The Pulse: technique/tool

THE ONE TECHNIQUE OR TOOL THAT I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT IS...

Photoshop on my computer. Can you say Brushes, Actions and Layers, oh my!?
Roben-Marie Smith

my goat-hair hake brush
Gillian Mcmurray

beeswax. I've grown to love everything about it and will start painting on wood so that I can incorporate it into all my paintings.
Judy Wise

spray painting
Sarah Fishburn

gesso...it's so versatile...paint it, crack it, build it, rub it...just love it...
Angela Cartwright

a pen
Teesha Moore

My Sharpies! Good Lord don't even CONSIDER a World without this tool.
Lisa Hoffman

Polished beach stones from the Oregon Coast.
David Castle

an old credit card. I use it to spread and scrape paint across the journal pages, make lines, and all that good stuff.
Patty Van Dorin

I have painted layers of deep dark hidden secrets (very therapeutic) – even further obscured under more layers of color. I wholeheartedly feel there are no unnecessary strokes in the artists work - and perhaps not everything is meant for the admirers eyes to visually see. If one truly connects with the piece - they will uncover the hidden message within - and the artists secret will be revealed It's like a biblical scripture, mystery or parable. If one has eyes to see - they will see.
Maralena Howard

I would have to say that the tool that I use a lot would have to be my heat gun.
azirca

dip pen/black ink (journaling is a must-!
Stephanie McAtee

freehand embroidery using my sewing machine
not mass produced

my trusty dremel
Ro Bruhn

This is tough, but I would have to say that right now I couldn't live without the inkjet transfer technique. I do so much work creating transfers with my photographs for my mixed media pieces.
Bridgette Guerzon Mills

an awl
Judy Wilkenfeld

My white glue. Because if I found myself on an dessert island with neither the old objects nor the old books and photos I use in my assemblages and collages, I could still create constructions using items collected in the natural environment.
James Michael Starr

layering on my canvas or wood, whether I am layering paint over paint, sand or gels over paint or rice papers over paint.
Roxanne Evans Stout

my fingers. As much as I *try* to start out with a palette knife, glue spreader, bone folder or paint brush I always always end up using my fingers. My husband thoughtfully bought me a box of latex gloves to protect me from all the nasty chemicals in mediums, glues and paints. The box remains unopened. I need that tactile firsthand feel I guess.
Jen Worden

my computer and wacom tablet
Marie Otero

This is harder that it seems. It is not easy to come up with only one answer since I change depending on what I am working on, but I do use a few things consistently. There are several things I use in just about all of my work and one of those is gloss medium- I use it to adhere collage material as well as in between layers of paint in a glazing technique. I also use gold gesso as a base and in between colors to create a thin layer of light. I know that is two but I couldn't pick just one.
CW Slade

collage
Jen Renninger

As a mixed media artist, it is almost impossible narrow down favorite tools and techniques!! However, I have to say I could not live without polymer clay with all its possible renderings. It can be textured for backgrounds for cards or books, sculpted into bodies or faces for dolls, it can be made to mimic natural stones or glass by incorporating materials into it, used to make unusual jewelry items, blended to form clay paintings, made into canes to veneer onto other objects, … Basically, it can be sliced, diced, sculpted, draped, squeezed, rolled, and twisted into just about anything one can imagine! I simply love it.
Lisa Renner

My Tim Holts scissors. They cut thick book board very cleanly, and the serrated edge grips what you are cutting.
Teresa

Acrylic paints
Jenny Archibald

I love paint. Acrylic is still the default medium of choice for me and it goes hand-in-hand with Gesso, followed close behind is spray paint. I only use the cheap stuff when it comes to acrylic - I let the color selection guide me which ones to put in my basket. However, I'm picky when it comes to spray - it's Krylon only.
Michelle Ward

my camera
Linda Woods

Right now that would be my favorite painting knife. It's not too big and not too small and fits perfectly in my hand. I paint mostly using knives so I have quite a few but I always end up grabbing my trusty favorite.
Barbara Kleinhans

Credit card! I like to use it to spread the acrylic paint all over the paper. It's quicker than paint brush.
Andrew Borloz

Pegboard on walls of studio. Never could paint on an easel.
Karen Jacobs

music
Trudi Sissons

my camera or my computer
Susanna Gordon

Canon Digital Rebel - love my camera + working on learning a bit more about it
Ali Edwards

a brayer. I use it all the time. I roll ink onto stamps and linoleum blocks, I use it when printing monotypes... it's indispensable to me
Jessica Gonacha

As far as technique right now I would say distressing -- with sandpaper, by folding, with paint or ink, by tearing, etc. As for tool I would have to say scissors as I always seem to be slicing through something in nearly everything I make.
Seth

FOR LINKS TO THE SITES OF THE PARTICIPATING ARTISTS, PLEASE CLICK HERE.