Welcome students! Here is a list of resources to help you in your learning. If you find any more great resources please send me an email and tell me about it! I’m always adding to this list.
Great places to shop for art supplies in Victoria region:
Thriftcraft is a second-hand art supply shop offering all sorts of treasures. You can spend hours in there, and come out with a ton of great stuff without dropping a ton of cash! Thrift stores in general can sometimes have good finds for art students to take advantage of, if you know what to look for. But Thriftcraft is especially focused on arts and crafts supplies. They are downtown in Victoria in Market Square.
OPUS Art Supplies is my favourite art supply store. They are located in downtown Victoria near Value Village. They have both student and professional quality supplies. You can do curbside pick up or order online from their Vancouver warehouse and have it shipped to you, or go in person. All the staff are artists and know their stuff. The shop offers great free art technique and product demos.
Island Blue is a great art supply store, and they also offer printing services. They have a shop in Sidney so if you live on the Saanich Peninsula they are conveniently located.
Michael’s is a great big arts and crafts store. They aren’t my favourite place to shop because their prices are a bit higher, their staff are spread a bit too thin for the size of the store, and they don’t always have the better quality professional brands for artists. However they do often have what I need and since they are the only art supply store in Langford that’s where I shop sometimes. They also carry many student quality products and if you watch for their sales you can get a good bargain.
Urban Source is a great place to order from in Vancouver. When I taught children’s programs at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria I was constantly using stuff from this place. They gather together all sorts of materials leftover from manufacturing and up-cycle it to be used as arts and crafts material. So much fun!
Online lessons and demonstrations:
My YouTube channel offers quite a few art lesson videos, demonstrations, time-lapse art project videos and other art-related resources for you.
The Sierra Club is offering these terrific wildlife drawing courses.
Suminagashi is the Japanese art of paper marbling. This website offers a nice introduction and many resources.