This Saturday: FREE Golden Acrylics Demo With Tesia Blackburn

This Saturday from 1-3pm, ARCH will host a FREE Golden Acrylics Demo and Lecture with Artist Tesia Blackburn. This lecture packs in a ton of valuable information about acrylics, guiding listeners through the basics while opening up new possibilities. Gain information about mineral and modern pigments and how this relates to clean color mixing, glazing and the creation of fabulous new colors. Learn the unique properties of Fluids, Heavy Body, and the OPEN acrylics. Discover Interference and Iridescent paints for unusual effects. Get a grip on the many gels and mediums and how they can change texture, saturation and intensity of color, used for sculptural effects and more. 

Check out the amazing new grounds to prepare truly, contemporary surfaces for painting, drawing, pastel, digital printing and mixed media. Discover how acrylics can simulate oil and watercolor, even gouache, yet are infinitely more versatile. Each lecture includes an array of examples of these materials put to use. Attendees leave the lecture enthusiastic to explore the extensive potential of acrylic painting! A free goodie bag of paint and a nice literature packet are included! Click here to register for the workshop!

Tesia will also have her new book, "Acrylic Painting with Passion" available for purchase and signing during the lecture.

 

FREE Enkaustikos Demo with Jeff Hirst: This Friday May 23rd at 1pm

ARCH will be hosting a FREE Enkaustikos wax painting demo with local artist Jeff Hirst this Friday May 23rd at 1PM. Jeff will cover mixing encaustic paint, working with opaque and transparent color and color theory, paint applications, surface manipulations, transfer processes, mixing oil and wax, making medium and more. Jeff Hirst has been teaching encaustic and printmaking workshops since 2005 and has taught at many venues across the U.S including The Int'l Encaustic conference, The Encaustic Center in Dallas and Vanderbilt University.

ARCH carries a large selection of Enkaustikos wax painting supplies including Hot Sticks, Hot Cakes, Wax Mediums, and other encaustic supplies. Join us for this workshop and receive 10% OFF of your in-store purchase. Bring your friends and spend Friday afternoon at ARCH!

May Sketch-Up Photo Gallery

Thanks to all who attended ARCH's May Sketch-Up Friday event. Here are a few photos from the event as well as some terrific artwork from our talented attendees. The next Sketch-Up event is scheduled for Friday June 20th from 5:45-8PM. Please visit our events page for more details.

FREE Jacquard Products Demo - Friday May 16th - 1pm

Jacquard makes fantastic products geared towards artists and crafters interested in working on fabrics. This FREE demo will include a look at their Textile Color and Fluorescent paints (colorfast on natural or synthetic fabrics!). We'll also be featuring the Lumiere paints with its stunning assortment of metallic and pearlescent colors and the Neopaque colors meant for dark fabrics.

Some come with questions and check out these awesome textile paints at ARCH!

Detail of Turquoise Lumiere paint over Neopaque White on Black Fabric

Mother's Day is This Sunday May 11th

ARCH has great gift ideas for every mom this Mother's Day. Find the perfect card to give mom or purchase supplies to make your very own personalized note. We've got a variety of designs to choose from.

Want to get Mom something pretty? We've got a great selection of necklaces and jewelry from Tashi, Amano Studio and more. Come by and check out our simple, modern selection of earrings, necklaces, and other accessories.

ARCH has a great selection of Mother's Day cards, soaps, jewelry, and accessories. If you're looking for another great gift idea for a San Francisco mom, pick up a Limited Edition City Sketch Kit, inspired by Illustrator Wendy MacNaughton's favorite art supplies from her new book, Meanwhile in San Francisco: The City in Its Own Words.

Wendy MacNaughton City Sketch Kit Available at ARCH

Illustrator Wendy MacNaughton and ARCH have developed a Limited Edition Sketch Kit featuring some of Wendy's favorite art materials as used in her new book, Meanwhile in San Francisco: The City in Its Own Words. It is available exclusively at ARCH for $49.95 (normal retail value of $75) and contains:

-A copy of Meanwhile in San Francisco: The City in Its Own Words
-A 9"x12" Super Deluxe Mixed Media Sketchbook
-A .05mm Sakura Micron Pen
-And a Winsor Newton Cotman Travel Watercolor Set

The kit is packaged in an Otto tote bag, featuring an Otto illustration and lettering by Wendy. We also offer the tote bags on their own for $15.95.

Crunch Week! Extended Store Hours and More!!

It's finals time and ARCH has extended store hours 9am - 8pm, Monday the 5th thru Friday May 9th. We have stocked up on all you need for all your finals needs.

• Basswood, Plywood and Hardwoods
• Tacky Glue, Zap-a-Gap, Loctite
• Gallery Pins and Numbered Map Tacks
• Presentation and Model Making Boards

Did we mention we have FREE coffee courtesy of our friends at Farleys, homemade cookies and a friendly and knowledgable staff who are here to help you to the finish of this mad dash!

Good luck students!!

Find ARCH at Patchwork Oakland - Mothers Day, May 11th

Join ARCH at Patchwork Show: Modern Creative Festival on Mother's Day. Shop local from 130+ local independent vendors featuring handmade & independently designed goods including clothing, art, paper goods, accessories and housewares.

-Make something with ARCH + SFEsty at their FREE make-and-take Mother's Day card and stamp making station or with Handcraft Studio School at their FREE diy crafting booth.
-Vamp Music is spinning vinyl all day + catch live music in the afternoon with Alicia Murphy
-Pop-up shops from Oaklandish, Rock Paper Scissors Collective + Vamp Music's curated vintage clothing and record space
-Enjoy free samples of Joia all natural soda while you shop
-Check out Chevy's awesome electric eco cars
-Eat well from food trucks + artisan food vendors