watercolor paints question

lmrush

@shiouxz Wow, thank you so much for sharing your time intensive experiments, and that is great advice to try one color. Thank you for taking the time to help this is why I love our SVS community!

lmrush

@dottyp Thank you so much, I have never heard of Kor i noor I will check them out. And definitely let me know what you think of the Dr. Martins. I'd love to hear-thanks for taking the time to help

DOTTYP

@lmrush I think I spelt it wrong Koh i noor on Amazon sorry I cant get the link to work.I will do a sample sheet of the Dr martins for you.

lmrush

@dottyp That would be awesome!

MOO

@lmrush Sakura Koi watercolors are very vibrant. I don't know how good the quality is but I love the brightness of the colors. I have SOHO which my instructor said were good quality but I havn't used them that much yet. The main set I have is M.Graham and I have been happy with them. They were what I got when doing watercolor classes and were in a kit put together by the teacher so, I don't have experience with that many others. I have never used inks.

lmrush

@marsha-kay-ottum-owen Thank you so much!

Lee White

I have some info on this which you may want to take into consideration:

Dr. Martin inks: Vibrant and bold. (Sometimes too bold). They have suffered in the past from not being archival. Meaning they will FADE quickly (especially reds and violets). So make sure it says ARCHIVAL if you use these.

Windsor & Newton: Great professional quality paint. Good consistency. Downside is they do NOT rewet on the palette very well. Which means that you have to keep using new paint every time. This may or may not be a concern for you. It all depends on how you paint. For sketching I never use Windsor & Newton because I don't want to pour out new paint each time. For studio work I have used them and been happy with them. Their Quinacridone Gold is a fantastic yellow which I use a lot.

M. Graham: Really nice paint at a great price. They are professional strength and re-wet easily. I use these frequently when sketching and in the studio. If used too thickly they will remain tacky so make sure you don't go too thick.

Schiminke: Pro level paint and in my opinion, the best you can buy. Overall these have all the pros without much of the downside. They re-wet easily and blend into the water without much effort. They are more expensive than M. Graham.

Overall, If cost is an issue, go with M. Graham. If price isn't an issue, go with Schmincke. If you don't need to re-wet the paint, Windsor Newton is a solid choice. I haven't used Danial Smith too much, but hear they are quality paints as well.

lmrush

@lee-white Thank you Sensei, I always value your opinion I use Winsor Newton and was told to apply new paint each time, I wish they sold them in easy to open one use packets.

DOTTYP

Here is that colour sample for you-I would say they are really nice,but very expensive £50 for 15 colours,(I got an offer)I noticed a few of the colours are very similar, I am not sure I would pay for a set again maybe buy individual bottles.The Bombay inks are just as nice and cheaper ,but apparently they are not lightfast,I looked at a painting of parrots I did last year and they are faded now. They take quite a long time to dry and you only need a tiny drop of colour

lmrush

@dottyp Thank you so so much for doing this-they are very vibrant!