Winsor & Newton change watercolour paint tubes - again!

A lot of artists will be very pleased that Winsor & Newton have listened to all the complaints about the design of the new tubes for professional water colour paints - and have changed them - again!

There's nothing on the website as yet - and I can't find a press release but the announcement is on the W&N Facebook Page (on 16th September) about their plans to change the tubes.

No announcement as yet as to when you will find them at your preferred supplier.

Below you can see the old 'new' tube on the left and the revised 'new' tube on the right.

Winsor & Newton Professional Water Colour - another change of tube

(image from W&N on Facebook www.facebook.com/WinsorNewton)

The main changes are:

• Name of the colour: this is now much more obvious and much easier to read at the cap end due to the improvement in contrast between the text and the background. It's still in three languages as before - 
• Actual Colour Swatch: much larger and goes from being a small brush stroke to being a much obvious block of colour at the cap end
• W & N name and logo: moves down the tube so that all the core information is at the top. Slight redesign of text and more prominence for the griffin logo.

I think the changes made were much needed and a major improvement which I'm sure will be welcomed by very many artists who use W&N watercolours.

They may also get back those artists who decided to stop using W&N paints after they found they couldn't tell which tube they were picking up.

 With any luck W&N will eventually realise that:

• quite a lot of artists would rather like to have the white matte background back as well. I've yet to find an artist who actually likes the shiny metal tube. Shiny when it comes to reading is 'bad news'.  As soon as the new tubes came out, one professional artist I know made a point of showing me how impossible it was to read any text on the tube under a bright light.
• addressing the change in quality concerns are ALSO important. 

When I interview botanical artists who paint in watercolour at the RHS Botanical Art Show II always make a point of asking them which paint their prefer. It was the case for while that almost all used to say Winsor & Newton. However in the last 2-3 years, as they have replaced their 'old' tubes of Winsor and Newton Water Colour Paints with the new paints, I'm now hearing that people experienced disatisfaction with the quality of paint performance and are now also trying other brands to get the quality they require.

Winsor & Newton and the Manufacture of Water Colour Paints

The Winsor & Newton Paint Factory in Whitefriars Avenue, Harrow - which opened in 1937 and used to make all the watercolour paints - closed in 2011 after ColArt (who own W&N as well as a number of other famous brands) moved paint production to the Lefranc & Bourgeois factory in France.

(Do NOT be misled by this video of the old Wealdstone factory uploaded to YouTube in 2012 AFTER the factory closed)

Changes in paint were noticed by both retailers and artists after this. 

It's not entirely clear where watercolour paint is now made - the website is very curiously silent on the matter. However the ColArt website indicates that the company has two art material plants in China.

It's all very curious in an age when most of W&N's main competitors in quality watercolour production now make a virtue of how and where they manufacture. (e.g. Daniel Smith; M. Graham)

I don't think people mind the location of manufacturing changing.
What they do mind is when the quality of the manufacture changes.

The price of paint

Jackson's Art Pricewatch Scheme is the sort of marketing effort by art supplies companies which impresses me. 

Jackson's Art website page for the Pricewatch Scheme

Pricewatch Scheme

Our dedicated team of price watchers will constantly check our online competitor’s prices for the most popular branded art materials so that we can guarantee that the lowest prices can always be found at Jacksonsart.com

I'm a committed buyer of goods from John Lewis and one of the reasons I do is because they promise to match the price of the same goods on sale somewhere else so that they always offer the lowest price on normal (ie not clearance) stock.

A commitment from art supplies companies to introduce a price watch comparison service has been long overdue.

The Jacksons scheme is not perfect.  They've picked popular products and very reasonably have matched it against "competitor websites chosen on the first search results for the term ‘art supplies’ on Google.co.uk"

Which means it doesn't cover every product and it doesn't cover every competitor - but it's a start.

It could also mean that art supplies companies start to look very carefully at the price they're charging and introduce a bit more competition into the marketplace.

However, one might be forgiven for not being aware that the system actually exists.  They don't exactly shout about it on the front page of their website!

In fact, it's new and if I hadn't read their 24th January blog post Price Watch scheme I wouldn't have known anything about it.

To my mind, the quality of this scheme will depend on reliable reporting and updating of prices across the board. I could imagine other art suppliers becoming very annoyed and even litigious if their prices are misrepresented in anyway - that's if the Trading Standards people don't get there first!

My conclusion is that it's good to see somebody trying this approach - let's see how it works in practice before arriving at any conclusions about the scheme as a whole.

