....and the colors.
May. 8th, 2024 03:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellerSoooo, these are the paints I put in the wonderful handcrafted watercolor box fromyhlee!
Can you tell I'm a botanical artist? XD The colors are not 100% accurate, unfortunately - I have no daylight here right now...
White Nights paints (below; the big pans)
I was so happy to finally have a box that will fit White Nights pans! White Nights watercolors are... amusing. They're theoretically an 'artist quality' product, in the sense that, once you have identified the non-fugitive pigments in their sortiment (unfortunately, most of their oranges and reds are not useable), you have something you can paint with. They're nicely pigmented, and especially the phthalos are wonderfully intense - and yet, and yet... It's kind of difficult to store and transport them. The thing is, they use this weird honey-based binder that means filling pans from their tubes is not possible because it will stay gooey forever... And their pans have this weird size that only fits in their own brand's boxes, which are airtight, which is really f*cking stupid when dealing with this type of binder, because you can't close the box when the paints are even slightly damp - otherwise everything will turn into goo. Oh, and also, some of the paints develop a mold problem if you don't air the box often enough. Isn't moldy goo something you've always wanted in your art supplies? XD Ahem. The reasons I'm willing to tolerate these tiny (XD) drawbacks are that a) again, once the paint is on the paper, it behaves nicely and gets professional results, b) they're super cheap, and c) they have one of the best PG36 on the market, which is important for me as a botanical artist, and their weird 'Mars Brown' is a really unique product. XD By the way, it's really fortunate that this box is not completely airtight...
Anyway. I mostly stuck to the quinacridones and phthalos, because those are safe and really pretty.
From left to right:
Yellow (PY154) - My standard yellow, and perfectly named by them, because it's really perfect primary yellow.
Quinacridone Scarlet (PR209) - YES this is a really nice one! :D I love this version of the pigment. It's so close to my standard red (PR254) I've decided to forego the latter altogether and use this as the 'pure red' of this selection.
Quinacridone Lilac (PV19) - This is the bluest PV19 I've ever seen. XD Not a complaint - it loks fine.
Quinacridone Violet (PV55) - Meh. Compared to other versions of the same pigment, this is not very intense. Okay when used in shadows and mixes, I suppose.
Indanthrene Blue (PB60) - YES this is another nice one! It's intense, inky blue, and it does not develop this bronze sheen in massstone that other versions of this pigment sometimes get. I'm very happy with this!
Blue (PB15:6) - YES and again, aptly named. This is indeed the 'bluest blue' in my perception.
Bright Blue (PB15:3) - Impossible to tell this apart from other versions of the same pigment. Which means, because this costs less than half of other 'professional' paints, they did a really good job on this, as generally on all the phthalos.
Emerald Green (PG7) - Okay. I mean, it's not the nicest version I've seen, but also, it's impossible to truly f*ck up a PG7. The pigment is just that consistent.
Green Light (PG36) - YESSSSS this one is superb! It actually beats other, much more pricey, brands. It's intense, smooth, and strongly pigmented. What's not to love?
Mars Brown (PBr6 tr) - And another YESSSSS, though that's kind of controversial. One of the most common complaints about White Nights watercolors (apart from the goo and mold issues) is about their 'weak' earth tones. And, I mean, this is decidedly a nonstandard one, but I wouldn't call it weak, precisely - it's just more transparent than most earth tones while happily granulating. Definitely unique, but I sort of like it...
Lamp Black (PBk7) - Lovely neutral black. Works fine. (Again, it's kind of difficult to f*ck up this pigment.)
All the other paints (various brands; upper row)
From left to right:
BLOCKX Lemon Yellow (PY184) - Not my standard 'lemony' pigment because it's too opaque for my taste, but that's not the manufacturer's fault. It's a nice one. :)
Schmincke Indian Yellow (PY110, PY154) - My favorite warm yellow! I have no idea how they produce it - it's not simply a mix of the two involved pigments; I've tried to replicate it and failed... Something something chemical resulted in this paint that totally behaves like a single-pigment paint. It's a complete mystery.
Daler-Rowney Warm Orange (PO73) - My favorite red orange in my favorite version of it. :)
Daler-Rowney Alizarin Crimson Hue (PR209, PR179) - Best 'fake alizarin' I've ever seen. The 'real' pigment, unfortunately, has *ahem* mild lightfastness issues (ahaha), so... Next best thing.
Schmincke Ruby Red (PV19) - This one miraculously ends up in almost all my watercolor boxes. It's just so very useful for pink flowers!
