Tokyo Art Haul

Confession.

Last weekend was a big holiday in Seoul so I decided to fly to Tokyo for a change of scenery (and not feel so lonely because everyone in the city drove to the country to be with their family)

I am no stranger to travelling alone and I had a plan. I wanted to see as many art supply stores as possible!

I came prepared

with a full list of things I wanted to buy and ended up getting completely different ones 😵‍💫.
(I blame the gorgeous illustration book created by @_yukoring 🫢
The moment it fell into my hands, all my plans went out the window.)

I walked the stores for hours.
And to one art store I came back a total of three times!

I splurged 🫢

I bought a lot of materials and paints that are not necessarily relevant to my „normal“ painting process. I bought them because I want to explore new mediums and venture outside my comfort zone.
It was surprisingly hard to give myself permission to buy things „for play“ and „just because I want them“.

But I grew braver with each purchase and my shopping basket grew heavier and heavier.
The excitement I get from new art supplies is like a child on Christmas.

The moment I got home I sat on the floor for HOURS. Testing and swatching. Playing like I did when I was little. This is what drew me to becoming an artist. The freedom. The giddiness of exploring new mediums and learning how they react.

I can‘t wait to see how my new exploits inform my work on the big canvas.

Sending you an excited wiggle from my art studio floor where I continue to be immersed in my new colors

FYI, if you‘re ever in Tokyo the three art supply stores I visited are Sekaido (6 floors, my favorite), Itoya (12 floors, lots of stationary too), and Uematsu (2 floors, had things the other two didn’t).

Do you visit art supply stores too when you go on trips to different cities?

Let's make the world a more colorful place, one painting at a time.
~ Julia Badow