Showing posts with label Painting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Painting. Show all posts

5/06/2025

Jacquard Lumiere Metallic Silver ( 2.25 Oz 5)

This is another beauty from the Jacquard Lumière collection. The silver colour and brilliance are there because the paint has both metallic and pearlescent pigments. This paint is  medium to light body (viscosity) and is not fully opaque, so I need two or three coats if I want to cover something completely. Sometimes, I use a primer coat of matte grey and then apply this metallic silver. The end result is a natural-looking beautiful silver. The brand sells this paint as lightfast and waterproof and those are big hits with me. I prefer heavy body to light body (fluid) acrylics, especially for metallic colours but this one is just beautiful. 

4/19/2025

Moleskine Art Watercolour Pocket Notebook (black)

This is my first Moleskine. I now know  why people love these beauties.This notebook is specifically designed for watercolour and has a beautiful smooth 200gsm cold-pressed paper. The size is really pocket (3.5x5.5in = 9.53 x 1.91 x 14.35 cm), meaning that it can be easily carried in a small handbag or a large coat pocket for example. So, it's perfect for travelling or daily commute rides.
 
The cover is really good quality. The binding is fabulous and I can open the notebook fully flat. Besides, the stitching has no holes, so the paint doesn't bleed through them, like cheaper notebooks I own do. 
 
The 200 gsm (135lb) watercolour paper is smooth and a pleasure to work on. I use mixed media, with plenty of wet media, and these pages stand everything. I prep them with a coat of clear gesso to make them more resistant, but I own other journals where the gesso is not enough for the same use. So far, none of my paints, inks or watercolours has bled.  
 
I love the elastic band as the notebook tends to stay self-open after having the pages full open for a while, so, it helps correcting that. Also, it's necessary as most notebooks increase volume when fully painted. I'm not a fan of inner pockets placed looking towards the binding, like in this Moleskin, but it comes handy nevertheless. I miss the notebook having a bookmarking ribbon, something that I always like and use.
 
My notebook came with a quality control ticket in the pocket, something that I really appreciate. 
 
Any watercolour Moleskine is expensive, but I was lucky enough to grab this one heavily discounted. I often look up for catches like this on Amazon, so I was ready to 'shoot' when the sale popped up. 

Meeden Portable Paint Brush Washer (Large, 11D x 11W x 12.6H cms)

I have a similar small washer, which I love, and I was looking for a container as large as this one. However, I couldn't find anything affordable till I found this Meeden washer. 
 
This washer is as large as described on the Amazon product page, not less not more. It's made of good quality sturdy stainless steel and its design is perfect for indoors and outdoors, for acrylics and oils. 
 
I can carry this outdoors thanks to the handle and the locking system, which allows me to hermetically close the jar. Sometimes, I use it on its own, without its inner grate insert, and others with it. The grate is perfect to rub the brushes and help removing stuck paint. If left for a while, the solid parts of the paint deposit on the bottom, so I can empty the water and wipe out these solids with a napkin and dispose of it in the rubbish. 
 
The container box looks great and is really good quality, so it's perfect for gifting.

4/18/2025

Paul Rubens (Haiya) 60-pack Soft Oil Pastels Set

Paul Rubens (HAIYA) Oil Pastels have been a discovery for me an have reignited my passion for this medium. I cannot afford Sennelier oil pastels, which are my favourite in the whole world, but also uber-expensive.  However, this Haiya set has many of the qualities I love in Sennelier minus the price tag. These pastels are really creamy and the colours are vibrant and beautiful. There is a large selection of browns, greens, blues, aquas, purples, reds, oranges and yellows, with a black and white added. On the contrary, there is a lack of pastel colours (another Haiya's set has those), grey and beige tones, and warm whites. They can be blended with tissue paper or my fingers, and used for layering, sgraffito and layering purposes. 

The opacity of the colours is shown on the stick wrapping. However, it is in diminutive size and I had to use a magnifying lens to see it properly. Some of the sticks and colours are opaque, others translucent, and others semi. The pigments used for each stick are also displayed on the wrapping. As my set most of it written in Chinese ain't sure if the lighfastness is mentioned in Mandarin. There is no indication of it on the accompanying leaflet. However, I've browsed the web and there seems to be an agreement among artists that these pastels have a good level of lightfastness. 
 
THE TEST
I tried them in two rough sketches I did on two pre-gessoed craft tags (not on pastel-purpose paper) just to check their pigmentation and blendability. These pastels are a pleasure to work with. The creaminess is not only yummy and satisfying, but it also favours colour  spread and mixing. I used simple average tissue serviettes as blenders and they did the job really well. The colours are gorgeous, but they lack a bit of more pigment in them, something that's understandable due to the price tag.  The pointy tips really help drawing an outlining. The colours mix well with each other. I used them to make a clean image and a impressionist textured one and worked well in both cases. I will try them on pastel paper and will edit this review in the future if necessary.
 
