I actually finished these the first of last week, but have been pokey about posting. (It also means I have finished all for 2025, and am caught up, but will brag about that in my next posting). YaY!
Can you say acrylics…??? That’s what the April monthly box had in it, complete with paint, brushes, and canvas pad!
Jacquard Matte Acrylic Paint (Turquoise Blue, Lime Green, Deep Red), Karin Pigment Realbrush (Rose Pink), Copic Acrea Marker (cloud white), Princeton Select Angular Shader (#6), 4 Premium Gold (#4), Strathmore Canvas Pad (4×6”, 100% cotton, 10 sheets)
Lots of fun things in this box, and as always, items I haven’t used much (I repeat…I’m a watercolor, and pen and ink girl). But I enjoy everything @getSketchBox sends. Some are more challenging than others, like these acrylics. They dry so fast, and I need lots of practice in mixing them because I make LOTS of mud colors when I mix paint. The brushes and real brush marker were very complimentary for this box.
For May, the box included bunches of different types of markers, and the “prompt” was “sprout”. I utilized pictures I had taken of plants and shrubbery in our own yard. I was happy to utilize my photography. I think that’s always better than using pictures others have taken, even if noted as being “free to use.”
I typically use markers in my pen/ink house portraits done for commission, but I’ve seldom used them for a whole drawing, and will employ them more this way in the future. They are very versatile, and can provide more detail than I had ever realized. Again…I thank SketchBox for taking me out of my comfort zone to use markers in a different way!
Finally, for the first half of 2025, the monthly box for June contained pastels. I may have mentioned before that I hadn’t used pastels since high school, and have fallen in love with them now.
Van Gogh Oil Pastel 6-set (White 100.5, Carmine 318.5, Phalo Blue 570.5, Yellow 200.5, Fir Green 764.5, Blue Violet 548.5), Senniler Oil Pastel 3-Set ( Red gold, Reddish Brown Gold, & Transparent Blue), Sketchbox Signature Colot Shapers 3-set (Bullet, Cup round, Flat chisel), Legion Stonehenge Oil (4×6”, 300 gsm, 12 sheets)
Love, love the consistency of oil pastels and the colors they bring. The prompt for this moth was “fresh fruit”, and I got a little hung up on oranges, so tried a pineapple, too.
I enjoyed drawing the leaves of the pineapple as much as the actual fruit. As for the oranges…they almost look real in close up. Keep sending these wonderful boxes @getSketchBox.com…and I’ll keep challenging myself!!!!
hailey-stout studio 