Acrylic Paints: Reeves Versus Marie's

When I first decided I might have a smidgen of artistic talent in my genes, I picked up a started kit made by Reeves. In fact, I picked up two kits by Reeves; One in Oils and one in Acrylics. I gravitated to the acrylics rapidly. This kit came with everything I needed to get started: An easel, brushes, 24 paints, and a couple of canvases. When I realized this was going to become an addiction, I bought a ton more paints by different companies. One of those companies was Marie's.

The reason I like acrylics so much is that it is such a versatile medium. It isn't just about slapping down a bit of color onto a canvas. With acrylic paints you can give dimension to your painting. You can actually build up ridges for texture, and you can do things like layer different colors and then use a scraping tool for some very cool effects. Plus, acrylics dry fast and cover easily. If you screw up, just wait 10 minutes and paint over it. Yes, even with white... OK, with the right brand of white. You see, all acrylic brands are not equal in quality. Enter this comparison of Reeves and Marie's.

As I said, I have numerous brands of acrylic paints. I buy huge containers of the basic primary colors, along with black and white. But, I am no expert at mixing so I keep sets of small tubes with a variety of pre-mixed colors handy for those days I just don't feel like spending an hour and 25ml of paint to get just that right green. Reeves and Marie's both have sets of 18 small tubes with a variety of the colors i like to use the most.

One thing you will notice right off is that these two brands are not of the same consistency. Reeves is slightly thicker than Marie's. This is not necessarily a bad thing. If you are looking to paint in a large area and you are not painting over something else, then the thinner paint (Marie's, in this case) will get the job done faster and with using less paint over-all. However, if you are trying to paint over a mistake or want to build some texture, then you want to go with the Reeves.

Another difference is that they appear to be different shades of color out of the tube. for instance, with the scarlet, Marie's appears to be much lighter than the Reeves. don't let that fool you, though. I used both on the same project and you cannot tell a difference in the colors once they dry on the canvas.

Both sets come with 18 different colors and are in the same price-point.

Marie's is a bit easier to blend colors for subtle shading than the Reeves, though the Reeves is not difficult. It comes back to basic thickness of the paint. The thinner paint just mixes together faster. Again, this is not a bad thing or a good thing. It just all depends on what you are aiming for. If I want a clean mix, then I go with the Marie's right off the bat. If, however, what I want is swirled paint on the brush for various effects on canvas, then I go with the slower mixing Reeves paints. This is good for things like distant mountains where you do not want one solid color, but a blend of shading.

As for drying time, there is not much difference on the canvas, but the Reeves does dry our on your palette slightly faster than the thinner Marie's does. You can always put a drop of water into the Reeves though if you feel you are going to need it stay usable a little longer. You can also pick up a covered palette from eBay for like a buck 99 to preserve your tray colors for up to a day. i don't need to do this often, but once in awhile if I am playing with color mixing just for kicks, I might end up with a fabulous color accidentally, and lots of it. I do not want to wash that away when I'm done.

So. how does this comparison pan out, then? Well, the answer is, Marie's and Reeves acrylics are different, but equal. That means that I personally suggest you keep a set of both around. Unless you are painting the same thing over and over ad nauseum, you need the different consistencies for various projects. If push came to shove and I had to rely on just one, though, I would go with the Reeves. I can add water to thin down the Reeves if need be, but I cannot make the Marie's thicker.