I used a permanent fixative when I finished the sketches and, before that, a workable fixative to allow me to keep working on them without the fear of smudging what I had already done.
 
Overall, a wonderful set of good quality pastel oils that are good replacement to Sennelier if you cannot afford the latter.  

2/01/2025

Yitexin 20-piece Alphabet Stencils 4x7in (18x10cm)

This is a generous set of alphabet stencils made of good quality stencil material and with different lettering styles, so you can use them on different projects. Due to their size, these stencils are great for art journaling, scrapbooking and school art projects. The quality of the cutting is good. However, there are some design inconsistencies within each template, something that bothers me. Good priced.

10/29/2024

Canson Montval 300gsm/140lb Cold-Pressed Watercolour-Paper Wired Pad (20 sheets, 5.5x8.5in)

I love Canson watercolour paper pads as they're always very decent quality, affordable and perfect to use as sketchbooks. I've been using this pad often, and the paper quality is good  for mixed media, which is what I bought it for. I haven't used it with watercolours yet; mostly with acrylics paint, acrylic inks, crayons, pens, Posca ad Pitt Pen markers and it stands most things beautifully even without previous gesso priming. I love the pages micro-perforation as it allows me to use them as stand-alone sheets, or keep them  as a pad.
 
On the flip side, this Montval series is more like a student pad, so worse paper quality than other Canson pads I own and also re the quality of the front and back covers, which is quite bad. Besides, the paper doesn't handle rubbing well, and sometimes the paper sands off if not primed. That being the case, now I gesso the pages that I intend to rub or scratch. I would not use this pad paper for professional purposes.

For the rest a good affordable study or student watercolour pad with decent quality paper.

9/08/2024

Montana MXA324048 Acrylic Marker 2Mm Fine, Empty Marker

This is a very good quality refillable marker. This marker is easy to fill in/refill and has a metallic ball inside to prevent ink thickening. It is lightweight and the ink is easy to pump out. I used a mini funnel to fill in the marker and it worked perfectly. If I didn't have this funnel, I would have used a syringe. The bullet point works neatly and is very similar to Posca's.
 
Montana ink is great but also expensive, so I'm happy being able to use other acrylic inks that are less expensive and as good. Refillable markers are a need for me as I feel self-conscious about binning good-quality plastic empty markers. So I love that I can use this over and over.
 
A bit pricey for an empty marker, but happy to have it.

8/17/2024

Derwent XL Charcoal Drawing Water-Soluble Blocks, Set Of 6

I bought this sought-after set during one of the Prime Days offers last year, quite discounted to my delight. As the box was sent from Amazon UK, it reached my place with one of the blocks halved and partially shattered, which resulted in the staining of the white block. The box was sealed, but not properly protected either with bubble wrap or protective textured paper.  

The blocks are really yummy to use. They are almost creamy and the pigmented ones have rich yummy earthy colours. These are water soluble, so they can be used as watercolours. They are not permanent, so I use matt/gloss medium or fixative when I don't want the marks to smudge. Sometimes, the fun is in the smudging as the mixing of the pigment with other media creates wonderful textures, effects and depth. They're fun to play with but have a professional quality. 

8/10/2024

VGSEBA Gold Leaf Gilding Foil Sheets,100 Sheets 3.15" x3 .35" (8x8.5 cm)

These leaves are a good alternative to real gold leaf and at a fraction of the price. They look like a sunset gold or Aztec gold leaf, something I love. Each foil leaf is protected by a tissue-paper leaf.  The sheets are very delicate and break easily, so they're especially good to cover something, little by little,  by applying foil coats; not so good or easy to cover a specific shape (or at least I don't know how to do that). It glues easily with gloss medium and matt medium, but the first one is more befitting with a metallic product like this.
 
Good value for money as there are 100 sheets in the package and one sheet can be used as accent in a small painting. I wouldn't use this in art pieces for sale, but I  use it in my art journaling or small art pieces I want to keep for myself or for gifting.

7/08/2024

Plyco (Online Store)

I ordered some plywood panels (craft bundles) from this store, recommended by a fellow artist. I can confirm that they're good quality and good priced; way cheaper than similar products in specialised Art & Craft stores. 
 
Plyco is not a craft store. They sell timber, veneer and plywood for professional purposes (building, flooring, cabinetry, table and kitchen tops among other uses). What matters to me is that they have craft bundles from different timber and thickness that are perfect for painters. 
 
