My organizational inspiration comes from cooking stores and I think of my walls like my art pantry. Tools and colors on display so that that I can grab them easily from jars. In the same way that I enjoy cooking in a beautiful space with well made tools, I wanted to capture that feeling in this space as well.
There are these things called compressed towels, and they look like little tablets. You can tap the edge into water and they start to expand into a proper sized paper towel. They’re a perfect blend of practical and fun. I keep them in my watercolor travel kit and buy them at Daiso or on Amazon.
I’m always on the hunt for a beautiful tray or plate that can be used as a watercolor palette. My favorite one looks like it would be perfect for deviled eggs.
Dried beans and rice are the perfect base for storing brushes in a jar. They’ll hold each brush upright enough so that they don’t press against each other or the sides of the jar, bending the bristles out of shape.
Drafting dots are about the size of a nickel, and are the same material as artist’s tape. I find them to be so much less damaging than any other type of painters tape and you can reuse and reposition them easily. Just one in each corner of even the thickest cotton paper does the trick. Especially important when working on an angled desk.
I have a collection of small rugs, placemats, and dish towels that make great photo backdrops for posting photos of finished artwork on social media. It’s a nice way to add texture and color so that my visuals don’t become too repetitive.