The Artist - Summer 2012 Volume 127 No.8

I already have a June (Vol.127 No.6) and July (Vol. 127 No.7) issue of this magazine and lo and behold another arrived this week described as `Summer 2012'. When will the next arrive?

8" x 111/2" approx. 66 pages £3.70 (cheaper if you subscribe)

This latest edition  has quite a lot to interest the watercolour artist. There are articles by Jeremy Houghton (Putting watercolour through its paces), Ian Sidaway (Rock of Ages), Geoffrey Gwynne 's on the spot watercolours, Jake Winkle's latest 7/8 Wildlife in Watercolour, Greys, brown and neutrals by Soraya French and Barry Hernimans `Views from the River Wye'. Something to interest most even if the artists in question aren't all necessarily amongst your favourites.

In addition there are reviews of the new Sennelier Acquarelle range and Da Vinci Maestro brushes with several other items, making 18 separate topics in all. The artist Trevor Waugh reviews the Sennelier range. Trevor has been promoting Sennelier for a while and indeed features in the launch literature. When I took some workshops with him several years ago he was using  and recommending Daler Rowney  paints which another particpant, who knew him well, said were supplied at very favourable terms. This same person also said he was very professional in his approach and wouldn't give his approval unless he thought it  merited. This undoubtedly applies to his endorsement of Sennelier. The American Bruce McEvoy of the amazing Handprint site has never been very complimentary about the European makes of watercolour despite the long pedigree most have. This includes Sennelier, although he was writing about the old range now discontinued. Sadly Bruce no longer updates the information so frequently so a view from a well-regarded professional like Trevor carries weight. Personally I think all the main artists quality makes are good to excellent and apart from personal preferences, which do often apply, are unlikely to disappoint. Where a problem arises are those small number of makes that are promoted and sold as `artists quality' at much lower prices. 

The Da Vinci Maestro brushes are amongst those I use and indeed I have several that are still brand new. Paul Talbot Greaves, an SAA  artist, gives them a thorough trial and  very good review as one would expect from this German company, who have been selling them since 1952 and have acquired a world-wide reputation. Made from Tobolsky kolinsky they are expensive but much less so than the Winsor and Newton series 7.

All in all a good issue for the watercolour artist from this excellent magazine apart from one complaint I have. Why so little on good foreign artists like Viktoria and Slawa Prischedko, Piet Lap, Fealing Lin, Bev Jozwiak plus many others including the myriad of great artists, unknown to most of us, in Asia and Eastern Europe?  

Daniel Smith Pt.3

Following up the previous posts on Daniel Smith the question arises are they worth the extra premium UK  and European buyers have to pay? I say this because prices in the USA are lower and in addition DS, through their retail shops and internet site, have regular special offers - lots of them in fact. If we had  similar offers then I'd not hesitate to say yes, although I like Graham and have not tried DaVinci, both highly rated by American artists. What we shouldn't lose sight of is that we have several very good manufacturers in Europe who have been making watercolour paints for a very long time, much longer in fact, and comparing quality and price there is a very good case for sticking to them, certainly on many of the standard colours.  Winsor & Newton, still and for  many years the top rated watercolours by many professional artists, are much more competitive in price here than in North America, where I sense they are losing out to the American makes. At the beginning of this year the new much higher prices for W & N made Daniel Smith  more competitive but almost immediately discounted offers appeared. Perhaps W & N realised the threat these new paints posed which they certainly do.

Previously I have noted that the DS range is split into three or four groups. The standard colours, those that follow most other makes, comprise the biggest number - 100 plus. Standard but still including some unique colours not duplicated elsewhere. The remainder include the Primateks, Duochrome and Iridescent paints. These two latter are for specialist purposes and most watercolourists would stick to the standard colours. What about the Primateks? Here I urge you to carefully  read what Bruce McEvoy of Handprint writes in a very comprehensive review  www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/primatek.html  Essentially Daniel Smith has been gathering mineral pigments from mines all over the World. They don't have pigment numbers and are expensive. 

Here is a further selection of colour swatches. I have added pigment details and will add them to the previous posts. You will note that in many instances the pigments are those in common use by the other makers.

Cobalt Blue Violet  (PV19/PB28)

Duochrome Autumn Mystery

Cobalt Teal Blue (PG50)

Garnet Genuine 

German Greenish Raw Umber (Pbr7)

Green Apatite Genuine

Lunar Blue (PBk11/PB15)

Serpentine Genuine

Undersea Green (PB29/PO49)

Hansa Yellow Medium (PY97)

Quinacridone Sienna (PO49/PR209)

Quinacridone Rose (PV19)

I could go on forever - well almost - but with the other illustrations in Pt. 1 & 2 you should have a good idea of what is available. I am personally intrigued by the number of granulating paints offered. Rui who comments on here is fulsome in his praise of the Lunar colours for their granulation properties and I intend to try some other than black which I already have.  Jan Weeks love Serpentine Green, Moonglow and Cascade Green. Rui likes them  but says you need to be careful what you mix Cascade Green with.  German Greenish Raw Umber is another favourite.