Cost of shipping

My normal caution to individual artists when comparing prices for art materials is 'ALWAYS look at the cost of shipping' because of the scope for suppliers to balance losses on cutprice goods with premiums on shipping costs.  I've certainly spotted suppliers in the past who have operated according to this strategy.

In this instance I note Jackson's Shipping Information indicates all shipping - at UK standard postage rates - is free once you've topped £39.  The usual sort of premiums apply to the Islands and Ireland.

The Top Five Artists' Watercolour Paints in 2013

Personal preferences were expressed in the product review poll "Which are the best artist-quality watercolour paints? (2012 / 13)" on my website Which is the best brand of watercolour paint for artists?

The chart below records the results of 360 responses.

Derived from
Which are the best artist-quality
watercolour paints? (2012 / 13)

The TOP FIVE WATERCOLOUR PAINTS IN 2013 are:

1. Winsor & Newton - 27%
2. M. Graham Watercolour Paints - 11%
3. Daniel Smith Watercolor Paints - 10%
4. Fine Schminke Horadam Aquarell - 9%
5. Sennelier Aquarelle Extra - 8%

It's basically Winsor & Newton way out in front and then four brands - two American and two European - bringing in the next significant group of artist grade paints.

Those who are unfamiliar with M. Graham Watercolor Paints may be surprised they came second. However you should note:

• Reviews of these paints generally provide high praise for the quality, saturation and lightfastness
• 95% of those buying this paint from Dick Blicks would recommend them to a friend.
• The Wilcox Guide to the Finest Watercolours gave high ratings to these paints across the watercolour range.

Below that most paints got little or no support of significance - although there is a good spread of those that did get votes

The chart below reflects the paints in the poll in alphabetical order - and indicates the percentage of the vote each attracted.

The ranking of different brands of paint - in percentage order - follows the chart

Ranking of Watercolour Paints

This is the final ranking for the 2012-13 Poll to identify

• 27% - Winsor and Newton Artists Watercolours 
• 11% - M. Graham Watercolor Paints
• 10% - Daniel Smith Watercolor Paints 
• 9% - Fine Schminke Horadam Aquarell
• 8% - Sennelier Aquarelle Extra
• 6% - Holbein Artists Watercolor
• 3% - Royal Talens
• Rembrandt
• St. Petersburg Watercolors
• 2%
• Daler Rowney Artists Watercolours 
• Kremer Pigmente Watercolors
• 1% 
• Da Vinci
• Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus Fine Art Watercolor Paints
• Grumbacher Watercolor - Finest
• Lukas Aquarell
• Maimeri Blu
• Mijello Mission Gold Watercolors
• Royal Talens - Van Gogh
• Shin Han Premium Watercolors

The following paints failed to get a vote:

• Art Spectrum Artists Watercolours
• Blockx Extra Fine Watercolors
• Holbein Irodori Antique Watercolor
• Old Holland Classic Watercolours
• Pebeo Fragonard Extra-Fine Artists' Watercolors
• Robert Doak's Concentrated Watercolors
• Stephen Quiller Watercolors
• Utrecht Artists' Watercolors

I'll be posting a new Poll for 2014 in the next few days.

Product Review: Liz Steel reviews Schmincke watercolour paints

If you like Schmincke watercolour paints - or have always wondered about trying them out - you should definitely take a look at Liz Steel's unique review - in her sketchbook journal - of the Schmincke paints she took to Europe this summer - see her post 110906 Schmincke Set review

Liz Steel Reviews her Schminke set - September 2011
copyright liz Steel - used with her permission

You can see a larger version of this review in her journal in her Flickr account

If you've done a review of a product send me an email containing a link to your review blog post

Places to buy Pochade Boxes in the UK

In my new guise of "about to start learning to paint in oils" (see Learning how to paint with oils in Provence),  this is a quick reminder for me of the places in the UK which sell Pochade Boxes online. 

Julian Large Paint Box

There's nowhere near as many places as there are in the USA. However these ones looked like they'd be worth investigating.

The PochadeShop UK

• Julian (UK) -  Julian Paint Boxes and the Julian Pochade Thumb Box (see video below).  These are also available on Amazon. 
• Antony Bridge's The Pochadeshop UK - Pochade Boxes
• Artefacts for Artists by Abby aka Abbeys easels (run Angela and Rowley Abbey) - Pochade Boxes - they're at these shows this summer

These all vary in size and design but all work principally to the same principal of providing a compact way of providing a way to paint plein air at the time as transporting paints, brushes and other relevant material.

