Super Cute Grabie Watercolor Set Travel Kit Review with Plein Air Painting. Yes, I Went OUTSIDE! 😂
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- čas přidán 6. 09. 2024
- Grabie sent me this really cute little travel set which has a tin of 12 watercolour half pans, and a whole bunch of other goodies in a convenient drawstring bag. Today I will try it out, do some swatching, and gasp some plein air painting outdoors in nature! 😱 It has been ages since I did any kind of urban sketching so I am really glad I did this, and I hope to do so more often in the future. On days when it isn't raining or freezing or windy or boiling hot, which is pretty much most of the time here in Melbourne, lol!
Grabie Travel Watercolor Set: bit.ly/3B8CaKO and for 15% off use code Becky15
Product SKU: BAS221000311
I just noticed there is an option to buy paper refills too, which is awesome!
Because I know someone will ask: that little green water flask is an Odeme Oval Mini Flask. They're really hard to find now, but I did see a dupe on Ali Express here: bit.ly/3Fb5fXd
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I’m introverted too and I get uneasy when people watch me; I’m not overly skilled! However I do find most people admire the effort and creativity. Cute little set. Enjoy!
Folks are just curious to see what's going on....it'll never not be awkward though, lol.
I'm with you on being shy to paint outdoors, Becky. Having said that I am booked to go to the Urban Sketching Symposium in Auchland in April. It is probably the only one I will ever be able to afford to go, and I keep telling myself there will be lots of other people there sketching as well. I joined a Community College course in Urban Sketching a few years ago. Unfortunately, the teacher didn't give much in the way of instruction and the other people were really good. I decided to embrace my limitations and while everyone else was drawing the Opera House I decided to sketch an old abandoned bicycle leaning against the wall opposite. I am really hoping I learn something worthwhile in Auchland.
Oh that's awesome! I grew up in Auckland and did consider buying tickets but I think I'd prefer to sketch somewhere where I didn't live for half of my life, haha! Plus we were just there in May, so I think we will go further afield on our next overseas trip. I hope you have an amazing time on the Sketching Symposium. I went to Brisbane Sketchfest in 2019 and had a blast, it was so much fun! ❤️
Very nice presentation. Kudos to your bravery for going out into the wild for some plein air painting and filming. I'm with you on the plein air experience - it does naturally draw attention and us introverts don't handle that very well at all. Of course when you were first pouring your water from the little flask, folks might have thought you were just settling in to have a nip of libation mid day. 😄
Haha that is very true! That little flask is very much intended for stronger things than water, but it is so tiny and portable I use it for my art, lol!
I think It's a good gift for someone that just started with watercolor. They seem medium pigmented,so I wouldn't compare them to well known professional paints,but they're good for a beginner or someone that just paints for a hobby👍🏻☺
Definitely not pro paints, but they don't really need to be for a little set like this, and it's always easy enough to swap half pans out for other ones. 😊
We call that "deceptively bright". When the sun makes everything look much warmer than it actually is. Love the little adventure.
It was about 20C in the sun, but much colder out of it and with the wind chill!
This is such a cute little set. Love the colors, Payen's gray is just stunning.
It's my favourite colour in the set! 😊
Lovely painting Becky! The Payne’s grey is a strong color but the rest are a bit muted. I agree with you that it’s a starter/student grade set but some of the colors could be switched out for different ones. Well done for painting en plein air and in the cold!
It was a bit of fun anyway! If rather chilly....😂
I do like the travel brush being solidly put together, I've got several different makes now and most of them are not great in that respect. I end up using them without the cap, which can be awkward when the brush part isn't quite long enough! Good for you getting outdoors - it's on my list of things to do when our weather gets a bit less freezing!
I have a few wobbly travel brushes too, so I was really happy to get a sturdy one in this set!
That little flask i everything :D I love it
I found that flask years ago in a newsagent of all places, and have never seen them again since, lol!
Oh I would definitely be shy making art out in public, you’re not alone!! I love that this comes with a nice travel brush and that pen also! The colors are a bit confusing, the cadmium red is definitely too orange and a second green would be useful. Or yellow ochre perhaps. Grabie did ask me if I’d like to try this and I’m trying something else instead however now I regret the decision and I’d like to try this one as well😂 I am so greedy. Did your neck get sore at all painting on your lap? The scene turned out cute and you did a good job mixing the colors 🎉
Haha don’t worry, Gracie have all sorts of cool looking things that I want to try and it’s hard to choose when they give different options! I want it all! 😂 I was fine during the painting, probably because I wasn’t there too long, but yes I imagine I’d get sore after a while. I prefer painting at a picnic table, or maybe off an easel . I hope to get a better setup going for plain air artworks! So many ideas for next year, lol.
