ARTISTS PAINTS VERSUS STUDENTS PAINTS

Artists paints contain more pigment and less filler thus ensuring clarity and intensity of colour. The pigments are very finely ground and the mediums of top quality. Artist quality paints normally carry a high number of single pigment colours as opposed to paints made from mixing two or more pigments. The latter are less reliable as the pigments in them will tend to fade at differing rates over the years hence causing colour changes which may not be desirable.

Student quality paints tend to be chalkier and have weaker tinting strength because of the larger amount of filler used in their production. The medium which the pigments are ground into may also be of lower quality, and the pigments less finely ground. A comparison of the same colour and brand in both student and artist quality will show up these differences. Some student lines may also contain fewer lightfast pigments.

WHICH BRAND OF PAINTS IS BEST?

Artists develop preferences for particular brands as they go along. There are a number of leading brands available around the world which you can rely on for lightfastness, clarity of colour and fine manufacturing processes. The only real point of confusion is in the naming of the paints. Different manufacturers give different names to the same pigment, eg Phthalo Green is called 'Winsor Green' (Winsor & Newton), Monestial Green (Rowney), Blockx Green (Blockx). Depending on which country you live in you should be able to purchase one or more of the following brands of artists paints. At end of FAQ are a list of online suppliers -

Blockx (Belgium)

Daniel Smith (USA)

Fragonard Pebeo (France)

Grumbacher Finest (USA)

Holbein (Japan)

Old Holland (Netherlands)

Linel (France)

Maimeri (Italy)

Rembrandt (Netherlands)

Schmincke (Germany)

Sennelier (France)

Winsor & Newton (England)

This list is open-ended and will be added to as further top brands come to light.

(Not all are listed. All ranges are in tubes unless stated otherwise.)

Cotman (Winsor & Newton) - 50 colours available

Grumbacher Academy - This is an upgraded range and many of its colours are very reliable. 45 colours available.

Rowney Georgian (England) - This range cannot be fully relied on for lightfastness in the reds and yellows. 37 colours available.

Hunt/Speedball (USA) - Only 12 colours available.

Impellist (Japan) - 28 colours available

Koi (Japan) - 18 colours. Sold as a set. Several colours are fugitive.

Pentel (Japan) - 18 colours.

Yarka (Russia) - A set of 24 pans. Some colours not lightfast.

PANS VERSUS TUBES

Pans and tubes are both readily available in artists quality paint although some manufacturers only offer tubes.

Pans are very convenient to use, extremely portable and are ideal for colour-sketching on location. They can also be used very successfully in the studio for smaller works which don't require large rich washes. If using pans, moisten them with a water-mister before use and you'll save the life of your brushes. Some brands 'wet up' much more easily than others. Schmincke and Winsor & Newton are examples of quality pan paints which are very easy on the brush and provide rich strong colours.

The good thing about tubes is that they provide quantities of moist rich colour which is ideal for mixing big strong washes. They have their little pitfalls, such as drying out in very hot climates, having caps that stick or won't screw on properly. Tubes can also split and burst - some brands are worse than others. Despite these problems tubes are universally popular.

Some artists squeeze good quantities of tube paint into the wells of their palette. They leave the paint to dry, then re-wet it when they need to use it. Others purchase pan sets and when a pan is empty they squeeze tube paint into the pan and leave it to dry. Some brands, depending on their composition, respond more favourably than others to this treatment.

HOW ARE WATERCOLOUR PAINTS MADE?

Put simply, watercolour paints are coloured pigments suspended in a medium. The grinding of the pigment for each colour has become a fine art In the manufacture of artists' paints.

Some colours are composed of single pigments, others contain several pigments. The advantage of single pigment colours is that they don't separate in the tube, they don’t fade at different rates, they offer superior lightfastness, and they can always be relied on to be exactly the same colour.

Pigments are derived from various sources, natural and synthetic.

Natural inorganic pigments compose the 'earth' colours such as Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber. They are derived from clays with high iron content, are very lightfast, fairly granular and will last indefinitely.

Synthetic Inorganic pigments are mostly toxic metallic elements such as the cobalts, manganese colours, cadmiums, chromiums. They are generally very lightfast.

Natural Organic pigments are sourced from vegetables or animals and are not permanent. Modern manufacturers are replacing them with synthetic colours of good permanency.

Synthetic Organic pigments are made by chemical processes mostly from distilled oil. The resulting colours have a lovely bright clarity. These pigments will probably last several hundred years if kept away from direct sunlight. They are receiving a lot of attention from modern manufacturers.