The good thing about their website is that it shows whether the different kinds of timber are in stock or not, when they will be, and the scheduled dispatches. You'll get your order sooner if you buy your product one or two days before dispatch day; otherwise, you'll have to wait a bit longer. Shipping fees and panels are excellent value for money.
 
Not a place you want to order from if you're in a hurry or have an upcoming project that you must do within a time-frame. For the rest, very good quality, prices and shipping prices. Timber arrived properly packaged, too. They also have several shipping options, which is great.   

On the flip side of things, Plyco's customer service is not great. They have a bot on the website. I sent a message through the bot that was never replied to. I rang them on a Saturday. The guy on the phone apologized for overseeing the dispatch of my order. I mentioned that I'd be happy to upgrade. I was told to call or email customer service on a week day. I did email them. No a reply whatsoever, just an impersonal request for payment for the upgrade. As the dispatch window had passed, it  took10 extra days to have my order dispatched. I found funny that, I forgot some items on the cart in one of my browser, but I purchased them through another browser; then, a more personal sales email reached my inbox. Also, they'll auto-subscribe you to their marketing newsletters, something that I really find annoying. 
 
Overall, happy with the pricing and quality of the products, info on website and dispatch procedure, but not really impressed with CS. 
 

5/01/2024

Edward Tools Paint Stainless Steel 12" Trim Blade

This is a great tool to get straight lines in my paintings. The sizing is perfect to work on paper medium size pieces, 12x12" for example, as it is not too large or too short. The sizing also allows me to store it easily or to keep it in the same holder as my large brushes. 
 
The blade is really sharp, so much so that I cut one of my fingers with it. I love that is made of stainless steel as this makes it durable. I clean it with a wipe or rage and looks as new every time.
 
Nothing fancy about the grip area, but it's strong enough, and it's getting nicer now that it has different splashes of paint on it. 
 
Good value for money.

2/22/2024

Jacquard Lumiere Halo Blue Gold Acrylic Paint 70Ml

Jacquard Lumiere is an awesome line of metallic paints and this colour is beautiful and interesting to work with. I love the fact that, unlike other metallic acrylic paints, this line offers a good coverage and the quality of the pigment is amazing. This colour is beautiful, but the colour you see from the bottle and what you get when you paint with the product are slightly different. I purchased this colour for the blueish golden green nature of it, which is what the bottle looks like from outside in real life. However, the paint is a multi-chrome with all the pros and cons you get from those colours. On the up side, it can be layered on many colours and looks different depending on the light angle, so it's versatile and interesting. However, this is more a green than a blue, and the yellow gold sometimes overwhelms the other pigments. For me, it's great when I want to jazz up some painting area, but not that good if I want a set colour to use. Good quality product overall.

Liquitex Professional Heavy Body Acrylic 6-Pack - Vibrant Set

Liquitex acrylic are amongst my fav acrylic paints in the market. I love the buttery nature of them as allow me to create oil-like strokes, marks and looks. They spread well and a tiny amount covers a lot of space. Pigments are great and lightfast. They last a long time, can be used undiluted to create oil-like paintings, or diluted with water or glaze to use for washes and glazes. They mix well among themselves. The colours in this set are very bright, almost fluoro, and a pleasure to work with them. I think this sizing is perfect as some of the colours might not be everyone's cup of tea. Great start taster, perfect to try before purchasing the full size product.  I bought this packet during the Boxing Day sale and they were very affordable, but they are on the expensive side.

12/04/2023

Zhu Ting 12-piece Flat Art Paint Brush Set

This is a great set of expensive-looking flat nylon hair brushes perfect for acrylic paint. The variety of sizes is great, but I miss one or two larger brushes. They are great quality. The bristles don't deform despite me leaving the brushes in water for days or using them with acrylic paint, gesso or matte medium.  The handle seems not to stain as quickly or badly as other brushes I own. They clean easily with hand soap under running water even when the paint is a bit dry on the bristles. They are great value for money as well. The only downside is that these brushes are on the small side, and a bit smaller than other brushes with the same sizing (see my photos).

11/19/2023

Mont Marte Watercolour Pad A5 300gsm 12 Sheet

This is an A5 paper pad of good quality 300 gsm paper. You know, there are good and not so good 300 gsm watercolour paper, and this is good paper, and great value for money as well. 

