Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!

E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!

Discover

🛠️ Decades of Creativity: My Most-Used & Reliable Art Supplies Tested over time—these are the tools I keep coming back to.

27 items

Christine Lainberger

🎨 Summary of My Favorite Art Supplies Over the years, I’ve tested countless art tools, and these are the ones I keep reaching for. From trusted sketchbooks to rich acrylics, quick-clean solutions to protective finishes, this list includes versati...

Sections

Paints related

Pen and paper related

Sketching

Paints related

📦 My Go-To for Bulk Art Supplies (Especially Canvases!) When it’s time to restock, this is my favorite spot to bulk order—especially for canvas replacements. The prices are reasonable, the quality hits the sweet spot, and it’s easy to reach the free...

Art Canvases and Painting Surfaces

Liquitex Fluids Acrylic Mediums can be used as an extender and fixative for Liquitex Acrylic Paints, giving increased flow without affecting paint stability. Matte Mediums can be used to maintain opacity and extend opaque colors to double amounts wit...

Liquitex Fluids Acrylic Mediums

🎨 Koi Watercolors from Blick – My Go-To for Plein Air Sketches These are my favorites when I want to travel light and let the world become my canvas. Koi watercolor sets from Blick are perfect for groundwork and à la carte moments—easy to carry, eas...

Sakura Koi Watercolor Half Pan Sets

🎨 Liquitex Professional Heavy Body Acrylics – Buttery, Bold, and Beautiful When I want rich in-bottle pigmentation and smooth, consistent color mixing, Liquitex Professional Heavy Body Acrylics are my top choice. The texture is buttery and satisf...

Liquitex Professional Heavy Body Acrylic Paints and Sets

🖌️ ArtBin Essentials Brush Box – Smart Storage for Precious Brushes This box stores and protects up to 20 brushes, keeping them safe from damage whether you’re in the studio or on the move. Foam inserts hold each brush securely in place, while ve...

ArtBin Essentials Brush Box

It’s always good to keep a close variable of soaps for washing of paints of many types.

“The Masters”® Soap

This is my favorite oil color Set of 9, Introductory Colors, 37 ml for beginners

Gamblin Artist's Oil Paints and Sets

🖼️ Blick Easels – Essential for a Controlled, Professional Work Surface To create top-line art, you need a workspace that supports you—literally. A quality easel from Blick gives your canvas the proper depth, angle, and stability to maintain cont...

Best Classic Santa Fe II Easel

My favorite way to gesso my canvases that need it. Covered in perfection.

Golden Acrylic Gesso

🟦 Blue Shop Towels – My Cleanup Hero for Oil Paints These are my go-to towels for handling oil paint and quick studio cleanups. They’re tougher than paper, gentler than standard rags, and perfect for wiping brushes or hands without irritating cot...

Blue - Shop Towels

🧼 Wet Ones from Target – My Secret Weapon for Paint Mishaps Great for quick recovery when acrylic paint ends up somewhere it shouldn’t. A fast swipe with a Wet One can stop a stain before it sets—especially with fast-drying acrylics. They help ...

Target

🚗 Compact Starter Easel – Great for Small Spaces and On-the-Go Creativity Perfect for those just starting to paint or working in tighter spaces, this easel holds canvases up to 24 inches tall and offers a reliable base without dominating your room. ...

Blick Studio Heavy-Duty H-Frame Easel

Easy clean up of paint Cleanup is quick and easy with Blick Studio Disposable Palette Pads — just tear off a sheet, use it for your painting session, then throw it away! Great for use with acrylics, casein, and oils, the palette paper pads are ava...

Blick Studio Disposable Palette Pads

Pen and paper related

🎨 Winsor & Newton Watercolor Markers Bring your vision to life—fast. These dual-tip markers pack serious pigment, offering the rich look of watercolor with the precision and speed of a pen. Perfect for capturing ideas on the go or adding refined...

Winsor & Newton Promarker Watercolor Markers and Sets

🛡️ Krylon UV Archival Varnish – Maximum Protection for Finished Artwork This is my top choice for sealing and preserving completed pieces. Krylon UV Archival Varnish offers the highest UV protection available in a spray form—ideal for acrylic, oil, ...

UV Archival Varnish

If you want to layer color pencil and not make a mess in process this is the spray you have been looking for. Light and easy to use. ✏️ Krylon Workable Matte Fixatif – Clean, Clear, and Smudge-Free This clear matte fixative is a staple for preservi...

Krylon Workable Matte Fixatif

🖋️ Zebra Pens – Reliable, Refined, and Ready for Anything Zebra has been a longtime favorite of mine for a reason. Their pens last as long as you’d hope—solid ink flow, tight caps that click securely, and smart design that makes it easy to know when...

Zebra

🖊️ Sharpie Markers – A Creative Classic Since 2000 Sharpie has been my go-to brand for over two decades—and with 150+ colors on hand at any time, I never run out of ways to bring ideas to life. From bold statements to ultra-fine detailing, their ran...

Sharpie

Great storage items for artists

Blick Mesh Zipper Bags

I like to use this for my paper projects and the stick it provides is the best I have found for paper and my collaborative projects with it never disappoints.

Elmer's Rubber Cement

My favorite 💦 watercolor painting pad. Archival and a variety pack has several presses for each depth of pairings you want to explore in watercolor painting 🖼️

Strathmore 400 Series Watercolor Paper

This may be the best idea ever for cutting paper on.

Helix Translucent Cutting Mat & Craft Knife - 8 1/2" x 12" - #26012 NEW

Best color ✏️ I have been using since 2000.

Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils and Sets

Sketching

🌀 Spiral-Bound Mixed Media Sketchbooks – Built for Layers & Play These sketchbooks are perfect for mixed media projects. The spiral binding gives you flexibility to fold, layer, and build across pages without fighting the spine—making it feel...

Stillman & Birn

📓 Hardcover Sketchbooks from Jerry’s Artarama One of my favorite hidden gems—Jerry’s sells their smallest hardcover sketchbooks for around $2 in-store. Great for bulk buys when I’m nearby, and perfect for quick sketches, idea dumps, or daily creativ...

Sketchbooks

🗒️ Post-it Notes – Because It’s Better to Remember Than to Forget Sometimes the simplest tools are the most powerful. Post-it Notes help me capture thoughts before they slip away—whether it’s a supply to reorder, a color combo I loved, or an idea ...

Sticky Notes

📄 Strathmore Paper – USA-Based and Artist-Trusted Strathmore is one of those brands that’s stood the test of time. Proudly made in the USA, their papers are a go-to for sketching, mixed media, and watercolor. The texture, weight, and quality are con...

Strathmore: Paper, Sketchbooks, and Pads