GAMENOTE Paint Brush Cleaner - Paint Brush Holder with Palette and Handle,Rinser for Acrylic, Watercolor, and Water-Based Paints, Painting Art Supply Storage Organizer

What it is and who it’s for

I’ve been painting with the Gamenote brush basin for several weeks across watercolor, gouache, and acrylic sessions, and it’s become a surprisingly handy anchor for my work surface. At its core, it’s a compact plastic wash station with a built-in 18‑well mixing palette, three distinct water compartments, and a separate brush-holding section—all wrapped in a footprint roughly the size of a shoebox (about 10 × 5.5 × 4.5 inches). If you regularly work with water-based media and want to keep rinsing, mixing, and brush storage in one place, this is squarely in your lane. It’s especially useful for students, hobbyists, and mobile painters who don’t want to juggle a cup, a separate palette, and a brush rack.

Build and layout

The basin is made from sturdy, lightweight plastic that feels rigid enough to resist flexing but not so heavy that it becomes a burden to move. A molded handle lets you ferry the unit around the studio or classroom. The base is wide, and once filled with water it sits planted—no wobble, no threat of tipping if you nudge it.

Inside, the layout is smart:

• One wash chamber has textured nubs and slanted grooves along the bottom for scrubbing.
• Two additional chambers include an internal rest that lets you soak or park brushes with the bristles properly supported.
• A separate dry compartment holds brushes vertically while they air out.
• The removable lid doubles as an 18-well palette for mixing and holding color.

The design keeps wet and dry duties neatly separated, which matters for both cleanliness and brush health.

Washing performance

The scrub chamber is the star here. The raised nubs give enough bite to work pigment out of bristles—particularly helpful with heavier-bodied acrylics—while the slanted grooves encourage water flow and help guide the bristles back into shape. I found I could rinse large flats and small rounds quickly without overworking the hairs.

The two adjacent chambers are ideal for clean/dirty water rotation or for soaking a brush while you switch colors. The built-in rests hold handles securely so the bristles aren’t splayed at odd angles. A practical setup that worked well for me was:

• Left chamber: “dirty” water for the initial rinse.
• Center chamber: “clean” water for final rinse.
• Right chamber: reserved for soaking a problem brush or for a mild brush soap solution.

If you’re painting in watercolor or gouache, the three-stage workflow keeps washes crisp because you’re not contaminating your clean water every time you switch hues. With acrylics, it reduces the risk of staining brushes by encouraging a more thorough rinse before pigment sets.

Palette and mixing

The lid’s 18 wells are deeper than a travel palette’s and shallow enough to see color at a glance. I pre-wet a few wells before starting to improve flow with watercolors and gouache; with acrylics, the wells handle small puddles well without the paint skidding around. There’s decent room for mixing on the flat sections, though if you’re a heavy mixer you may still want a dedicated white tile or a larger palette alongside it.

The lid snaps on cleanly to keep dust out of the wells between short breaks. It’s not an airtight seal (nor is it meant to be), but it slows drying enough for a coffee break without returning to chalky pools. Cleanup is straightforward: pigments lift with a quick rinse; a soft sponge or a magic eraser pad removes stubborn acrylic residue if you’ve let it sit too long.

Organization and brush care

The integrated drying compartment is more useful than it looks. Standing brushes upright while bristles are reshaped in the wash chambers prevented bad habits like leaving them face-down in a murky cup. I fit a mix of round and flat brushes—synthetics and natural hair—without crowding. The bristle-friendly rests in the wash chambers help keep a point on rounds; you can gently draw the brush along the slanted grooves to nudge hairs into alignment after rinsing.

Because the unit collects everything in one place—water, mixing, drying—the rest of my desk stayed noticeably cleaner. No more accidental puddles from a wandering rinse cup, and no brushes rolling into a palette by mistake.

Portability and footprint

The handle makes it easy to relocate the basin, especially when heading to a different table or a class. I wouldn’t carry it across a room with full chambers—no open vessel likes that—but moving it a few feet with a careful hand is fine. Empty, it’s very lightweight. At roughly ten inches long, it fits on a crowded desk without dominating the space, and the rectangular profile tucks neatly against the table edge.

Maintenance and durability

After repeated use, the plastic has held up well: no warping, no hairline cracks, and no staining beyond faint tints from highly staining pigments (phthalo blues and quinacridones can leave a whisper of color if you forget to rinse for days). A quick rinse at the end of each session avoids most of that. The textured scrub area hasn’t dulled or flattened, and the lid still mates cleanly with the base.

One maintenance tip: periodically flush each chamber separately rather than dumping all at once. It keeps pigment from crossing back into the cleaner chambers. A dedicated studio sink makes this effortless, but even at a classroom sink, a two-step pour minimizes mess.

Limitations and wish list

No tool is perfect, and a few design tweaks would make this basin even better:

• Water dumping with brushes onboard: If you’ve loaded the drying compartment with brushes, you’ll need to pull them out before you flip the unit to pour out the water. It’s a minor interruption but noticeable during long sessions with frequent water changes. A detachable brush rack or a small drain spout would solve this.
• Palette scale: Eighteen wells are great for a compact system, but large-format painters or those who pre-load many custom mixes may outgrow the space. Consider pairing it with a larger palette if you routinely mix big puddles for washes.
• Carrying while full: The handle is excellent for portability, but because the wash chambers are open, this isn’t a “carry it full across the house” solution. It’s more of a repositioning aid than a transport feature.

None of these are deal-breakers for what the basin aims to be: a tidy, all-in-one station for water-based painting.

Practical tips from use

• Assign roles to the chambers at the start of a session (dirty, clean, soap) and stick with them. Muscle memory builds, and you’ll contaminate clean water less often.
• For acrylics, keep the scrub chamber’s water a little warmer; it helps lift paint from synthetic bristles.
• Use the slanted grooves to gently coax a point back onto rounds after each rinse. It’s a subtle step that extends brush life.
• Pre-wet the palette wells if you’re working in watercolor/gouache to avoid beads of pigment resisting the plastic.
• Rinse the palette before snapping the lid on; sealing in wet acrylic can create a clingy film that’s harder to clean later.

Value and alternatives

Compared to cobbling together a cup, a drying rack, and a separate palette, this all-in-one setup simplifies the workflow and reduces desk clutter. You can certainly achieve similar results with individual components, but the integration here means fewer moving pieces, fewer spills, and less cleanup. For an affordable, classroom-friendly solution that doesn’t feel flimsy, it hits a sweet spot.

Artists who need a rugged, field-ready palette with gasketed lids or who work solvents into their routine should look elsewhere. This basin is clearly optimized for water-based media in a studio, classroom, or at-home setting.

Recommendation

I recommend the Gamenote brush basin for watercolor, gouache, tempera, and acrylic painters who want a compact, organized cleaning and mixing station. The scrub chamber removes pigment efficiently, the three-compartment layout encourages clean habits, and the integrated palette and drying rack keep the work area tidy. While draining water requires a brief pause to remove brushes, the overall design is stable, easy to clean, and genuinely useful. If you value a cleaner desk, faster rinses, and a single, portable unit that keeps your tools in order, this basin is a smart, budget-friendly addition to your setup.