Art Supplies: Artist's Loft by Micheal's

On my recent trip to Michael's Arts and Crafts (looking for Acrylic Paints and Pastels), I came across this relatively inexpensive brand, called, "Artist's Loft". As if the prices were not ridiculously affordable already, it happened to be on sale as well, "Buy two get one free", and since I was a beginner at using paints and pastels, I decided to jump aboard this deal. 

Each set was $9.99, and it all came with a set of colors and a pad of paper. I got an acrylic paint set, a watercolor set, and a soft pastel set.

I have used each of these already, however, I only started painting with watercolors and acrylics recently, so I really do not know the difference between qualities of brands, but I do know how I feel about them.

Here are my thoughts:

I have another set of Watercolors that I had recently bought from Target, and I like them, but these Artist's Loft ones offer so much more! A little bit goes a long way with these. For $10, you sure are getting a great value. 

The paper it came with was okay. I prefer smoother, for I found this paper has a lot more texture than my other watercolor paper and I found that I do not like that.

I just watched this Video on youtube from an incredible self-taught acrylic-artist (Philippe Fernandez), giving his opinions about the different grades of acrylic paints, and was so happy when he said that all of his paintings are painting with craft-acrylics! Craft acrylics are the cheapest acrylic paint one can buy! So, that means it did not matter how much your paints costs to produce a great painting.

And these acrylics do give a great punch of color. A little also goes a long way! I find myself thinning it down with water, to make the paint apply more smoother. 

Now for the Pastels, I have to say, I don't know if I like them. I read a lot of reviews about Pastels are like chalk, but more blendable and more vibrant. However, these were hard for me to work with, and they do not blend well with each other. 

It may be that I don't have the experience to know how to use pastels properly, so I can not say these are horrible just yet. I guess I need to play around with these a little bit more.

I am really contemplating on getting more of their acrylics, because you cannot beat the price! Micheal's also sell Artist's Loft Art Supplies in smaller and cheaper ($4.99) sets, so I am thinking about looking into those. Overall, I am really happy with my purchase!

FYI**Artist's Loft is one of Micheal's private brands, so they can only be found online or at Micheal's Stores**

Happy Art Shopping! Alice