I’ve been journaling for about two years now and am loving the experience. It inspires me to create everyday, even if it is a small doodle. On days I am unable to, I can feel the restlessness in my fingers.

In the past, I’ve loved the control dry mediums gave me. Colour pencils and markers have been my go to materials for drawing and colouring. But, inspired by my sister’s watercolour journey, I was tempted to try out some wet mediums as well.

Watercolours turned out to be too free-flowing for a control-freak like me. Then I tried gouache and I was in love instantly. 

Not all art journals can hold the weight of the water-based paint so it took a bit of trial and error to find some good ones.

I’ve written about the Kaagazi journals earlier. Today, I talk about another home-grown favourite – Menorah.

I’ve used two of their journals and a bookmark pad. Let’s review.

• Menorah 180gsm 15cmx15cm

This was my first journal from them, and I loved it instantly. I wanted to learn patterns and slowly learn patience along with it. The size is perfect for it. Big enough to make a complex pattern but small enough to not make it tedious repeating it.

I painted on both sides of the paper and it held up well. The pages have just the slightest bit of texture to give your art a bit of depth. I’ve used markers, gouache, and water colours; they all show up well on the pages. 

A definite must-have on your art journey

• Menorah 140 gsm A5 CASSATA

First of all, this series has such pretty colours, I wanted to buy them all. Since I didn’t want to flood my desk with so many journals at once, I had to ask my official colour selector (my son) to decide and he picked the cherry pink.

The pages on this one is obviously not as thick as the previous one so I couldn’t use both sides of the paper. However, the one side holds up really well.

I’ve only used gouache on it so far, with fine liners and markers for outlines. The pages are smoother and works great for the opaque paints.

• Menorah 250gsm True Black Bookmark 

I loved the concept of the bookmark pad. The ones I make are all of different sizes and textures, and usually out of paper left over from my other projects. They are good for giving away as free gifts with orders because I feel I cannot charge for them. 

However, I feel more confident in putting these bookmark papers up for sale. The soft feel of the paper feels of a premium quality. 

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There’s also a watercolour version available for those who want to try.

All these journals are very reasonably priced, especially considering the quality of the product. Would definitely recommend the brand.

Use code: HAPPY5 to get a 5% discount on your purchases from the Menorah website

Note: Some links are part of an affiliate program, which means that if you click on a link and buy something, I might receive a percentage of the sale, at no extra cost to you.