TwoStick Shadows Art Kit (Timberdoodle Review)

My kids and I tried out a new TwoStick Shadows Art Kit from Timberdoodle this week with fairly impressive results. The kit was a little pricier than kits we’ve tried in the past, but when I consider the quality of the supplies included, it seems like a bargain.

Timberdoodle carries a wide selection of TwoStick Shadows Kits — I picked the “Butterflies” set, because I thought the included projects were the prettiest. Each kit comes with six canvases, three paint brushes, a set of high quality acrylic paints (24 tubes in a full rainbow of colors), a nice wooden “two sticks” frame, brief instructions, and photos of completed paintings.

The canvases range in difficulty level. Two are small (5 x 7) and very simple. Two are a little larger (8 x 10) and slightly more detailed, and two are extremely intricate and challenging (the largest of which is 13 x 19).

If only one or two children were completing this kit, there would be a gradual build-up to the more difficult paintings. The most challenging canvases wouldn’t need to be tackled until the students had already become proficient in mixing colors, laying on pigment, working from back to foreground, and adding appropriate shading.

For our family, we just all picked a project we thought we could handle according to prior painting experience and unleashed our creativity. Since we were working on it while visiting Nana’s house, we offered to let her join in our painting party but she declined, preferring to take an afternoon nap instead.

The rest of us rolled up our sleeves and got busy. The pre-printed canvases are lots of fun to work with. They’re neither as constricting as paint-by-number kits nor as intimidating as beginning on a blank canvas. Like Baby Bear’s porridge, we found them just right.

The shadows provide an easily-adaptable framework. Use the colors suggested by the finished project photos, or branch off and do your own thing (like Daniel is demonstrating below).

Abby tackled one of the easier designs. She was first to finish. Didn’t her painting turn out nice? She spent about 90 minutes on it, start to finish

Mine was one of the medium-difficulty patterns. I worked on it a little more than two hours and was satisfied with the results.

Gabriel chose one of the more challenging designs. He worked for two and a half hours before declaring he’d lost enthusiasm for the project and putting it away to finish another day.

Both Abby and I give the TwoStick Shadows Butterfly Kit project two thumbs up. We’re saving the largest canvas for my daughter Rachel, who also loves to paint.

The boys enjoyed the project, though not as much as the girls. I think their ambivalence stems from the fact they were working on pastel, “girly” paintings their mom picked. Both insist they would’ve preferred painting something more bold, bright, and “boyish,” like TwoStick Shadow Boats or Lighthouses.

As for Gabriel’s loss of enthusiasm, I think his main problem was a technical one: He began by painting the flowers in the foreground instead of filling in the background first, then working his way forward. That always makes things more difficult, so warn your kids about this if you decide to give TwoStick Shadows Kits a try. And definitely give them a voice in deciding which kit to purchase.

The TwoStick Shadows Butterfly Kit is available through Timberdoodle as a stand alone product, or it can also be purchased as part of their 2021 12th Grade Curriculum Kit.

While you’re on the Timberdoodle website, I’d encourage you to take a look around. We love everything we’ve ever ordered from this small family-owned company!

Be sure to sign up for their Doodle Dollar program to save on future purchases.

And to read more of my Timberdoodle Reviews, follow this link.

PLEASE NOTE: As a member of the Timberdoodle blog team, I routinely receive free or deeply discounted products in exchange for writing honest reviews. Opinions expressed in these posts are 100% my own. I’ve been a happy and enthusiastic Timberdoodle customer for decades — long before I ever started blogging for their company.