Wakatipu artists asking for advice on materials has prompted two Queenstown artists to form a dedicated mobile service, which starts with a public event on Saturday.
Rachael Errington and Karyn Hitchman have , combined their artistic expertise, marketing and web design backgrounds to start Quality Canvases & Art Supplies.
They are competitive retailers and can deliver bespoke-sized New Zealand-made stretched and unstretched canvases suitable for exhibition, plus paints by American manufacturer Grumbacher.
Miss Errington and Mrs Hitchman said they wanted to help artists professionally showcase their work by creating customised websites.
The co-directors will also consider an artist's work and recommend which exhibitions and competitions they should enter and show them how to apply for funding.
"Art has become my profession and sourcing quality products to use has become important to me," Miss Errington said.
"You need a quality canvas to come a professional artist and for any artwork you're going to sell.
"I sourced a company through Artbay Gallery called Wooden Heart, in Invercargill, who have been established for 15 years, and I used one of his canvases once and I'll never use anything else again because it was so good."
The artists said chain-store art supplies were fine, but cheaper canvases warped, dented and decreased the value of the finished product.
Miss Errington said she had to discount one of her pieces by $1500 because of the lower-quality canvas used and clients wanted to take their purchases away without having to wait for them to be restretched.
Quality Canvases & Art Supplies will launch with samples and a sale in the Clockroom Gallery, on the corner of Ballarat and Stanley Sts, on Saturday, from 10am to 5pm.
Customers already include Wakatipu artists Spike Wademan, Sue Wademan, John Shewry and Simon Morrison-Deaker, with interest expressed by the Wanaka Arts Society.
