Bilal Almeida

In your budget student-grade lines like Liquitex Basics, Winsor & Newton Galeria, or Blick Studio are reliable and come in small sets; grab one and top it up with single tubes to complete the warm/cool primaries and titanium white. I’d also add one earth tone (burnt sienna or yellow ochre) to make neutrals and skin tones much easier and if you prefer smoother coverage on paper, pick soft body or fluid; heavy body is great if you want brush texture.

A sudden grinding sound after a year usually means either the blade bearing in the jar is failing or the rubber drive coupling on the base is worn. Unplug the blender and remove the jar, and spin the blade hub by hand. It should turn smoothly with no gritty feel and no side to side wobble. Any roughness, play, or oily residue around the shaft points to a bad bearing. Then do a one second test of the base with no jar to isolate the motor. If it still grinds, the motor or its fan bearings are the issue. Also inspect the small rubber coupler on top of the base for missing teeth, cracks, or a melted look. Most fixes are straightforward. Replace the jar blade assembly if the bearing is rough, or replace the drive coupling if the coupler is chewed up. Both parts are inexpensive and common on Amazon when you search your exact model number. Check the gasket ring too, since a flattened O ring can let the blade sit low and scrape the jar. Make sure the locking ring is snug and the jar is fully seated, but avoid cranking it down hard. If the base grinds with no jar, a motor bearing is failing and a repair often costs more than the blender. If you decide to replace, a solid all round pick is Ninja Blender. It has a strong 1000W motor that handles smoothies without strain and a roomy 72 oz pitcher for big batches. It is not the quietest, but it blends fast and parts and accessories are easy to find, which keeps you from ending up in the same spot a year from now.

Totally agree on the medium-dry and good flow. For beginners student-grade artist acrylics are great value; pick heavy body if you want brush texture or soft body/fluid for smoother layers. Start with a limited palette (titanium white and primary yellow, magenta, cyan, ultramarine, burnt umber) so you learn mixing, and skip ultra-cheap craft paints for blends since they can go chalky. A stay-wet palette or a tiny touch of retarder will give you more working time without losing the ability to layer.

Wake up at the same time every day. Drink water, do two minutes of movement, brush teeth, get dressed. Pack the night before and put your keys by the door.

One thing people miss is the panel coating and the monitor processing itself. Heavy matte can add a grainy sparkle to white backgrounds and any extra sharpness processing can outline characters in a way that looks like clarity at first but causes halos over time. Look for a light matte finish and turn off sharpening and super resolution. Neutral sharpness usually lands at 50 on a 0 to 100 scale or 5 on a 0 to 10 scale. Refresh rate is not a clarity knob. Nice to have at 75 to 100 for smoother scrolling but do not sacrifice signal quality to hit the top headline number. If 144 Hz over HDMI forces a subsampled mode, take 100 or 75 over full RGB instead. Your eyes will notice the text quality more than the extra Hertz.