A good source of individual pigment details is; www.premiumartbrands.com/products/watercolour-tubes-15m/  For the complete range try www.danielsmith.com/item--i-G-284-600 If you print this off it runs to 19 pages! The Daniel Smith website, which is a selling site with various other brands and products is: www.danielsmith.com/ There is a mass of information including `peeks' at some DVD instructional videos they sell. In addition if you go onto Youtube `videos',and type in `Daniel Smith Watercolors' you'll get a mass of promotional videos with lots of information. In the USA the wonderful Dick Blick site has very good pigment details, although each colour has to be looked at individually.

Finally quality versus price? Are Daniel Smith watercolours worth the extra premium we are charged in the UK and Europe? As things stand Daniel Smith are the most expensive watercolours in the UK. Winsor & Newton are cheaper, certainly while the special offers continue. It isn't straightforward to compare them as the number of price categories vary manufacturer by manufacturer. Daniel Smith, Holbein and Old Holland have six, Sennelier five, Maimeri, Winsor & Newton, Bloxx, Schminke four while Daler Rowney and Rembrandt only three, although in reality Daler Rowney have only two prices as has Lukas.  Graham and DaVinci are only available from one source, Lawrence of Hove who have a fixed carriage charge on top of the prices but they do offer 20% off for 6 or more tubes. This is further complicated in that manufacturers don't all sing from the same song sheet. Apart from basic colours like the earths, usually in the cheapest category, other colour ratings vary from one make to another. In order to get an accurate picture you must compare them not just by colour, which can confuse, but more accurately by pigment numbers. Some manufacturers Winsor & Newton, Lukas, Sennelier, DaVinci and Rembrandt offer larger tube sizes that are cheaper per ml. This is another factor although personally I think W & N would have been far better with a 21ml or 24ml large size rather than 37ml. The further I get into this the more complicated it becomes so I'll leave it at that and may return to the subject at a later date. 

So are Daniel Smith paints worth the cost? Are they better than the paints from say Winsor & Newton or some of the others listed? They are good but so are most of the other artists quality makes and in the end it comes down to the depth of your pocket and personal preferences. For the average watercolour painter probably not, but they do have a whole range of wonderful, often unique, colours  so I shall continue to buy them, although selectively. For impulse buyers like me they are very seductive. As for the other makes Daler Rowney, Lukas, Rembrandt and Maimeri are very well priced and offer good quality with a choice of around 70 colours. 

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.

Alizarin Crimson - Pigment Red 83 (PR83)

We know about `lightfastness' or more commonly `fading' in watercolours. This means that in so-called fugitive paints the original colour changes if exposed to sunlight. The most common effect is the colour just bleaches away. The above book cover is an example of what can happen. Obviously I don't know what the  colour is composed of but it is almost certainly a dye. Paints are not generally offered in watercolour made of or including dyes, although there are a few, Opera by Holbein is one example. The spine of the above book was originally exactly the same colour as the rest. The book has been in my north facing study in a bookcase with only the spine exposed to light, actually facing East. Despite being exposed to very little sun the colour faded in a very short time. This is a perfect example of a fugitive colour and what happens when exposed to light. This is also what happens to Alizarin Crimson PR83, a very popular colour over the years and still offered by such major paint manufacturers as Winsor & Newton, Holbein (Carmine, Rose Madder), Daniel Smith, Sennelier, Graham, Rowney and others.

 Sennelier offer at least four paints with PR83 so do Shin Han. Sennelier claim the paints that have PR83, some included in mixtures, are `moderately lightfast'.  Shin Han claim paints with PR83 are `permanent' or `absolutely permanent'. Sometimes instead of Alizarin Crimson we have names like Carmine or Rose Madder, Madder Lake etc. Holbein claim that their Carmine and Rose Madder, both PR83, are `absolutely permanent' despite what Bruce McEvoy, the ASTM (now known as ASTM International formerly American Society for Testing and Materials), Hilary Page, Michael Wilcox and others have found when testing this pigment. Rowney claim it is `normally permanent' and Winsor & Newton `moderately durable'. Daniel Smith call it like it is and list Alizarin Crimson PR83 as`fugitive'. Charles Reid has used Holbeins Carmine for years and this is pure PR83. He says that he has never had any complaints about fading. I think though he has now switched to the `Permanent' version, possibly from Winsor & Newton.

