Creative Art Supply Storage
This week, I’ve been giving you a few glimpses of my true personality. I think I’ve mentioned before that I have a background in illustration. Well, we’ve known each other long enough, I think it’s only fair that I show you a few of my paintings before we jump into some art supply storage tips:
Romantic Poetry Book Cover
 Educational Poster on Trumpeter Swans
 Plow & Hearth Catalog Cover and Print
I earned a Bachelors Degree in Fine Art (a long time ago.) Â My major was illustration, I minored in Art Therapy and I took some extra Graphic Design classes for the fun of it. This may or may not explain my attraction to color and some of my painting skills. But, I don’t want any of you to think that because you don’t have an art background you can’t paint. Nah, it’s easy, I try to break everything down into teeny tiny steps for y’all. And, I’m always available to answer your questions if you get stuck.
One of the fun things about being an artist is finding new and unique ways to hold and display your art supplies. (Or perhaps being on a starving artist’s budget forced me to be resourceful and thrifty!) Here are some of the ways that I keep our (my kids’ and mine) supplies at hand:
A set of baking canisters nicely corral my ever-growing collection of paint brushes and palette knives.
An old cash box became a great paint storage caddy once I took out the plastic tray inside.
My newest storage for colored pencils is in an old rusty cheese grater. The kids can easily see and pull out the colors they want to use next.
Before I found the cheese grater, I used to store them in glass jars.
I scoured Pinterest to find some other creative ways to store art supplies and here are some more great ideas!
I love this idea with drink glasses on a wine rack. It reminds me of the pen display at the art supply store.
This three tiered tray is a colorful and space saving solution to storing loose art supplies.
Ballpark plastic cups become a wall of pen and marker storage. Two holes are punched into the back of the cups, then secured with zip ties through the cup and the pegboard.
Source: Somethings Hiding in Here
Have an empty back of your door? (Heaven forbid!) Utilize that valuable space to store supplies in a clear hanging shoe organizer.
I love old wooden crates. This soda crate works beautifully to hold and display all your art supplies.
I’ve seen all types of storage uses for the IKEA Bygel bar. Kristy used it to hold art supplies on a chalkboard wall.
Make your own supply caddy with recycled aluminum cans and a board. Directions to create this caddy can be found here.
Donna shared how she created this simple pencil holder out of a scrap of 2×4 wood.
I hope you found some of these ideas helpful! I will be renovating my studio (a space you haven’t seen yet) at some point and I think I’ll be incorporating one or two of these ideas. You can never how too much art supply storage!
i love all things storage. and finding new things to group and store together. check out my etsy store for great storage crates! http://www.perchshop.etsy.com
xoxo
ali
Some really good storage ideas there. Might have to ‘borrow’ some for my next project!
Thanks so much for the shout-out Brittany! Love this post, too – but I have a thing for creative storage. 😉
Aby
Yes you do ;-). Thanks for your comment.
I love all of your posts, but this is by far my favorite one EVER! I am so excited to see your illustrations! Love your work! Thanks for sharing that part of your talents, and all of the great organizational ideas. I am an artist, too, and I am loving getting back to painting since my kids are grown, now. If you have time, can you tell me what type of tool that is that you are doing the dandelions with? I can’t tell if it is a pencil/charcoal/pen/or some type of liner brush? I love the teeny-tiny line and control you have with it!
Anna Marie, it was a liner brush! But, I also have some crazy small brushes like 10 x 0 brushes from when I was a greeting card artist. Nice to meet another artist and thanks for your comment.
I just came across your site. I have to say it is very inspiring and informative. I love the idea of doing home improvement project myself. I just bought my first home, so I am SO excited to get my hands dirty!
Thanks
Asia- capecoddreams.wordpress.com
Yeah Asia! Definitely jump right in. You’ll learn a lot as you go. Email me if you ever have any questions.
As always, you come up with the best ideas! Thank you again!
Beautiful! And no, I don’t think you could teach me to do that….no matter how good you are! I have my talents, but art is not one of them. But I admire from afar, and your work is beautiful.
Do you remember the guy on public tv ages ago that used to paint “happy little trees”? Loved him!
Laura
Laura, yup, Bob Ross! He was fun to watch. Okay, I challenge you to follow my dandelion painting tutorial. I know you can paint that! Go to this link: https://prettyhandygirl.com/2011/01/tutorial-for-painting-dandelion-wall.html
Brittany birds of the same feather flock together! I too majored in Fine Art awhile back but fabric was my forte, your illustrations are beautiful and so intricately done. And my kids are just as into making art, perhaps even more so, than we are! Love that cheese grater idea – anything to keep the supplies front and center, easy access for their budding minds is the key.
Jaime, how cool! I’d love to see some of your fabric designs ;-).
You got skills! 🙂 Your artwork is beautiful. You definitely have been blessed with talent in many areas.
Lisa, Thank you! Yes, I do feel very blessed.
Those are some great art storage ideas. Love your cheese grater idea for the colored pencils. I told my daughter a few weeks ago to not throw my old one out as I would find a use for it and now I can show her this post. Of course my girls think I have too much junk anyway but I’m from an era of never throw anything away as you’ll always find a use for it later, and I usually do. My old flour sifter holds a plant in my kitchen and bath products are stored in my ceramic rose canister set. It is a great idea to put our old stuff to good use once again. Thanks for sharing!
My bad, I forgot to compliment you on your beautiful art work. You are such a talented person all around that nothing surprises me about you. You are so sweet to share your talents with us.
Wow, your artwork is beautiful, Brittany! Is there no end to your talents?! 😉 Oh, and great storage tips, too!
Thanks Sheila!