Daniel Smith Carbazole Violet (PV23) - My favorite PV23 version, as it goes to almost-black without bronzing and produces really pretty shadows.
Winsor&Newton French Ultramarine (PB29) - I grabbed this and put it in the box because it fit (the pan is a bit smaller than typical), but I'm generally not a fan of ultramarine blue... Maybe I'll finally use it up? (I mean, this pan has to be almost 20 years old, and is in no danger of having to be refilled anytime soon.) Anyway, as far as ultramarine goes, this is one of the nicer ones.
LUKAS Verona Green Earth (PG26) - I have no idea why they decided to sell a cobalt green (expensive!) under the name of green earth (known as super cheap), but whatever. I added this because it granulates nicely, and I kind of want to try combining it with the White Nights Mars Brown.
Schmincke Chromium Oxide Green (PG17) - Useful pigment, and the Schmincke version is satisfyingly smooth.
LUKAS Green Yellow (PY129) - Have I mentioned how I love the fact that this box isn't completely airtight? XD This is one of the cases... I have a tube of this color from a bad batch, it never dries properly. (This is not a typical issue with this brand, nor even with this particular color - I apparently just ended up with a production error of theirs.) I'm taking the opportunity to finally use this up! I mean, I really like the color, I just had difficulties transporting it...
Holbein Shadow Green (PBk31) - My favorite perylene green, it's a bit more intensely colored than other versions.
MaimeriBlu Burnt Sienna (PBr7) - Again, one I grabbed because it fit - any reddish brown would have done the job. It's one of those colors I rarely need, but when I need them, they're impossible to substitute for... Anyway. It's a very pretty brown.
Sennelier Transparent Brown (PBk7, PR101) - My favorite dark brown, and one I include in many of my sets. I like contrast in my paintings, so I really love the dark, transparent colors that can go to almost-black while having a high tinting strength so I can layer them... This one checks all my boxes. It's also very desaturated, which makes it useful for trees, twigs, and so on.
Ahem. Okay. That got nerdy...
yhlee!Can you tell I'm a botanical artist? XD The colors are not 100% accurate, unfortunately - I have no daylight here right now...
White Nights paints (below; the big pans)
I was so happy to finally have a box that will fit White Nights pans! White Nights watercolors are... amusing. They're theoretically an 'artist quality' product, in the sense that, once you have identified the non-fugitive pigments in their sortiment (unfortunately, most of their oranges and reds are not useable), you have something you can paint with. They're nicely pigmented, and especially the phthalos are wonderfully intense - and yet, and yet... It's kind of difficult to store and transport them. The thing is, they use this weird honey-based binder that means filling pans from their tubes is not possible because it will stay gooey forever... And their pans have this weird size that only fits in their own brand's boxes, which are airtight, which is really f*cking stupid when dealing with this type of binder, because you can't close the box when the paints are even slightly damp - otherwise everything will turn into goo. Oh, and also, some of the paints develop a mold problem if you don't air the box often enough. Isn't moldy goo something you've always wanted in your art supplies? XD Ahem. The reasons I'm willing to tolerate these tiny (XD) drawbacks are that a) again, once the paint is on the paper, it behaves nicely and gets professional results, b) they're super cheap, and c) they have one of the best PG36 on the market, which is important for me as a botanical artist, and their weird 'Mars Brown' is a really unique product. XD By the way, it's really fortunate that this box is not completely airtight...
Anyway. I mostly stuck to the quinacridones and phthalos, because those are safe and really pretty.
From left to right:
Yellow (PY154) - My standard yellow, and perfectly named by them, because it's really perfect primary yellow.
Quinacridone Scarlet (PR209) - YES this is a really nice one! :D I love this version of the pigment. It's so close to my standard red (PR254) I've decided to forego the latter altogether and use this as the 'pure red' of this selection.
Quinacridone Lilac (PV19) - This is the bluest PV19 I've ever seen. XD Not a complaint - it loks fine.
Quinacridone Violet (PV55) - Meh. Compared to other versions of the same pigment, this is not very intense. Okay when used in shadows and mixes, I suppose.
Indanthrene Blue (PB60) - YES this is another nice one! It's intense, inky blue, and it does not develop this bronze sheen in massstone that other versions of this pigment sometimes get. I'm very happy with this!
Blue (PB15:6) - YES and again, aptly named. This is indeed the 'bluest blue' in my perception.
Bright Blue (PB15:3) - Impossible to tell this apart from other versions of the same pigment. Which means, because this costs less than half of other 'professional' paints, they did a really good job on this, as generally on all the phthalos.
