better.  This time they've kept the helical blade but gone for the old fashioned hand crank rather than batter power.

NEW Product - Derwent Helical Pencil Sharpener - Super Point and Super Point Mini
I've not seen one yet.  This is what you need to look out for.

NEW! Derwent Helical Pencil Sharpener - Super Point and Super Point Mini
(note the hand crank i.e. NOT battery powered)

Features and Facts

Features common to both sharpeners

• each sharpener has a durable helical blade.  This SHOULD enable you to sharpens pencils to fine points typically used for fine detail work.
• both sharpeners can take pencils up to 8mm in diameter 
• Shavings are collected in a transparent sliding tray reservoir.  Derwent says this is easy to empty. 
• each sharpener comes with a desk clamp.
• both pencil sharpeners come with a hand crank (the old ones had battery power)

I haven't got a clue what this mean "The extendable front plate has a self feeding mechanism which stops when the pencil has reached a superb point." as there are no photographs to demonstrate.  I think it means it has an auto-stop.

Super Point Manual Helical Sharpener

• made of black metal which makes this both heavier and more robust
• Super Point costs £21.95

Super Point Mini Helical Sharpener

• lighter and a more compact shape
• Super Point Mini costs £14.95

Beware of trying to buying these sharpeners on Amazon.  

• The ones listed at present are the battery powered versions which I covered in my review - which simply are not reliable and do not work well.  
• Look for the date the battery was introduced.  If it's not 2013 then it's one of the old ones.

Product reviews of Pencil Sharpeners

Below you can find my product reviews of pencil sharpeners.  I tend to err towards only reviewing products that I either do or do not recommend.

• Product Review: KUM Automatic Long Point Pencil Sharpener - An excellent manual pencil sharpener for those who like their pencil leads to have a long point.
• Product Review - Round Solid Brass Double-Hole Pencil Sharpener - This is my favourite handheld sharpener. It is well designed, easy to hold, performs double duty and its weight means that it doesn't get lost easily. The compact size also means it fits easily into pencil cases.
• Product review: Derwent Battery Operated Helical Pencil Sharpener - I've tried two and neither have worked properly. I've also heard from a fair few fellow pencil artists of various degrees of experience who have also tried this sharpener and also had problems. I'm not happy and I know Derwent is trying to find out why the problems are happening. This is NOT a recommended purchase.
• Product review: Jakar Electric Pencil Sharpener - a very efficient and effective pencil sharpener which can, with care, be used with coloured pencils. Needs to be fed pure graphite sticks periodically to be kept really happy. It works well with all brands of pencil. I find the oil based brands achieve the best points.

The Best Art Supplies Stores in New York

Yesterday, I added a new section The Best Art Supplies Stores in New York to my 'resoources for artists' website USA: Art Supply Stores & Online Art Supplies

Pearl Paint, 308 Canal Street, TriBeCa, New York NY 10013

I've constructed the section by reviewing what I can find online.  

The thing is - I KNOW I've read excellent reviews by art bloggers in the past about different art materials stores in New York - but I simply can't find them!  It's driving me potty!

Have people stopped writing reviews of art supplies stores in New York or has Google stopped identifying them?  The only ones I've found so far are the Handprint reviews of retailers which include three reviews of stores in NYC.

Anyway I'd like to develop this section to include a poll, links to reviews and a map on the website to help people visiting New York.  However first I'd like to be clearer as to the relative ranking of the top ten stores - so I can construct my top 10 poll!   My initial conclusions to date are:

• Pearl Paint in Lower Manhattan, between Tribeca, SoHo and Chinatown probably gets the most visitors and certainly gets the most reviews - but it also gets quite a lot of dissatisfied customers.  
• Dick Blick in NoHo, Manhattan gets the most favourable reviews and is actually the top art materials store on Yelp.  Plus points are well laid out store makes it easy to find what you want and helpful staff
• New York Central Art Supply between Green Village and the East Village is very much the "go to" store for fine art paper

So I'd like to ask you two questions:

• Which are your top three art supplies stores in New York? Please leave the names and locations of your top three as a comment
• Have you written a review of any of them?  If so please leave a comment with the URL of your blog post and I'll link to it or reference it.