I've tested the paper without pre-gessoing the surface, which leaves the paper more exposed to the media I used. I've used both acrylic paint and acrylic inks, adding quite a bit of dripping and the paper stood everything wonderfully and I was totally surprised at how well it took acrylic paint and acrylic inks, without buckling or deteriorating. I like the paper texture and the fact that the pad is glued just in one of the sides, but I'm not a fan of the paper colour. Yet, it doesn't really matter, because I will be painting over it and I can change that easily.

GAIA Skin Naturals Bamboo Baby Wipes, 80 Piece

I love Gaia products. They never disappoint me. This is also the case with these sensitive bamboo-based wipes. I don't have children, so I bought these wipes to use in my art practice. I have been using cleaning household wipes, critic acid based, and they are great, but they're not environmentally friendly and are sometimes too harsh on painting surfaces, so I thought I would give these Gaia a try.
 
These bamboo wipes have a lovely soft texture and a sweet creamy scent that I love. They are not too dry or drippy, still wet, so they're perfect for smudging and blending different kinds of media on paper without wiping off the whole thing or destroying the surface. They are also great to use with stencils as they wipe off paint and leave clear marks without leaving watery residue or blotting the paint. They are lovely to clean off residual paint from my painting brushes (both silicone and synthetic bristles) after I have had them submerged in water for a while, or to remove medium or gesso from my silicone brushes easily.

They don't work as well to wipe off almost dry paint completely or remove stubborn dry paint on my hands, table or brushes, though.
 
I love that these wipes are plant-based and environmentally friendly. I bought the small package just to given them a try, but I will definitely buy them again in a large package.

10/24/2023

MEEDEN 7-Well Studio Porcelain Paint Palette Tray

This is such a great idea and design. I use many things as palette, from palette paper to plastic reused lids to oven paper. Yet, sometimes my table is covered with clutter that limits my working space. This almost fixes the problem as I don't need to use big surfaces unless I'm using a roller or painting on larger surfaces.
 
This tray is very small (see my photo against my mouse), but it's perfect for me to hold in my small hands. The recesses of the flower shape are great for my fingers to grip the piece comfortably. I tend to use many colors when painting, so this is great to put all my acrylics, gesso and medium in one single container. The little wells are great for the quantities of product that I usually use.
 
As it's porcelain, it cleans easily with average household dish-washing liquid and water. I wash it by hand, not in the dishwasher, so I don't know whether is dishwasher-safe or not.
 
 Very happy with the purchase and with the fact that is porcelain not plastic, and therefore environmentally friendly.

9/25/2022

Comiart Feather Wire Texture + Pro Needle Detail Tools

I don't use these for sculpture but for my mixed media artwork. I paint on thick watercolour paper, so I can use these without a problem to make marks, but minding the pressure I put as they can be quite 'abrasive' on the paper. Both tools are made of good quality metal. The needle tool comes with a protection cap, which is needed as it's really pointy and I could harm myself if I placed it in my pen holder without any protection. I wish the fan tool came with a cap and the 'hairs' were a bit more flexible. Overall, a good must-have set for abstract painting

9/11/2022

Meeden 7-Piece Flat Paint Brushes Set Short Handle

I've had this set for a few months already and use all the brushes on a weekly basis. This set has a good selection of flat sizes. I especially love the two smallest ones, but all of them are good. The flat shape is wonderful for most painting purposes. I tend to leave the brushes in water for a long time, and the handle and ferrule haven't been affected or deteriorated. The synthetic hair perfectly stands all the acrylic paints I use (heavy body, flow and high flow) and the hair recovers its shape easily once it is cleaned. I clean them with hand soap and water under the tap when they're really stained, and they wash beautifully. The only downside is that the hairs are not as flexible as I'd like to, but, for the price, they're great and beautifully designed.

9/07/2022

Comiart Clay Silicon Color Shapers Brushes Size 6

I'm most disappointed with these paint shappers. I wasn't expecting these to be top notch quality for the price, for sure. Truth to be told, the silicon nibs and metal ferrule parts are OK.
They allow me to experiment with different brush strokes and techniques and are helping me make my mind about those that I 'd d like purchased good quality. I also like that each brush has a different coloured handle.

However, the handles come off easily even before using them, all of them, as they are screw-like but not really screwed as per my photo. They can be put in easily, but I have to take care that they don't come off when I'm painting. So I'll have to glue them or cover the joints with insulating tape.

UPDATE 14/10/22
What I said above still stands. However, I put insulating tape around the ferrule, in the part that connects to the handle, and this has made the trick. I keep the brushes in water for quite a while and no issue. For the rest, I use these brushes all the time, almost on a daily basis, with acrylics, adhesives and different mediums and they're great. I hope they fix the handles-tip connection because they are great for the rest. I've added an extra star to my rating.