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Acrylic paints can be really fantastic - they dry quickly, mix with water, and are very durable. However, some people find they have trouble blending them. But - once you get the knack, they are a wonderful, easy and convenient painting medium.

Liquitex acrylic sets - Liquitex is usually considered "the standard". Of course there are other good brands, but I usually stick with Liquitex.

Dick Blick acrylic paint - Less expensive - I see no reason why these wouldn't be a good brand as well. Check 'em out!

Dick Blick acrylic mediums - There are all sorts of products that can be mixed with acrylic paint, to get different effects! I sometimes use a drying retardant. There are also products that add more "body" to acrylics, and so on. Check the Dick Blick site for a whole listing of acrylic mediums.

All these products are available at Dick Blick Art Materials. They have a vast inventory of art supplies, including many brands that are hard to find locally. I drool every time I visit their site.

Acrylic paints are really wonderful, especially if you are the impatient type who doesn't like to wait for oil paints to dry. And, they don't use smelly paint thinner!

I usually get the Liquitex brand. When I can find them, I get them in little jars, where they are in a more liquid form. I heard somewhere that acrylics are actually meant to be a creamy liquid - that the tube acrylics have something extra added to them to give them the extra body. Some of my acrylic artwork is very fluid, so I realized I didn't want or need the "body" that was in the tube acrylics. (I always just watered down the tube paints anyway.)

I heard that you shouldn't mix brands of acrylic paints. That you should stick with one brand for each painting, because each brand of paint has a different chemical make-up, and they might not be completely compatible with each other. I don't know if it's true, but being paranoid, I usually don't mix brands.

Windsor-Newton makes acrylics too, and I can only assume that they are excellent quality as well. I don't think I've ever tried them, though.

As far as painting surfaces for acrylics, I've used heavy watercolor paper, canvas board, and stretched canvas. For a "newbie" acrylics artist, I recommend heavy watercolor paper. It's cheap, and therefore the pressure will be off the newbie artist—they won't be worrying about the expense.

I use watercolor or oil brushes with acrylics. But I think oil brushes are probably more appropriate. (Some watercolor brushes are very delicate.)