The most interesting aspect of this pen is that hex shape of the barrel and cap. It’s comfortable to hold and doesn’t roll away.

In order to activate the marker, you need to push the tip down until it goes into the barrel to prime the ink. It should only be necessary to do this when its new or if you have used a lot of paint.

For a bullet tip paint pen, the color is pretty opaque and the flow was good.

I would compare the pen and color to a Sharpie water-based paint pen. Most artists have one or two paint pens in their toolbox. I think the Pilot Juice Paint is a good option when you need to replace your existing stash.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Mini-Review: Pilot Juice Paint Pen in White appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I should start by saying that my speciality is needle arts, so I know next to nothing about paint pens. This is a set of 10 water based acrylic markers – 8 colors (Cool Fall), plus a white pen and a “blending pen.” While I’m a bit of a dunce at figuring out how to blend (and it looks like Ana didn’t have a lot of success) I did have fun seeing what the colors are.

They don’t come named, but I think they correspond to all the colors of fall leaves – red and orange, green and brown. And there are a few cool blues thrown in there for good measure. In fact, the collection reminds me quite a bit of a crocheted blanket I made last year in an autumn palette.

While these markers worked just fine on my Maruman Mnemosyne paper, I also tried them on black and kraft paper in my Night Sky journal (also from Archer & Olive) with mixed success. Some colors showed up super brightly, while others were paler. Maybe I didn’t press hard enough on the tip to get enough ink flow?

I would say these pens were a middling success, but they were fun to try out!

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. The Acrylograph pens were purchased with Ana’s own funds, and Laura purchased the Night Sky Journal with her own funds. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Pen Review: Archer & Olive Acrylograph Cool Fall Colors appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Viviva Colorsheets have been on the market for a couple years but this is the first time I’ve tested them. Tina has reviewed them in the past but I thought it would be handy to (1) try them myself and (2) provide another perspective about the product.

The Colorsheets come in a folded heavy cardstock booklet with a square of thick, dried watercolor pigment for each color included. Each page in the Viviva Colorsheet booklet has four colors, two on each side of the fold with water resistant, translucent divider stock in between. The divider stock helps to keep the colors from merging together, particularly if they are still damp.

The bottom of the pages are stair stepped with a color key to make finding colors faster and easier.

Often, the dried paint swatches do not look at all like the color they are when applied to paper. Doing a swatch key is definitely important in order to recognize each color accurately.

The set of Viviva Colorsheets I purchased was the 2020 Inktober edition which featured 20 colors. Two of the colors were basically black and an opaque-ish white which I seldom use in watercolor.

Above are swatch tests on three different papers — the top is the Leuctturm1917 sketchbook then the Stillman & Birn Delta and finally (bottom) Alpha.

There is a little bit of color shifting depending on the paper stock but overall the colors are pretty consistent on good multimedia or watercolor paper.

The swatch above is in the Shinola Sketchbook.

I get hung up on the three largely similar shades of red and the dusk orange and gold ochre being nearly identical as well. On some papers, the Vermillion or Burnt Umber also looked quite similar.

I’ve been trained that with a portable watercolor palette, you need a red, yellow and blue — each with one in a warm version of the color and a cool version. Then maybe a specific pre-mixed green, a a warm and cool earth tone (ochre and sepia, for example) then whatever is your whimsy — maybe a pre-mixed pink or purple, payne’s grey, etc. So, 10-12 colors maximum and then mix thee rest.

There is a coated paper palette included that can be attached into the back of the booklet but it’s relatively small so I am not sure how effective it would be for mixing paint. The paper squares of pigment are difficult to look at and determine how much pigment is left on each square. Also, if you use up one color in the palette there is (currently) no easy way to replace that one color short of buying a whole new set.

I like the idea of having a very portable little watercolor palette to keep tucked in my bag with a waterbrush so I have quick, easy access to colors when I need them. This set is definitely small but lacks a truly functional mixing palette and no easy way to replace or add new colors easily. I still think a small watercolor pan set with swappable pans which can be replaced or refilled is still the better solution. If I decide I want to paint four pages in my sketchbook blue, I want to know I have enough blue paint and that I can add more pigment to my palette as needed.

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided free of charge for the purpose of review. The Viviva Colorsheets were purchased with my own money however. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Art Supplies: Viviva Colorsheets appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.