Emerald Green (PG7) - Okay. I mean, it's not the nicest version I've seen, but also, it's impossible to truly f*ck up a PG7. The pigment is just that consistent.
Green Light (PG36) - YESSSSS this one is superb! It actually beats other, much more pricey, brands. It's intense, smooth, and strongly pigmented. What's not to love?
Mars Brown (PBr6 tr) - And another YESSSSS, though that's kind of controversial. One of the most common complaints about White Nights watercolors (apart from the goo and mold issues) is about their 'weak' earth tones. And, I mean, this is decidedly a nonstandard one, but I wouldn't call it weak, precisely - it's just more transparent than most earth tones while happily granulating. Definitely unique, but I sort of like it...
Lamp Black (PBk7) - Lovely neutral black. Works fine. (Again, it's kind of difficult to f*ck up this pigment.)
All the other paints (various brands; upper row)
From left to right:
BLOCKX Lemon Yellow (PY184) - Not my standard 'lemony' pigment because it's too opaque for my taste, but that's not the manufacturer's fault. It's a nice one. :)
Schmincke Indian Yellow (PY110, PY154) - My favorite warm yellow! I have no idea how they produce it - it's not simply a mix of the two involved pigments; I've tried to replicate it and failed... Something something chemical resulted in this paint that totally behaves like a single-pigment paint. It's a complete mystery.
Daler-Rowney Warm Orange (PO73) - My favorite red orange in my favorite version of it. :)
Daler-Rowney Alizarin Crimson Hue (PR209, PR179) - Best 'fake alizarin' I've ever seen. The 'real' pigment, unfortunately, has *ahem* mild lightfastness issues (ahaha), so... Next best thing.
Schmincke Ruby Red (PV19) - This one miraculously ends up in almost all my watercolor boxes. It's just so very useful for pink flowers!
Daniel Smith Carbazole Violet (PV23) - My favorite PV23 version, as it goes to almost-black without bronzing and produces really pretty shadows.
Winsor&Newton French Ultramarine (PB29) - I grabbed this and put it in the box because it fit (the pan is a bit smaller than typical), but I'm generally not a fan of ultramarine blue... Maybe I'll finally use it up? (I mean, this pan has to be almost 20 years old, and is in no danger of having to be refilled anytime soon.) Anyway, as far as ultramarine goes, this is one of the nicer ones.
LUKAS Verona Green Earth (PG26) - I have no idea why they decided to sell a cobalt green (expensive!) under the name of green earth (known as super cheap), but whatever. I added this because it granulates nicely, and I kind of want to try combining it with the White Nights Mars Brown.
Schmincke Chromium Oxide Green (PG17) - Useful pigment, and the Schmincke version is satisfyingly smooth.
LUKAS Green Yellow (PY129) - Have I mentioned how I love the fact that this box isn't completely airtight? XD This is one of the cases... I have a tube of this color from a bad batch, it never dries properly. (This is not a typical issue with this brand, nor even with this particular color - I apparently just ended up with a production error of theirs.) I'm taking the opportunity to finally use this up! I mean, I really like the color, I just had difficulties transporting it...
Holbein Shadow Green (PBk31) - My favorite perylene green, it's a bit more intensely colored than other versions.
MaimeriBlu Burnt Sienna (PBr7) - Again, one I grabbed because it fit - any reddish brown would have done the job. It's one of those colors I rarely need, but when I need them, they're impossible to substitute for... Anyway. It's a very pretty brown.
Sennelier Transparent Brown (PBk7, PR101) - My favorite dark brown, and one I include in many of my sets. I like contrast in my paintings, so I really love the dark, transparent colors that can go to almost-black while having a high tinting strength so I can layer them... This one checks all my boxes. It's also very desaturated, which makes it useful for trees, twigs, and so on.
Ahem. Okay. That got nerdy...
no subject
Date: 2024-05-08 02:08 am (UTC)White Nights sound...finicky. But they are beautiful!
I am not a paint expert, but I did love this post and I learned from this discussion. So thank you! And I always love color.
no subject
Date: 2024-05-08 07:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-05-08 12:29 pm (UTC)Since you know how to make them work, they sound well worth it.
no subject
Date: 2024-05-08 12:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-05-08 03:35 am (UTC)I love PBk31 yet almost never get to use it because I almost never, uh, paint plants lol. XD XD
no subject
Date: 2024-05-08 07:58 am (UTC)PBk31 is useful for... plants and nothing but. Yeah. XD