I was wondering a year ago what I was realistically going to recommend for my students to paint on. Many of my drawing students were advancing to painting and I genuinely was unsatisfied with any of the options out there, especially for hand held palettes. Along came Kyle and Keith O'Brien. Easy on the eyes, wrist, wallet and simple to clean. They did it! I was using what was actually the best hand held palette that I had ever seen (previous to their palette). It was still too heavy and hurt my wrist. I've been using their Academian palette for months now and I still get excited just picking it up!