I would definitely have loved to see a kit like that when I was starting off with watercolour… to have everything you need to give it a try, without buying several individual items is convenient. Loved seeing the green park and flowers where you were painting, as we’re heading into winter, everything is grey, brown and rather drab looking outside. We’ll be covered with snow soon enough. Hope to see you do more Plein air painting so I can live vicariously through you while it’s freezing/snowy/icy here!
It is finally warming up here; the weather has been so wet during winter and spring. I hope to have some more little outdoor arting adventures during the next few months. 😊
Love that little sketch and painting. I'm so impressed. I haven't had the experience of plein air yet. But I'm wanting to. It's winter here and I so loved seeing all your beautiful surroundings. Have a beautiful day Becky. Karen from Canada. ☺☺💖💖
Winter is never an easy time to paint outside! Mind you, neither is full summer here when it is 35-40C, lol. There is a brief window where conditions will be perfect. 😂
Great little travel kit!! But for me it's a no sadly, I'm way to introverted to ever paint outside!! I couldn't even show my face on camera I'm that bad, I hate my photo taken also, I'm most happy on my own in my own space, but I can see this kit being very popular with people who do wander outside, it's got everything you need really, a waterbrush would have made it perfect, I loved your little painting and that park was just beautiful!! Everything coming into full bloom, heaven! :D
Haha yes I have to fight with my shyness but I do like painting outdoors and once I get into it, I tend to forget there are others around. But yes, being on camera is always really difficult, hence why I mostly film my hands, lol.
Your day out looked so nice, eevn if it was cold! I go down most days to my “park” ( an Apple store with a really great lawn) and paint a little something. I’ve only ever had one person look or comment! If you want to paint outdoors, then paint outdoors! Most people are too absorbed in themselves or their phones to care about what you are doing. Even though I dont love waterbrushes, I use them almost exclusively outdoors. Too hard to find a place/ Balance a water pot. The only other thing I need is a paper towel, or my favorite, a fluffy wristband (or a cut off sock top) to clean and dry my brush.
A paper towel is always very useful to have! I tried a wristband but I got too sweaty, lol. I guess we live in an area where people like to see what others are doing. 😂
Awesome review as always
Thank you! ☺️❤️
Becky, your painting is so cute. I am glad you got courageous and went plein air painting. I want to do that too. I ordered the Grabie set. I might gift it to a friend or I might keep it. I am not sure yet.
Thank you; I definitely want to keep the travel brush but I might give the paints away eventually. Or, even better, keep them! 🤣
You mentioned the red being not quite cadmium red and the green not being a sap green, but I think the burnt umber is also a little off and payne's grey, isn't quite right either. It's a very cute set though and the colours are definitely pretty.
Yeah I would imagine that they've gone with colour names that match or are similar to the original pigments - well, except maybe sap green which is normally many pigments and can vary a lot anyway. But I'd still call this one May Green or Apple Green, haha.
Ohh wow that’s a lot of great supplies for Plein Air painting inside that bag. I agree with you about the silver travel brush. I love how it screws together instead of just squeezing together. This would definitely be a wonderful gift for someone who would love to try watercolor painting or Plein Air. Thanks for sharing this wonderful video with us.
It's such a handy little brush, I have used it quite a lot!
I would buy something like this for a child and maybe change the brush out for a water brush and keep the nice travel brush for myself! I have a slightly larger box that I have made a drawstring bag for out of a sock! It works perfectly. I would not give the wordless pencil to a child though so I would swap that out too. I am not sure who this set would be intended for…. Those tins have become more expensive in the last few years so I guess it could make a good home for better paints. Anyway you made a good little painting with them anyway, and there are parts of the kit which are good quality and worth having. It is bitterly cold here in England right now, so I have sympathy for you being outside and cold. Also for not feeling that comfortable painting in public! I never have done so either though I have dreams of painting outdoors that never happen ever! Maybe you have a spare couple of half pans of red and green to swap into this kit, and little by little you could put in some better quality paints. Then it would definitely be a very nice little set and very practical. Payne’s grey and yellow should make a passable dark green and I am sure you could conjure up a dark brown too…
This big kid loves it so I am sure it would work for any age (maybe not small children who have a tendency to destroy rather than create, lol). If I gave this set away, I would have trouble letting go of that travel brush - it's such a good one! 😂 I'll probably end up swapping out paints for others I have that are more useful colours and don't currently have a tin to live in - a few loose Van Gogh pans, for example. We shall see - I might still give it away....but ohhhh that brush!
Love this cute travel set - I'm going to order it now. Thanks, Becky!
Ooh I hope you like it too!! ❤️
painted 6 Christmas cards with the different set I got. I will do some more. Easier if you do all the same design.
That sounds fun - I haven't done much Christmas artwork this year; I hope to next week or so. 😊
I use the same jam jar I have used for the past 4 years painting the Christmas window on Sydney Rd. People talking to me all day when I was doing it.