The medium which carries the pigment powder consists of various products - a binder such as gum arabic, a plasticizer which can be glycerine or honey, a wetting agent which makes the paint flow better, an anti-fungal preservative, and water.

Lightfastness - will the paint retain its colour intensity over time when exposed to light?

Permanence - will the paint stand up to changes in temperature and humidity, as well as being resistant to fading?

Toxicity - which colours are toxic and should you be careful with them? A lot more is known today about the toxicity of various pigments. The cobalts, cadmiums and lead-containing paints are still used quite freely but modern manufacturers are working on producing non-toxic substitutes. A few people are highly sensitive to chemicals. They will get adverse reactions from breathing in the chemicals while mixing the colours that contain these heavy metals,. Such folk are advised to wear a mask if they really want to continue using the toxic colours and to make sure none of the pigment gets onto their skin. If you are in this category then it would be better to avoid them altogether and substitute other, safer pigments - there are many to choose from.

The above properties are tested by the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) which maintains a rigorous standard. Labels are required to state whether a paint is made from more than one pigment (the word 'mixed' will be found on the label), and the word 'hue' must appear if the paint is a substitute for a traditional pigment eg 'Cerulean Blue Hue'. The Colour Index Name must also appear, eg.PR20 7 Quinacridone.

Other properties of concern to painters and manufacturers are the degree of transparency or opacity of a colour, the saturation level of a colour which denotes its clarity and intensity, the value of the colour which reveals how light or dark the basic colour is, whether a colour stains or not and whether it is smooth or has textural (granulating) properties. Each colour in a manufacturer's range will have its own unique personality and properties. Once you get to know the idiosyncrasies of every colour in your basic palette, plus each one's mixing potential, you'll know quite a lot and it may be time to shout yourself a couple more colours that you've been hankering after!

Transparent colours

These are greatly valued by watercolourists and beginners are often advised to begin with a palette of transparent colours before venturing into 'the opaques'. The opaque colours have their uses but they also have their problems - muddy mixtures can easily result from the mixing of opaques. They tend to sit on the surface of the paper, unlike 'the stainers' and they shouldn't be used as the underlayer in the glazing method.

One method of testing your colours for transparency or opacity is to paint a strip of waterproof black ink down the paper. When it's dry paint each of your colours in separate bands across it. Let them dry then inspect each colour for transparency and degrees of opacity. Top manufacturers are now supplying this sort of information in their colour catalogues, along with permanency ratings and whether the colour stains.

These are of great interest to the watercolourist. They have terrific carrying power and can be so powerful in mixtures that they need to be added with great care. They are often (not always) transparent and will be very hard to wash off once they have penetrated the fibres of the paper. It is advisable to sort out which of your colours are 'stainers' and which are not, by laying a small wash, letting it dry, then rubbing it gently with a damp clean brush and noting how much colour you are able to lift off. The knowledge you gain will be very useful if and when you use the 'glazing' method of painting. An example of some stainers are - Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Blue, Winsor Red, the Cadmium colours, Prussian blue, Venetian Red, Winsor Violet. There is some variation between brands in degree of staining, eg. Daniel Smith's Phthalo Green is a strong stainer, whereas Schmincke's Phthalo Green can be lifted cleanly off the paper.

Textural or granulating colours

these offer opportunities to create lovely textural washes, which show up superbly on rough papers. A classic example is Burnt Umber (or Burnt Sienna) with French Ultramarine mixed wet-on-wet on rough paper tilted at an angle. Some other granulating colours are Manganese Blue (genuine), Cobalt Violet (and all the other cobalt colours), Lunar Earth (Daniel Smith), Cadmium Red, Ultramarine Violet, Raw Sienna, Raw umber. As with staining properties, the same colour in different brands will have more or less textural quality, depending on the manufacturer. You can create some beautiful effects by mixing granulating pigments with staining ones. If you'd like to explore these properties further then refer to a comprehensively researched manual such as Hilary Page's Guide to Watercolor Paints.

THE PROBLEM OF COLOURS DRYING LIGHTER

It is usual for watercolour washes to dry up to 25% lighter when used wet on wet, and up to 10% lighter when applied wet on dry. Unless you keep this in mind when mixing your washes and make the colour stronger to compensate, it will be difficult to achieve the tonal depth you want without having to repaint the area. It seems that the remedy to this problem lies in choosing a paper that is surface-sized as well as internally sized such as Fabriano Artistico. Using such a paper will help you to achieve the depth of tone you need with the first application of colour.

BOOK SUGGESTIONS: 

Guide to Watercolor Paints by Hilary Page. (1996, Watson Guptill, N.Y.)

The Wilcox Guide to the Best Watercolor Paints
by Michael Wilcox (1991, North Light Books)