I'll then add in a poll to the website and more links to reviews of the different recommended stores.

The Favourite Coloured Pencil Awards! (2012 Brand Poll Results)

This is my Annual Report on the results of the Annual Poll which asks which is your current favourite brand of artist grade coloured pencil.

Artist grade in this connection means:

• used by fine artists (whether professional or amateur) - people who would like their artwork to last and/or to sell it.
• suitable for fine art rather than commercial art where longevity is of no relevance once the artwork has been photographed.

Below is the chart of the results from the Annual Poll on my resource website Coloured Pencils - Resources for Artists (VOTE on this 2013 Poll by clicking this link - 2013 POLL: Which is the best brand of artist grade coloured pencil?)

Chart of the Results of the 2012 Poll:
Which is the best brand of artist grade coloured pencil?

This year 347 people voted during 2011 to determine which is the best brand of artist grade coloured pencil.  This is fewere than in previous years but I didn't remind people about the poll at mid-year as I've done in the past.

The results are as follows

• The Favourite Artist Grade Coloured Pencil in 2012 - Faber Castell Polychromos (33.4%)
• 2nd - Sanford Prismacolor Premier (15%)
• 3rd - Derwent Coloursoft (8.4%)
• 4th - Caran d'Ache Luminance (6.6%)
• 5th - Caran d'Ache Pablo (5.5%)
• The Favourite Lightfast (6901) Artist Grade Coloured Pencil in 2012 - Caran d'Ache Luminance (this is a pencil which is accredited as being compliant with the standard ASTM D-6901 for testing Lightfastness in Coloured Pencils created by the American Society for Testing and Material).
• The Favourite brand of Artist Grade Coloured Pencil Media in 2012 - Faber Castell Polychromos - by a mile!

Which means Faber Castell is now the dominant brand and Polychromos is the dominant artist grade coloured pencil within the coloured pencil marketplace for fine artists.  

For a further explanation of how this comes about see below.

Analysis of changes in coloured pencil brand preference over time

It's worth remembering that the performance of different pencils in Opinion Polls is highly dependent on how easy they are to obtain and the patterns of buying behaviour in different countries.  

What I have found noticeable over time is that as more people buy online they are more likely to try new brands of pencils - and are no longer dependent on the pencil in open stock at their local art store - assuming that this store has survived the recession!

The recession has also inevitably had an impact.  One might expect the cheaper pencils to be doing better.  In fact the reverse seems to be occurring and those with more disposable income seem to be favouring the top quality pencils - even if they are more expensive.

Changes in coloured pencil brand preferences 2008 - 2012

I've been running the Poll since 2008 so it's developed a few trends in that time - and we'll look at these below.

CLICK THE CHART below to see a MUCH LARGER version of this chart which shows the percentage share each manufacturer earned in the annual polls.  The very minor brands have been eliminated from view in the chart for the purposes of this analysis.

• GAINERS: Faber Castell, Caran d'Ache
• LOSS OF SHARE: Prismacolor, Lyra Rembrandt
• NEUTRAL: Derwent, Blick and Talens Van Gogh

The Annual Poll was started partway through 2008.  The pattern over time, based on the poll results for the last five years, can be summarised as follows:

• There have been three dominant brands in the marketplace in the last five years - Sanford Prismacolor, Faber Castell Polychromos and Derwent (various)
• Two more brands Caran 'Ache and Lyra Rembrandt have been competing for attention - and one - Caran d'Ache - is beginning to have a serious impact in 2012.
• There are two minor brands - Talens van Gogh and Blick
• In 2012, there has been a significant shift
• Faber Castell is now dominant over the combined pencils of all other manufacturers. 
• One pencil - the Polychromos - now has a 1/3 share of the market.  It is more than  twice as popular as its nearest competitor.
• Prismacolor has lost 45% of its market share in the last year - and is no longer rated as the premier brand of coloured pencils.  For the last four years it has consistently had just less than a third of the market (28-32%).  This year its share has reduced to 18%.  (I'll comment on this further)
• Derwent and Prismacolour are now neck and neck in the popularity stakes
• The Caran d'Ache Luminance pencil - which is lightfast - has continued to build its share of the market DESPITE being the most expensive coloured pencil in the world!  This very clearly demonstrates that price is obviously NOT a barrier to building market share amongst fine artists if people want a quality pencil which is lightfast.  It comprehensively demonstrates that any failure of previous brands of lightfast pencils (which have been dropped) is very probably down to:
• the quality of the pencil in terms of application and use 
• the marketing of the product
• and/or both the above!

While there may be weaknesses in my poll results, so far as I am aware there is no other consistent polling of preferred brands of coloured pencils on a global basis.  If there is I'd be happy to study the results and any inconsistencies with the results of my poll.  (I used to crunch numbers and analyse them for a living!)

Conclusion

The following summary is a product of both the poll, consumer comments available on the Internet (and offline) and recent research.

To my mind the current situation can be characterised as follows.

• Faber Castell has been very focused around the quality of one pencil.  It delivers a high quality product of consistent reliability.  This has earned the Polychromos many admirers - who in turn recommend the pencil to others!  This focus on one pencil gives it a much bigger impact in the marketplace.
• Sanford has lost its way both in terms of  product range, its target market and the quality of the product produced.  I have observed lots of changes and no discernible direction in strategic terms plus lots of complaints about matters which the company has failed to address over the years. It no longer feels to me like a manufacturer which is serious about producing quality products for fine artists.  Its cheap unreliable pencil appears to be targeted at the younger / student market and children and adults who like colouring pages.
• Derwent has a huge range of pencils - none of which do particularly well - apart from the Coloursoft.  Effort and marketing appears to be spread thin.  They could have had the lead in the Lightfast Pencil market - and abandoned it.  Issues around lightfastness continue to be relevant to the artist grade range.
• Caran d'Ache is playing a blinder.  It took time to produce a well thought out pencil which has become very popular - the Luminance.  Despite its high price, this pencil is attractive, works well and is readily available - it looks likely to continue to be very popular and to grow its market share over time.  Not least because it is certified as ASTMS 6901 compliant - and is the only leading artist grade pencil which can claim this. Its growth has also not seriously dented the market for the Pablo Pencil.  The company persuade me (and others) that they recognise how long it takes a new product to establish itself in the market and have a focus on continuous improvement.

Thus we have my personal 'take' on four manufacturers who all demonstrate a very different approach to how to win share and make money from coloured pencils.  

While fine artists are only a small part of the coloured pencil market as a whole one is led to wonder why more artist grade pencils don't emulate the success of the Polychromos!

I'm going to follow up this Poll Report with in-depth analysis of the main brands.  I have eclectic tastes rather than being a dedicated fan of one brand - so this should prove interesting.

I've started by updating the analysis of brands in the Artist Grade Coloured Pencils: Brand Information section of Coloured Pencils - Resources for Artists.  Each of the sections on the manufacturers of artist grade pencils now has a section which covers:

• SUMMARY
• Favoured by
• No. of artist-quality coloured pencils 
• Meets 6901 Lightfastnes Standard
• Characteristics of coloured pencils
• Pencil equipment/aids available? 
• Characteristics of Manufacturer
• Country

This is my post about The Favourite Watercolour Pencils Awards! (2012 Brand Poll Results)

You can now vote on the 2013 POLL: Which is the best brand of artist grade coloured pencil?

Do SUBSCRIBE

if you'd like to be kept informed about the other Poll results for 2012 

and/or reviews of art products and art books in 2013. 

You can find a subscription link near the top of the side column.

Links:

• How to vote for the best coloured pencils in 2013
• The Favourite Coloured Pencil Awards! (2011 Brand Poll Results)
• The Favourite Coloured Pencil Awards! (2010 Brand Poll Results)