Gifts Ideas for Artists: When Money's No Object

Instead of having a real person modeling for you, dress up a life-size wooden manikin. You'll never have to worry about giving them a break, or they not holding the pose. Nor about them complaining the painting doesn't look like them!

Keep various bits and pieces organized and close to hand with an art caddy on wheels. There's plenty of space for jars, bottles, rags, brushes, and you can store your paint tubes in one of the drawers until you need to squeeze a bit more out. The top is ideal for resting a palette on, or could even be used as a palette.

If you want the ability to tidy away all your painting supplies, a combined taboret and easel workstation does the trick. Closed up, it looks like a small chest of drawers, but open it up and you've an easel and artist's workstation.

Kolinsky sable is the Ferrari of brushes, the ultimate hair for spring and paint-holding ability.

Fabriano Artistico is a watercolor paper worthy of a quality Kolinsky sable brush. It's made from 100 percent cotton, is acid free, and double-sized for a great painting surface. The "Traditional White" is a slightly warmer white than the "Bright White".

A metal watercolor set rather than a plastic one feels like it's a serious commitment to paint, rather than a temporary arrangement. It'll last a lifetime too, because the individual colors (or pans) can be replaced as they're used up.

The art market still has a sentimental attachment to paintings done with oils (traditional oil paint that is, not water-based oils). So perhaps it's time the artist in your life gave oil paint a try? This wooden starter set has everything you'd need to set yourself up in style, except a canvas.

Unison pastels are considered by many pastel artists to be the ultimate in pastel (see Which Brand of Pastel is Best?). This wooden box set is perfect for going plein-air painting or taking pastels to a workshop, or for packing them away after a painting session.

A daylight lamp enables you to see the true colors on your painting, and having one that attaches to your easel means you can adjust it to illuminate your painting without being in your way.

Designed to hold two small painting panels and your essential painting supplies, a 'cigar box' makes it easy to get organized for painting outdoors. It also facilitates bringing wet oil paintings back home again. You can either put it on a fold-up table (or balance it on a rock) or attach it to a tripod to work standing up.