Happy New Year everyone! I got a couple more months of ArtSnacks for Christmas this year, so let the unboxing begin! I will be honest, I hate the art journal page I created for the Artsnacks Challenge this month, which is too bad as it revolves around one of my favorite literary quotes :-/. No judging!

In this box I received a:

• Stabilo Sensor Black Fineliner
• 2 Colors of Golden Fluid Acrylics
• KINGART Original Gold 9000 Series Golden Taklon Brush, Round Size 2
• Stonehenge Aqua Coldpress Heavy Mini Paper Pad by Legion Paper
• Lifesaver and one of the more adorable Artsnacks logo stickers 🙂

Starting with the fineliner – So sad, but I hated this pen. It comes down to personal preference, but I felt the tip did not allow for fine details, and as you can tell from my end result below, it cannot be used with liquid media without bleeding really badly. I had to go over a lot of lines again because they had nearly disappeared after I applied paint, and the bleeding and smudging is still visible. The ink was definitely dry, as I outlined one day and came back the next to finish the journal page. I feel like it would be better suited for writing than drawing.

As for the paints, I have heard of Golden Acrylics because many of the artists I know will only use this brand exclusively. These paints lived up to their reputation for sure – smooth to work with, nice blending, bold colors that keep their rich look after drying, and great coverage. If anything, this exercise reinforced the fact that I need to sign up for that acrylic painting class I’d been debating taking next month. I mainly use acrylics on crafts or for small scale accents in my mixed media work, and my skills are pretty rusty. I kept trying to use the paints like watercolors, and ironically this line of Golden paints is a great option for acrylic painters crossing over from watercolor due to their intentional transparency.

I also had good luck with the paintbrush. I adore fine line brushes since when I do use acrylics, as mentioned previously, it is mainly just for adding subtle outlines or small details to enhance a larger project in other mediums. Taklon is the material I prefer for my acrylic brushes, and I could tell that this was a quality brush that was going to last. It was the perfect Goldilocks brush – not too soft, not too firm. I haven’t replaced my paintbrush collection since… probably about 10 years ago, so I will definitely be keeping these in mind when I need to get some new brushes.

I found the paper included very interesting as well. The surface is like watercolor paper, but the weight is like painting on a board. It’s a great option for acrylics when you don’t want to use a canvas, and I’d love to try it with watercolors as well … I feel like it wouldn’t ripple as much as traditional watercolor paper.

As I said, I really don’t like how this image turned out but, nevertheless … I apologize, Mr. Vonnegut, for besmirching your memory with this so-so art. So it goes … 😉

Watch out for another unboxing next month! I also will have some new art and project ideas in queue for posting, so keep your eyes peeled!