Read what Bruce McEvoy of Handprint says, having extensively tested this pigment,  with illustrations of what happens when it is exposed to light. His recommendation AVOID. If you use this pigment I urge you follow the link,  read what he says and view the examples he gives. www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/waterfs.html. The ASTM, the recognized authority on such things said in 1999 that PR83 was `not sufficiently lightfast to be used in paints' and `poor' to `very poor' in watercolours. If you continue to buy and use it that's a personal decision, but if you sell paintings is it ethical?

 There has been some discussion on Wetcanvas about this pigment and its suggested replacements. The consensus seemed to agree with the ASTM and Handprint findings. How do you avoid it? All the majors put pigment information on the tubes. Very small on many and a magnifying glass may be necessary (!) to read the details but it is there. You can also download pigment charts from virtually all paint manufacturers, although hard to find in some instances.  To their shame the SAA, the `Society for ALL Artists' does not give this information on the SAA range of watercolours, although I did, some time ago, finally receive a sheet giving details after I complained.

I was intending to cover the suggested replacements for Alizarin Crimson PR83 but have decided to do this in a separate piece next week. Interestingly the so-called student makes of Cotman, Van Gogh and Venezia do not offer any paints with PR83 and have switched to more lightfast alternatives.

Quinacridone Gold - Pigment PO49

This colour, described by the Australian watercolour artist Robert Wade, in his 2002 book `Robert Wade's Watercolor Workshop Handbook', as the `best thing for years',  has had a rapid rise and - apparently - fall. Described by Handprint as a`mixed crystal form of PV19 Alpha and Beta' - I've no idea what that means - pigment production ceased in 2001 due to lack of demand from the automotive industry. This is again from Handprint who also say most paints with this pigment were discontinued in 2005. Initially there appeared to be four, two from Daniel Smith, the others from Winsor & Newton and Maimeri.

Winsor & Newton Quinacridone Gold became very popular in the UK. I can't speak for Daniel Smith which is still, as a brand,  only available in the USA ( recently extended to Canada).Note:20/10/12 Now available in the UK. It is possible (a little bird tells me) that  Daniel Smith, the largest range of watercolours in the World with over 200 paints, and highly acclaimed by American artists, may be available in the UK in the not too distant future.

Winsor and Newton reformulated `Quinacridone Gold' as a mixture now containing PR206, PV19 and PY150. All excellent pigments but don't expect the same results when mixing with others.

Maimeri continue to offer their version, called `Golden Lake', although the tube states it contains `quinacridone PV49.' I can find no trace of a `PV49' so assume it is a misprint that Maimeri have failed to correct - it has been like this since introduction. I contacted Bruce McEvoy about his comment that the paint was discontinued in 2005, which is what  Maimeri told him he says, and his reply was `the tube  may say that but....' .
An initial enquiry to Maimeri was promptly answered saying `Golden Lake' was still available and indeed they had supplied some to Jacksons, one of the largest UK art suppliers, in January. Following Bruce's comments I contacted Maimeri again and asked what was in the paint and why PV49? My e-mail was acknowledged but nothing further has been heard since. Hmmmmm!

Is that the end of it? On checking through lists of paints from several leading makers I came across this from Sennelier, the French manufacturer. According to their current pigment information PO49 is listed in five paints, all mixtures. Quinacridone Gold (with PG7), Mars Yellow (with PBr7), French Ochre (with PG23,PY3), Yellow Lake (with PY153), and Chinese Orange (with PR209)! No shortage of PO49 there it seems but no pure pigment paint either. I believe, until recently at least, Daniel Smith was still offering Quinacridone Gold in it's huge range. However since writing this I note that the new Great Art catalogue http://www.greatart.co.uk/ has a watercolour chart for Sennelier with one difference. Quinacridone Gold, as a name, has vanished and under the same number 445 is something called `Brown Pink'.Note: 20/10/12. Sennelier reformulated their range in 2012.

I only have experience with the W & N and Maimeri versions. Winsor & Newton Quinacridone Gold  was lighter and handled better than `Golden Lake', which I have not been impressed with. I like Maimeri paints, which are excellent value, but this colour is darker and grittier than the original Winsor & Newton paint. What actually is in the tube? The silence from Maimeri makes me wonder.Note:20/10/12. Information from Maimeri to Handprint said they had replaced PO49 with PY43 `a similar pigment'.

As a footnote the closely allied Quinacridone Orange PO48 is also heading for the exit due to `lack of demand from the automotive industry'. This is another lovely pigment and the Graham version, Quinacridone Rust, is a gorgeous colour.  The new Da Vinci (USA) range also includes paints listing this pigment. Both Graham and Da Vinci are only available from T.E Lawrence of Hove in the UK http://www.lawrence.co.uk/, while Maimeri from Jacksons  http://www.jacksonsart.co.uk/ and Turnham http://www.artistmaterial.co.uk/ , possibly a few others. Jacksons also sell Sennelier.