🌿 Confession: I almost never give gift cards.
For weddings, I like to gift the Williams-Sonoma Complete Entertaining Cookbook (which walks you through every step of an entire Thanksgiving dinner, among other things) and inscribe it to the couple. Or, maybe the Better Homes and Gardens 100th anniversary New Cookbook with 736 pages of basic, tried and true recipes your grandma used to make.
For other occasions, I like painting something thoughtful for my friends and family or treating them to an experience we can share together.
But there's one time I break these rules: if I'm buying for another artist.
We artists are picky people, and choosing supplies is a ridiculously personal endeavor. If I really needed three new full pans of specific Schmincke Horadam watercolors and you gave me a set of oils, I'd be beyond grateful. I'd also never use them because I don't paint in oils.
The very best gift you can give an artist is a shopping spree at their favorite online or brick & mortar art store. I've listed several which will be well-received by all the creatives in your life -- whether they paint, draw, sculpt, hand letter, or delight in mixed media.
Here are links to the gift certificate pages at my favorite shops:
Blick
The benefit to Blick is that your gift recipient can order online, make a pilgrimage to one of their brick & mortar stores, or even order by telephone. Blick ships many items worldwide.
Blick is a family-owned company based in Illinois. They've been serving artists since 1911.
Da Vinci Paint Co.
If your artist is a painter, Da Vinci is a treat. They are third-generation paint makers offering acrylics, gouache, oils, and watercolors. Their watercolors as extraordinarily highly pigmented, artist grade paints.Da Vinci is a family-owned company, and their paints are all made in California.
Amazon
Yep, Amazon is full of art supply choices available for Prime shipping. It's also the best place besides my local library to find useful instruction books. They have lots of cute printable gift card designs.
Stampington
Speaking of instruction books ... inspiration is important, too. Stampington puts out titles like Art Journaling, Somerset Studio, GreenCraft, and other titles designed to help creatives. These are more than magazines. They're collectible books filled with gorgeous pictures which can be used for reference or clipped out and framed or included in collage-making. There are lots of interviews with artists, supply guides, and prompts. Their gift certificates are tucked away within the website, but you can find them here.
Stampington is based in California, and their titles are all printed and bound in the USA.
Paper Sunday
These scripture journals and planners offer dozens of artful covers from which to choose, and names are personalized within different verses on each spread. I use mine to practice hand-lettering.
Paper Sunday is a family-owned business, and their journals and planners are made in the USA.
Etsy
Your gift recipient can choose materials while supporting other artisans and small business owners. Etsy is filled with art supplies like handmade watercolors and exquisite leather sketchbooks. When purchasing a gift certificate, you can either choose to have it e-mailed directly to your recipient or e-mail it to yourself for printing and wrapping.
Local Shops
If your town still has a locally-owned art supply store or framer, please support them!
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