If you have walked around a Michael's, you have probably seen the Artist's Loft brand with the blue logo. Normally, these are located in the more inexpensive section of the store and they have A LOT of supplies. Rulers, paper, paint, brushes, and canvas pads just to name a few things that they offer. But have you ever wondered if their brand is worth buying into? After I've spent several years using some of their products, I can say: Yes....depending on what you're trying to use. Let me preface by saying you can create art with so many materials and supplies. Have you seen Howard Lee's videos of him using a burnt-out matchstick to create one half of a drawing???? If you haven't, please check him out: $0 vs $300 Pencils Drawing Challenge!. The point is, you can use anything from Crayola to Sennelier to create art. It just depends on your art style, budget, and what your art goals are. So, what are the pros and cons of Artist's Loft art supplies? Pros: -Their catalogue is HUGE! Like I said before, if you are looking for acrylic paints, pencils, canvas pads, markers, graphite sets, and artist tables, you will find something that meets your needs. Honestly, I think you can build up your entire studio with Artist's Loft supplies and materials. -You can experiment without breaking the bank. If you ever wanted to try a brush head type or watercolors without committing, Artist's Loft can help you figure out what you like. You can easily get a set of nice brushes for less than $10 to help figure out your preference in brushes. If you want to try soft pastels, they have 12, 24, and 48 sets available from $12 to $33 for you to experiment. Speaking of prices..... -Everything is at least 10-20% cheaper than the lower to mid-rated brands. The money I saved from buying their rulers, palette knives, and blending stumps allowed me to buy higher-quality acrylic paint or oil pastels. A ruler is a ruler (although some would disagree). I can get away with a cheap ruler or protractor so I can put more money into my medium of choice.

After some debating and researching, I bit the bullet and finally got Sennelier oil pastels! If you are not familiar with Sennelier, they are one of the top art manufacturers in the world and sell a variety of mediums, including watercolors, acrylics, inks, and gouache. Most of their 24 piece oil pastel sets are sold out right now so I went ahead and bought the 72 piece set. I don't normally buy high quality sets like this but after some encouragement (Thanks Sorian!) and my Mom asking what I wanted for Christmas (thanks Mom!), I felt ready for them. I can already tell these oil pastels feel different. Just the sheen on them makes them look gorgeous. I will swatch with them and try to create a drawing tonight. I'm super pumped and can't wait to share how I use them! Ps. The art manager approves.

So sorry I haven’t posted in a while or interacted in the community due to a sickness but slowly getting back into it. Today, I swatched my first ever ARTISTRO palette that was given as a gift! Just looking at the colors in the palette each were pretty and shimmery looking amazing already. I noticed that with the Chameleon colors they were very light on the watercolor paper but showed up much different on the black paper. I really appreciate the black water color paper that was provided and extra paper that was given in the set too! I prefer how the pigments showed up on the black paper because I feel the color and sparkles shows up more. Glass Slipper surprised me because it was almost clear on the white paper but is nice on the black paper. Looking at the swatches what might be your favorite?

MAKE FANCY FUN Ferris Wheel Press is a Canadian stationery company specializing in water-based fountain pen inks and accessories. Known for their creative, story-inspired products, the company launched on Kickstarter in 2018 with the mission to “help everyone fall in love with writing again.” Their offerings include richly saturated inks, elegant pens, and beautifully crafted, narrative-driven packaging. I’ve become absolutely enchanted by Ferris Wheel Press inks 🌟 and couldn’t resist sharing them with all of you! From deep pigments to shimmer, sheen, and shading, these inks truly make my art pop. Though technically designed for calligraphy, I use them in my watercolor illustrations for special accents and washes. They perform beautifully with both wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry techniques—and the best part? A little goes a long way! Below is a video of my swatch book collection, showcasing their incredible variety and exquisite handblown glass bottles (seriously, Ferris Wheel Press 💅). In my Old Fashioned illustration, I used King Midas Collection Ambrosia Indulgence (a deep red with gold shimmer) to create reflective depth in the rocks glass, paired with Algonquin Maple (bright vivid red) for those geometric pops of color. The results are vibrant, dimensional, and full of life! Ferris Wheel Press is both high quality and approachable, and receiving your inks in the mail feels like opening a special gift. Their customer service is top-notch, and their loyalty program makes each purchase even sweeter. For faster delivery, some of their inks are available on Amazon. I hope you enjoyed this review, and I can’t wait for you to fall in love with inks as much as I have. What are your favorite inks or effects? How do you incorporate them into your creative work? Do you have any favorite ink brands? If so please share 🤗 💗 Heres to making the world a more beautiful place through creativity and love 💗 Christopher Foster

After a month and a half of using the Yasutomo oil pastels, I'm excited to finally to share my thoughts! My review will be based on the 36 color set: Niji® Oil Pastels, 36 Color Set (NOP36) – Yasutomo My first impression of the set was just how beautiful the entire set was with the different hues and values. While I wish the oil pastels were larger, they're a great value for $10.75. I started using them the same day and immediately fell in love. Over the weeks that followed, I experimented with them on different paper types, used acrylic paint, and tested how they worked with other oil pastels. Paper: I found that these oil pastels do better with a lighter weighted paper such as mixed media, mineral, and colored pencil paper. That's not to say canvas pad is bad but I definitely needed to apply more pressure to the paper to get the saturation that I wanted. However, with added pressure comes with the high risk of breaking the pastels themselves. I've already broken a few of them in half because of my heavy hand. Blending: Blending was definitely a trial-and-error time for me. Every time I tried to blend, the oil would come off and left a watercolor look. Cotton swabs, fingers, and blending stumps did not give me the effect that I wanted. The only way I could keep the saturation was to blend it with the same or complimentary colors. It required me to take a step back and plan my next move instead of just jumping in and saying, "Oh I can blend this later". Layering: Layering went great with my projects. Knowing that I couldn't blend as easily with this brand, I really had to be aware of what colors I was putting down and the amount of pressure. Sometimes coloring worked out beautifully while other times I ended up with muddiness. The lower value colors would really clash so I had to find a happy medium (pun intended :D). Once I had a better idea of layering, my art would pop and I had more detail.