The Wee Arran Art Shop opens

Tucked between the Arran Banner office, and Footprints, the Wee Arran Art Shop aims to cater for Arran’s thriving arts community. Whether you’re looking for essential supplies – such as white titanium paint or putty erasers – or inspiration for your next project, they hope to be the one-stop-shop for artists’ needs on Arran.

It’s called the ‘Wee’ Arran Art Shop because it’s a rather cosy arrangement! At art school, Kelli Smith, owner of the new shop, often found herself tucked away working on a project whilst surrounded by arts materials – and this shop is no exception.

Aiming to cater for a wide spectrum of ability and interest, the shop is filled with high quality art materials for professionals and amateurs, as well as stocking some craft supplies such as DAS and Fimo modelling clays for younger artists. Kelli aims to keep a good supply from classic brands: Daler Rowney acrylic paint & pastels, Winsor and Newton oils, inks and watercolours, Derwent pencils, Coates charcoal and Progresso graphite as well as a range of brushes and media for a variety of techniques.

It will also feature a number of newer products, such as the Inktense pencil range from Derwent, and Daler Rowney’s new mixed media paper which allows projects to be so much more flexible and experimental.

Kelli is keen to offer an excellent service to Arran’s artists, and to help local talent develop. So, will offer members of Arran Visual Arts, as well as local school pupils, a 10% discount on all products.

The shop may be small, but the product range is comprehensive. Anything which can’t be found in the shop can be ordered from a supplier who can provide a fast service; so you won’t be kept waiting too long.

You can email, phone or pop in for a chat. Find the shop in The Douglas Centre from 10am-5pm Monday-Thursday, visit the website at www.weearranartshop.co.uk or on twitter @weearranartshop.