Acrylic Painting Set

I received the US Art Supply 19-Piece Acrylic Painting Set through a promotion.

Product Info:

• 3-Piece 24cm x 30cm canvas panels
• 12-Piece 12mL acrylic paint colors
• Small wood pallet
• 3-Piece bristle paint brushes

The US Art Supply's Acrylic Painting Set is a great set for beginner painters or someone who wants a variety of colors in one set. 

The canvases are a nice, medium sized canvases. They were packaged well in shipping and had no damage to them. They were wrapped tightly together to keep them from sliding around or rubbing against each other too much. 

The wooden pallet is okay. I prefer to use plastic ones because they're easier to wash, but if dried paint on a pallet doesn't both you, either style works well. The wooden pallet is a nice size. The thumb hole makes it easy to hold the pallet while painting. The main downside I didn't like about this wood pallet is that the wood had some rough spots on them. It's spots where one could get slivers from. 

The colors are fantastic! The markings on the containers of paint are true to what the color turns out to be once it dries. The colors cover majority of the basic colors one could need or want with painting, and you can mix paints to get different colors or tones. The paint dries fairly quickly.

The brushes were a bit disappointing. The bristles were very brittle and stiff. The bristles didn't stick well together, even with paint on them. There was always a few fly aways that were sticking out at random angles. For beginner painters, for kids, or those who enjoy abstract painting, this wouldn't be too much of a problem. For those who are more into detail or those who have perfectionist tendencies when painting, this could be an issue. 

Overall, this paint set is really nice. It covers the basic painting materials. My favorite part is the variety of colors. 

 Check this set on Amazon. 

Table Top Aluminum Easel

I received the US Art Supply Table Top Aluminum Easel through a promotion.

Product Info:

• Lightweight aluminum metal
• Folds to about 19" for storage
• Additional arm for added canvas support 
• Tri-Pod back leg for display angle adjustments 
• Accommodates canvases up to 22" and boards up to 24" 

The Table Top Aluminum Easel is a decent easel for displaying artwork that's on canvas sizes 22" or smaller or board sizes 24" or smaller. 

I wouldn't recommend using this easel for drawing or most styles of painting. When you put pressure on the canvas or board on the easel, the easel's front legs will sometimes move. It can cause you to mess up on your artwork. It's not entirely steady or sturdy enough to use if you're going to actually touch the canvas. 

For painting styles where you splash, drip, or mix with water and allow the paint to just run on the canvas while it's angled, this canvas does work. It allows you to get different angles and directions when you allow the paint to run or drip when it's mixed with water. It gives the paint different color hues and styles. On the downside, this style of painting will get the easel dirty.

For the most part, the easel is okay to clean. The small space between the raised edges of the aluminum can make it difficult to get paint or other material cleaned up in between the lines. The screw and hinge area of the bottom of the easel is more difficult to clean because of the little areas paint can get into or drip. As long as you don't mind easels getting dirty, this isn't a problem.

The way the easel is designed makes it very nice for storage. The way it folds down allows the easel to take up only a small amount of space. 

The leg only has about a 45 degree angle range, which is slightly disappointing. On the other hand, the angle range does make it that the easel stays up better. The legs don't have a non-slip or skid rubber on them. There's a type of rubber to help keep the easel from scratching up surfaces, but the legs can still move while the easel is in use. 

The extra arm is nice to help hold up bigger canvases or to hold canvases up at an angle. On the downside, this arm can be bent because it's a fairly thin, light aluminum metal. Not what I'd consider high quality. 

Note: This easel does have some parts that can be choking hazards to pets or children. The rubber ends on the legs of the easel can be pulled off. The washers on the end of the screws, such as with that extra arm, can fall off if too much pressure is on the arm. 

Check out this product on Amazon.