Up on the Easel

Art Advice, Local Art Community & Inspiration

Gwartzman's is happy to provide insight to any questions you might have regarding art materials-- what's the difference between brush tip shapes? What does all the labelling on the back of a paint tube or jar mean? Find these answers and more below!

The art community can be a fantastic place to gain inspiration! Check out local artists that you may be familiar with, and some new art and new faces. Look inside studios big and small, and learn about some of our own favourite big names in the art world.

How to Fix Broken PanPastels

PanPastel are professional artists’ quality soft pastel colors packed in a unique pan, cake-like format. The cake or disk shaped design makes them very compact and easily portable, however, this does put them at risk of breaking into many little pieces if they're dropped (just like a make up comp...

Art Project: Clay Ornaments

The holiday season is here! What better way to get in the holiday spirit than to create some beautiful ornaments! The great thing about ornaments is that they can be virtually any size or shape that you can decorate and design with any colours and/or patterns for anywhere in your home (not just o...

Art Project: Gift Wrap

Taking your wrapped gift or present to the next level is easy - just customize the wrapping paper! We've chosen Winsor & Newton Promarkers since they're easy to use, blend able and very vibrant, along with some Winsor & Newton Drawing Ink in gold to add a bit of sparkle! But you can do th...

Urban Sketching Tools

We at Gwartzman's are big fans of urban sketching and supporters of the Urban Sketching Toronto Chapter (@usktoronto on Instagram) so naturally we have a vast collection of travel-friendly products designed for urban sketching! Here's a breakdown of tools that you need to get started on creating ...

A Short History of Red Pigments

Red is an important colour for humans, and it’s not a colour that many other mammals can see. It’s thought that primates developed the ability to see red because it makes it easier to see ripe fruits amongst green vegetation. Above you can see the mass tone of four of the more unusual reds from...

Stretching and Prepping a Canvas

A little disclaimer before we begin: There are many ways to stretch and prepare a surface for painting. This is one of the trusted and tried methods here at Gwartzman’s! Let’s start at the beginning. What is canvas, exactly? And why is stretching a piece of fabric over a frame the preferred metho...