My mother is an artist, and I love putting together a gift basket for her from time to time. The biggest challenge that I face while composing such a basket is in being creative. It is essential you pack in a surprise; otherwise it's just a regular basket with art supplies.

The Basket:
You can pick an interesting shaped wicker basket, or look for another creative option. Why not go for a clay flower pot, the kind that you use in your garden. It comes in various shapes and sizes, and can easily carry all the art material. it also looks fantastic. Another great option is a storage cube; they come in various materials and sizes, like canvas and plastic, just choose the one you like the best.

The Supplies:
Fill up the basket with all the essential art supplies. You can find these at any stationery store: oil paints, watercolors, pencils and brushes in different sizes, erasers, charcoal, palette, cleaning supplies, crayons, black micro-tip pen, a roll or cut piece of canvas, a regular sketchbook. If the artist uses a certain medium (like spray paints, acrylics, glass instead of canvas etc.) make sure you stock up on those too.

The Surprises:
You've got all the usual suspects in the bag, now pack in the surprises.

Every artist looks for inspiration: find out your artist's favorite artist. From your local book store find a book with the said artist's work for your gift basket. You can also find a reprint of a famous painting and roll it up and place it next to the supplies. The same works with music as well.

Add some useful accessories like a brush jacket or a paint box to your basket. There is a lot of interesting material out there, find it.

Every artist runs out of white paint sooner rather than later. Add a few extra tubs of white paint to avoid this trouble.

Can a gift basket ever be completed without a sparkling bottle of wine? Of course not! Add a few bars of chocolates, some cheese and crackers along with the bottle. Artists are known to be forgetful; this will make sure they don't go hungry!

Add an ornate or quirky empty frame to the basket, sort of an incentive for the artist to work on that new piece.

The Final Touch:
Once your basket is ready dress it up with a bright ribbon, or with a bright yellow sun flower. Add a personalized card, or use the artist's own artwork to decorate the basket.

There is a lot you can do here depending on how well you know the artist. Just give it a little thought, and you're bound to think of something special.

Learn more about this author, Neha Puntambekar.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

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