Walk into any well stocked art supply store and the acrylic paint wall can be genuinely overwhelming. Dozens of brands, each with their own formulas, finishes, and price points, all promising to be the right choice for your next project. Matisse has built a solid reputation among Australian painters as a range worth getting familiar with, whether you’re just starting out or have been painting for years and are simply looking to try something new.
Introducing the Matisse Range
For those wanting to explore the full lineup, browsing Matisse paints at Discount Arts and Crafts is a good starting point to see what’s available. As an Australian made acrylic range, Matisse has become a familiar name in art studios, classrooms, and home painting setups around the country. The range covers a variety of formulas designed for different techniques and applications, which makes it a genuinely versatile option whether you’re working on canvas, board, or mixed media projects.
Key Product Lines Within the Range
Matisse offers a few distinct product lines, each suited to a different kind of painting approach. Structure formulas tend to have a thicker, more buttery consistency, which makes them well suited to impasto techniques where you want visible brushstrokes or built up texture on the canvas. Flow formulas, by contrast, have a thinner, more fluid consistency, making them better suited to smoother applications, washes, or techniques where you want the paint to spread more evenly without leaving heavy texture behind.
Beyond these core formulas, the range typically includes a broad selection of colours, allowing painters to build a palette suited to their particular style, whether that leans toward bold, saturated colour or more muted, blended tones.
What Suits Different Skill Levels
One of the appealing things about a range like Matisse is that it doesn’t box painters into a single skill level. Beginners often find the flow formulas more forgiving to work with, since their thinner consistency makes blending and covering larger areas more manageable while still learning brush control. More experienced painters, particularly those working in styles that rely on texture and visible technique, tend to gravitate toward the structure formulas, where the thicker consistency rewards more deliberate, confident brushwork.
Neither formula is inherently better than the other, it really comes down to the kind of painting you’re doing and the effect you’re trying to achieve on the canvas.
Common Applications
The versatility of the range means it suits a wide variety of projects. Canvas painting is the obvious application, but the range also works well for mixed media projects that combine paint with other materials like paper, fabric, or collage elements. Craft projects, from decorative pieces to furniture upcycling, can also benefit from the range’s different formulas, particularly where a more durable, textured finish is desired. Understanding which formula suits which technique, thick and textured versus thin and fluid, helps painters get the result they’re actually after rather than fighting against a formula that isn’t suited to the job.
Caring for Your Paints
Like most acrylic paints, getting the most out of a Matisse collection comes down to a few basic habits. Keeping lids tightly sealed after use prevents paint from drying out prematurely, which is particularly important for smaller amounts left in a palette or tube. Storing paints away from direct heat and sunlight helps preserve their consistency and colour over time. And giving tubes or bottles a proper mix before use, especially after longer periods of storage, ensures the pigment and binder haven’t separated, which can otherwise affect how the paint applies to the canvas.
Questions to Help You Choose
Before your next project, it’s worth thinking through a few simple questions. Are you after texture and visible brushwork, or a smoother, more blended finish. Is this project on canvas, or does it involve mixed media elements that might interact differently with a thicker or thinner formula. And are you still building foundational brush skills, or working in a style that benefits from paint that holds its shape once applied.
Working through these questions can help narrow down which part of the range is worth starting with, rather than guessing your way through a wall of options on your next supply run.