Wednesday 4 April 2012

Sennelier l'Aquarelle Pt 2

As a follow up to my recent post on the revamping by Sennelier of its watercolour range, The Artist magazine May 2012 came with a  four page brochure of the new range. This is obviously the official Sennelier brochure with printed colours, which should be available from all who stock the brand. In this instance it was also promoting Jacksons who were one of the first to list the new range.


 
Colours are printed so are only a guide



The main facts are that the new range has 98 colours increased from 80, 55 of which are single pigment paints. In the main the pigment choices mirror those of the other manufacturers who offer around this number of colours. 19 paints are mixed from three pigments with a solitary one four (Warm Grey),  the rest are two pigment mixtures. The percentage of single pigment paints, as in the old range, is lower than most of the others. Note `Quinacridone Gold' is now a three pigment mix, PR101, PY150 and PR206. I believe the only source of true PO49 Quinacridone Gold is now Daniel Smith.

95 colours are given the highest 3* star rating. One, Alazarin Crimson Lake  2*(PR83)  which they claim is `Good'. The only 1* is Opera Rose `Average'. You might like to refer to the pigment details on the Handprint site www.handprint.com as a comparison. There is still some controversy over lightfastness claims by manufacturers.

The usual confusion exists with some of the names, so checking the pigment details is necessary if you wish to compare them with whatever the equivalents are you currently use. Examples, Chinese Orange, Sennelier Orange, Helios Purple, Blue Sennelier and so on.

Sennelier offer half and full pans plus 10ml and 21ml tubes. The most economical are the 21ml tubes, especially for the colours you use most.  10ml is probably better for colours used less often. Introductory prices are very good at both Jacksons www.jacksonsart.co.uk/  and also the SAA, although they are slightly higher than Jacksons. For some reason Great Art are quoting prices that, according to Jacksons in the brochure, are higher than the recommended retail, so consequently are not competitive at present. The only concern is that the leaflet calls the discounted prices `introductory' so we have no idea what the cost will be when the dust settles.

How good are Sennelier? I've never used them so don't have a view. I do believe they are perfectly acceptable, as are all the leading artist quality paints but people do have individual preferences. Sennelier are mounting quite an aggressive marketing campaign and four well known  British professionals, Tim Fisher, Trevor Waugh, Billy Showell and Margaret Evans give them their stamp of approval in the brochure. You won't find Sennelier in many art shops in Great Britain who stock mainly Winsor & Newton and sometimes Daler Rowney. I found Sennelier in Truro Art in Truro, Cornwall, a large art shop who have  recently also taken on Daniel Smith. There may be others in the larger cities but I'm unaware of them.

6 comments:

Keith Tilley said...

I've been tempted to try those Peter, but I'm not sure about the honey in them. I use the paint quite thickly sometimes and I wonder whether they might stay a bit sticky.

Peter Ward said...

I don't think that would necessarily be a problem Keith. The proof of the pudding is in the eating of course so until you try them you can't tell.

Graham use honey and their paints release beautifully nor do they remain sticky as far as I can tell.

Rui said...

Hi Peter,

Many thanks for bringing the new range to our attention.

I have used various of their colours from time to time but one that I have permanently on my palette is their French Vermillion. It is probably one of the brightest reds one can get around.

Honey is no problem at all and it makes life easy to lift dried paint off the palette. No need to sprinkle water beforehand. There are various manufacturers that use honey in their watercolours including Graham, as you mentioned, Schmincke from Germany and Blockx.

Kind regards,

Rui

Peter Ward said...

Thanks for commenting Rui. I'm sure you're right about honey.

lynne h said...

hello all,

i have a set of 24 half pans and they're fabulous. as others have said, there's no stickiness at all. i highly recommend them - brilliant color which releases with great ease.

lynne

Peter Ward said...

Thanks for commenting Lynne. It's good to have a users view about these paints.