Can't go wrong with an old jam jar! I have one with a busted lid and I still can't bring myself to throw it out, haha. 😂
Oh wow. Love the look of this set Becky.
Great little set, love the brush and how is screws together. Thanks for the test drive. Enjoyed watching you plein air.
The brush was definitely my favourite part of the kit! Going outside on the one sunny day of the week, LOL!
What an adorable plein air painting you made! I wondered where all the graphite came from, but saw at the end that the pencil tube has a hole in the end allowing the tip to stick out,so it must have rubbed against the hole, then broke off making the mess. I also wondered how the set can be non toxic as it has two cadmium colors. I would guess they must be hues, only mis labeled. If the paints truly are non toxic then I think it would be a neat little set for a child, if only it weren’t so expensive for the quality of paints. The brush looked quite nice. Maybe Grabie will make some improvements! It could be a really sweet little set. Thanks for testing this set out and sharing your experience! It’s always fun to see different sets!
My guess is that they are cadmium hues rather than the real thing, but I have no pigment information to know for sure! And yes, the pencil made quite a mess, so maybe I'll put in an IKEA one instead; I always manage to bring one or two pencils back from there when I visit. 😂
That travel brush looks enticing!
Definitely my favourite thing in the set!
I was in the middle of testing this myself which is why I had to wait so long to watch your video, since I didn't want to be influenced by what you said. I just now finished my thoughts on it so it was finally safe to watch this, lol. Very cute video - fun that you went outside! I love your little sketch.
Oh that's great that you got the set too, I'll look forward to seeing your video on it! I tend to do the same thing; avoid other reviews to not have a bias when looking at a product. It helps to go in clear headed! 😊
I would take out the white and add a dark green or darker brown Thanks for sharing.😊
Me too! White is always a useless one for me - I prefer extra colours.
Your sketch is better than what I'd have produced under those circumstances lol. I like the set and will add it to my wishlist. I'll ditch the paints (I send them to a school program) and refill the set with Mission Gold or Daniel Smith paints.
Thank you! It's great when half pans are removable and can be replaced with paints of choice. 😄
Just ordered one. Thanks for sharing this.
I hope you enjoy your set when it arrives! 🙂
@@BeckyTregear I'm sure I will. Thanks again!
That's an interesting travel set for beginners. I would have put a darker green myself.the artwork was nice and colourful. I wouldn't do plein-air art myself right now. It's hovering around 0 in the UK during the day so I could feel when you were cold yourself.
Dark green is always a must have in my palettes! It was 20 here so normally that would have been perfect for sitting outdoors, but that wind was blowing up from Antarctica so was much colder where I was sitting! 🥶
Delightful to see you painting outdoors. I hope for more 😋 Thoughtful review; I like the paintbrush too. BTW Sea to Summit (probably other companies) makes an x small silicone collapsible shot "glass"
Thank you, I hope to do more outdoorsy stuff over summer. 😊 I do have collapsible cups, I just don't know where they are at the moment, haha! I need to sort through all of my art bags 🤣
@@BeckyTregear Sorting through your art bags might make an interesting video for us... 😇
I have to find them all first; they're not all in my studio but have migrated to other parts of the house! 🤣
@@BeckyTregear 😊
So funny you saying about sun screen it's minus 2 here and this cold snap has been forcast for the next 10 days reaching minus 10 in some parts of the UK. I've tried plain air but didn't enjoy it and it sounded so lovely to do but was fe4y scared someone might come up and watch me so kept looking around nervously lol. perhaps if you do it often you get used to it but as I don't drive I've got to carry everything on a bus. Loved your painting
Eek that's cold! 🥶 I forgot people were there once I got into it, but it's definitely awkward being out in public, haha!
Sue, I use a shopper on wheels for my kit. I've had to swap from the art trolley a friend bought me, as even when empty, because the frame is solid and it has an integrated, not-very comfortable fold-up seat it's really heavy to get on and off a bus. Also, the wheels aren't too good (given how good the frame is, that is weird!) and one broke!
Instead, I'm using the one I used for shopping when I couldn't use the car. It's much lighter, and also a little narrower, so the bus is actually do-able, even when fully loaded. As I usually go out for the whole day in the better weather, it takes all my stuff - full kit in a back-pack - for a full-sized painting, and sketching kit in a small bag for smaller work, plus flasks and lunch.
I fasten my stool and walking stick to it with one of those stretchy elastic things with hooks on (bungee cord). The stool frame goes over the handle, with the folded seat downwards, and the cane, over the handle, and both then are kept in place by the bungee cord.
As for being shy, yes, it is difficult, but bear in mind that just about everyone who comes to speak to you (and in fact, at most, it's only maybe one or two, as folk are far too busy doing their own thing these day) will have no painting experience beyond school and they are all amazingly friendly and impressed! I’ve never yet had anyone who wasn’t, in 25 years of plein air!
