The Ultimate Gift
With the holidays right around the corner, you may have already been asked, “What would you like for a gift?”. What if there were no limits? What would your ultimate gift be?
We asked this question of our staff members. They could choose something as small as a pen, to something bigger like an easel, or even a variety of items that, when used together, would create their idea of the ultimate gift. As you can imagine, their choices were as varied as the artists who selected them.
For inspiration to treat yourself or someone special on your gift list, watch the The Ultimate Gift above and read the full list below to find out what Opus staff chose and why.
So… what’s your Ultimate Gift?
The Ultimate Gifts
Granville Island:
Eri – Collage and Bookbinding
Ultimate Gift: Pictorial Webster’s: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities
“It has a whole bunch of really detailed pictures which is great for doing transfers and for the bookbinding I have been doing lately.”
Josh – Ink Illustrator
Ultimate Gift: Vintage Book Journals with the Pilot Hi-Tecpoint Grip Pen
“Both are perfect if you are sitting in the train and want to sketch out your ideas.”
Travis – Large-scale Acrylic Painter
Ultimate Gift: RendR Sketchpad with Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache and Copic Sketch Markers
“I use sketchbooks to do full colour scale mock ups of my paintings. A good sketchbook is something I will always use and put to good use.”
Adrian – Special FX Artist
Ultimate Gift: Futura Craft Station
“It’s made out of glass so you can do cutting and sculpting with easy clean up. It’s also transparent so you can shine a light behind it and use it as a light box.”
Mark – Oil & Acrylic Painter
Ultimate Gift: Winsor & Newton Oilbars Set/6
“I have use graphite to draw onto frosted mylar before painting overtop with oils or acrylics. Once the paint has dried I use Oilbars to create accents and highlights.”
Cat – Digital Media and Installation Artist
Ultimate Gift: Fine Art Digital Print
“Digital prints come from something you’ve made yourself and in that way you can give someone a permanent piece of yourself with a print.”
Heidi – Watercolour, Acrylic, and Oil Painter
Ultimate Gift: Richeson Lyptus Wood Belmont Easel
“It’s a little easel that does a lot of things. It can go horizontal so you can apply glazes and watercolour washes. Because it is so compact it is great if you have a small working area, like an apartment.”
Downtown Vancouver:
Trevor – Mixed Media and Digital Artist
Ultimate Gift: Facemount Digital Print
“I designed my own board for the game called GO and I want to print it digitally and frame it using Facemounting. That way when the pieces were on the board they would reflect, giving the board a really interesting depth. Then when I was done playing I could just hang it up on the wall.”
Kyrra – Makeup Artist
Ultimate Gift: Iwata Hi-Line HP-CH Airbrush
“This one has a little adjustment knob to help control how thick or thin you want the splatter of paint to be. Being able to control that and have a consistent stream would be great, especially for early mornings on set.”
Jessica – Pen & Coloured Pencil Artist
Ultimate Gift: Prismacolor Coloured Pencil Set/72
“I tend to go to black and white pretty easily. Having this set would force me out of that and just allow me to explore more with colour.”
Stephanie – Acrylic & Watermedia Artist
Ultimate Gift: Custom Belgian Linen Canvas
“I tend to paint on weird sized canvas, so a custom canvas would allow me to work in whatever size I want. Also, the linen is a different texture than regular cotton canvas and I have always wanted to work on it because it’s just so soft.”
Charles – Acrylic Geometric Abstract Artist
Ultimate Gift: Gotrick Cradled Wood Panels and Golden Heavy Body Acrylics
“I would just paint something on the board and give it back as a gift.”
Brianne – Watercolour, Acrylic, and Ink Artist
Ultimate Gift: Dr. PH. Martin’s Watercolors Set/12 with Escoda Signature Watercolor Brushes
“I would want something too expensive to regularly buy myself, like a good set of watercolour and high quality brushes.”
North Vancouver:
Novi – Watercolour Artist
Ultimate Gift: Arches Watercolour Block with Winsor & Newton Series 7 Brushes
“I’ve used Arches before and it’s just a really great paper to work on. The Series 7 brushes hold watercolour well and releases it evenly onto the paper.”