Anyway, just taking your kit out onto a balcony, into the garden or down the road is still ‘plein air’ and a great way to get out of the house for half an hour, a day, or anything in between.
BTW, being in SW France, it's cold here, too, right now, but not as cold as Eastern Scotland yet (-5 over the w/e though).
@@MrsBarnabas that's a great idea and you can get some real trendy ones these days, I will have a look on town tomorow thank you for your reply
@@sueallen952 Mine is a dark-ish red. I bought it when I was waiting for my French driving licence, to get to the shops and back. The odd thing is, I didn't notice this when I bought it two years ago, and only saw it when I began using it for art a couple of months ago: the stitched-on logo says, 'Les Artistes', Paris'!!! Let me know what you get?
It's a real boon for me, because the town is on a hill, with impossible in-town parking (!!!) and I can leave the car in the car park, and take the free hop-on-hop-off bus to get to the places in town where I want to sketch! It still means a bit of walking, but I'm now able to begin to walk there, and get the bus back to the car park at the end of the day (when I'm usually pretty tired!). Very proud of myself for that! (I'm disabled, too.)
😊
@@MrsBarnabas buses are such a bind, I'm still recovering after the bone graft and biopsy on the same foot and I don't have family or friends so things are difficult as you probably know but I get so much pleasure out of my art, I was diagnosed with wet macular last year and cataracts so every thing is not as bright as it was. Because I spend Christmas on my own I buy art goodies all year, wrap them up then forget what I've bought so I have surprises lol enjoy your outings and art
Bravo!pro done! mr!)
Becky, that's a really good little set up (except for the paint itself),and kudos to you for going outside to make that pretty little painting! My sketching set's water pots are old 35mm film canisters. They've lasted really well, and I hope they go on doing so! The back-up water is in a well-washed [Covid] small hand sanitiser bottle.
Northern Europe's current weather's from the arctic in mid winter, and yours is from the Antarctic (Brrrrr!) in what would be mild mid-summer early June weather (18 - 22 Celsius) for us here! Do you usually have those winds at this time of year?
However, back to the Grabie set: I'd have put that set straight back in its box and sent it back, because of all the graphite mess - was it graphite making the white paint dirty, too? - and the damage on the inside of the paint-box lid. The site says the paints are lightfast, so it would be interesting to see if they are.
I've just checked out the price on the Grabie website and converted the price: it's listed at US$ 29.99 which is €28.48 / £24.47 / £AU 44.16. A bit pricy? I think all of it, bought singly would cost less, certainly here in France or the UK, given that the paints are school student standard and the paper is cellulose. I do like the way it all fits into the little bag, though, and loved the look of that travel brush!
Edit to add: the paint box on it's own is normally priced at $35.99, currently at $26.99! I couldn't find the travel brush on their site, but also forgot to add it into my pricing (!!!). So with the travel brush, I guess it is worth the current price.
😊
The tip of the pencil had broken in transit and I guess that is what made the graphite mess; most of it cleaned up so I'm not too fussed (plus it was free, lol). I didn't do a price conversion because everything in $US and Pounds is going to be so much more in $AUD - it's all expensive here. 😭 We've had some high wind days but mostly it has been raining...like SO much rain! But thankfully the weather has improved and today is a gorgeous sunny 25 degrees with a light breeze. Then it will get too hot and I will start whinging about the heat...hahaha! 🤣
@@BeckyTregear I thought the graphite mess may have been the broken graphite stick, too, but it was sealed in the the tube with tape, and the paint box was closed. Anyway ....
Price-wise, I was curious to know what it was in € & £, because a lot of stuff from the US, unless on sale, is expensive here, too (much the same reason - shipping, customs and taxes!) . The exchange I did is just a straight conversion on the $. Actually buying it here, assuming we can (I can't find it on Amazon UK / France), would almost certainly be a lot more expensive.
I'm glad that you've had a fine day! Hope you managed to be out and enjoying the sunshine! 😊
Edit to add: Just seen your reply to Sketches and the paint box swap - I thought you would - it makes a lot of sense.
Very cool! Although the pencil would probably drive me a bit nuts if it kept leaving dust on everything :)
Haha yes! I am thinking an IKEA pencil would be less messy.
@@BeckyTregear Great idea!
Enjoyed video cute set...mikelle art mom ✍👩🎨🎨
Hey Becky just letting you know that the two links in your description for the watercolour kit don’t work
That's weird, it's sending me there now when I click on it.....not sure what's going on there! Anyone else having issues?
Is this an Australian or US based company? I’m trying to work out if their prices are in usd or aud. :)
Sadly I think only USD and Pounds - I keep asking them when they will do AUD and they have no update for me yet. USD is expensive 😭😭
First!
bravo keep up the good work