Kaihley – Watermedia Artist
Ultimate Gift: Derwent Artbar Set/72, Derwent Inktense Pencils, and the Viarco ArtGraf Graphite Set
“I want the biggest set of each because they are big, beautiful, and colourful!””
Sara – Illustrator
Ultimate Gift: Copic Sketch Markers Set/72
“I have a few Copic markers but if I had this set I would probably use them everyday!”
Ann – Ceramics and Pottery
Ultimate Gift: Speedball Clay Boss Pottery Wheel and Stool
“I would love to have my own wheel and stool so I could make plates, bowls, cups – all at home.”
Justin – Black & White Comic Artist
Ultimate Gift: 4 Piece Ultima Set with Canson Comic Art Board, Montana Black Spray Paint, and India Ink
“I’d like anything that you would need to get started in making black and white comic books. The Ultima would be nice too because then I would have a place to work and put all of my supplies.”
Cheyenne – Pastel Artist
Ultimate Gift: Schmincke Soft Pastel Set/30
“I like Schmincke because they are really soft and smooth pastels. They are just really buttery!”
Amanda – Airbrush Artist
Ultimate Gift: Iwata Kustom Airbrush Set/5
“Having that variety would make my work time a lot faster and more consistent.”
Langley:
Amy – Mixed Media Artist
Ultimate Gift: Pebeo Fantasy Moon, Montana ACRYLIC Markers, and Gedeo Crystal Resin
“I would create a piece by pouring out the Fantasy Moon, colouring overtop of it with Montana Acrylic Markers, and then I’d finish it off with the Gedeo Crystal Resin.”
Ayesha – Oil & Watercolour Artist
Ultimate Gift: Logan Simplex Elite Mat Cutter
“I have a lot of watercolour paintings at home and I want to frame them but they would all require custom mats. If I had my own mat cutter I could cut them myself before framing and save money by not having to custom order them.”
Heather – Acrylic Painter
Ultimate Gift: Best Deluxe Lobo Easel with an Opus Gift Card
“I’d want a new easel and a fully loaded gift card so I could buy whatever paints and brushes my heart desires.”
Camille – Oil Painter
Ultimate Gift: Artograph LED300 Digital Projector
“I could project reference photos to work off of either during the day or at night. Not to mention I could watch my movies on it!”
Ben – Acrylic Painter
Ultimate Gift: Liquitex Basics Acrylic Colours Set/36 with Opus Mezzo Brushes
“Liquitex are really pigmented and since acrylics can be hard to move around, I use a stiff bristled brush like the mezzo.”
Victoria:
Kirstie –
Ultimate Gift: Richeson Lyptus Wood Belmont Easel
“It’s made of lyptus hardwood, which looks nice and lasts for a long time. It can also hold two canvases in case I feel like working on two paintings at once!”
Claudine –
Ultimate Gift: Winsor & Newton Series 7 Brushes
“It would be the only brush I’d ever need. It’s like the Rolls Royce, I would flash it around to my artist friends just for the status.”
Will –
Ultimate Gift: Artograph LED300 Digital Projector
“They are super useful for making art but it would also have a beneficial impact beyond art. I’m an avid gamer and it would be great for playing games and watching video and even listening to music while painting.”
Kelowna:
Nicole – Pencil Artist
Ultimate Gift: Fraser Box Easel
“It’s just beautiful. It holds everything from pencils to long handled brushes and a variation of drawing board and canvas sizes. It even tilts!”
Brandy – Watermedia Artist
Ultimate Gift: Opus Gift Card
“There are way too many products in the store that I want and like that I can’t decide on any one thing.”
Ryan – Writer
Ultimate Gift: Lamy Pen with Moleskine A4 Sketch Book
“The perfect combo for doodles, writing and sketching. Both products are the best of quality and will stand the test of time.”
Aaron – Acrylic Artist
Ultimate Gift: Resins
“Be it artwork or decorative, resins finish off any piece with a sheen that is juicy and irresistible to anyone who crosses its path.”