You can see a video of the very small Julian Pochade Box below

Note also that Julian also sell in Julian - Accessories

• a carrying case with adjustable dividers
• the hard to find painting umbrella

Book Review: Color and Light by James Gurney

Color and Light by James Gurney

I've studied colour and light over the years and have many books on this topic.  However I've never ever come across a book which tackles this topic in such a comprehensive and authoritative way as James Gurney's new book Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter.

Here's my review of this brilliant new book - which in my honest opinion is set to become a standard for all artists working in the realist tradition.

Title: Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter  by James Gurney

Synopsis:  This is a comprehensive art instruction book about all the important aspects colour and light for students of art and those wishing to improve the quality of their painting in any media. It addresses the FAQs about these topics raised by painters and illustrators.

Summary review: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - This is a book for students and improvers and all those who want to know more about colour and how light and colour interact - in life and in a painting.  Practical application of the lessons learned is made possible through a very accessible text coupled with excellent use of images and graphics.  Coverage of this topic is comprehensive.

Highlights comprehensive, informative and stimulating - about every aspect of colour and light relevant to the realist painter James' style is very accessible - succinct and informative and avoids being unnecessarily technical knowledgeable overview of the use of colour and light in different traditions and painting movements he simplifies complex topics.  Enough information is given to enable the reader to grasp the point being made but not so much that it overwhelms the reader useful review of the different types of colour wheel - excellent graphics an excellent and systematic analysis of the properties of pigments (in an appendix) interesting recommended reading list - not one you'll have seen before!

Think Again? Not as technical as those who love the in-depth aspects of colour science might like - however all important aspects are covered in a very accessible fashion

Who should buy this?: artists using every type of media art students needing an excellent primer about colour in every aspect particularly relevant to painters working in the realist tradition those who don't like instruction books which are dumbed down or ignore important areas of knowledge

Who should not buy this? People who like step by step books - because it's not one People who like pointers on "how to mix colours" - because it doesn't do this

Author / (Publisher): James Gurney / Andrews McMeel Publishing LLC Technical data: Publication Date: 30th November 2010 Paperback -  224 pages;

Let me be very clear on this point.   This book comes very highly recommended by me.  

I've not come across any other book which covers this topic in such breath and depth and makes it accessible as well. 

• I've got ones which are more technical - but they're much less accessible. 
• I've got ones which are as accessible - but they don't cover as much as he does

The major plus point about this book is that it is comprehensive and accessible art instruction of a very high order. 

• It does not attempt to dumb down or omit important aspects of the way in which colour and light function and interact. 
• It articulates very clearly how you can make choices about how to use different features of colour and light in a painting.

I am so confident about the impact of this book that I am happy to predict that if you buy and study this book your paintings will improve.

You can get an overview of what the book covers by reference to the Table of Contents.

There's so much one could say about this book - one could write a small book!  The table of contents gives you the headings - the summary below is what they actually mean in practice.  Here then are some of the more specific highlights of this book and reasons why it makes a good buy.

This book explains:

• how outdoor studies of colour and light and plein air painting influence great studio paintings
• how to look for sources of light in the paintings of others - in order to better understand their impact
• how colours respond to different types of light - and why red looks good in a painting

Light and form

• what are the different types of lighting and how it impacts on form
• what's the best type of lighting for different subject matter
• how light impacts on colour saturation and detail
• five general truths about reflected light
• what are the different types of shadows - and how they behave
• how to simplify form in the context of the way light hits it
• how a subject's material and ability to transmit light impacts on colour and light effects
• how light and shade can add value (and drama!) to design of a composition

Elements of colour

• the different types of colour wheel
• the different types of colour
• the characteristics associated with different types of colour
• what a chroma value chart looks like
• how greys and neutral colours can be your best friend
• tips for handling greens (and reds and pinks!)
• how tints and gradations are created

Paint and pigments

• the different - and important - characteristics of pigments
• how pigments can be charted
• why painters start from underpaintings in an opaque colour
• a simpler way of achieving an effective sky gradation
• how you can create glazes
• different ways of organising paint on a palette
• different types of limited palettes
• how to create mud

Colour relationships

• the value of monochromatic colour schemes
• the effect of colour temperature on the viewer
• what are warm and cool colours and how to use them
• the different ways of mixing colour
• how a triadic colour scheme works
• the value of the colour accent

Premixing

• how to make a colour string
• the value of premixing value steps
• why it's important to leave out colours
• what's the saturation cost
• how to create a gamut mask
• how a colour scheme can have a shape
• how to create your source colours
• what pushes you to identify accents
• why a colour script is useful

Visual perception

• how tonal and colour information gets processed
• what can help create a more effective nocturne
• how edges vary in different lighting conditions
• why Goethe was wrong
• how to isolate a spot of colour
• schemes which describe how colours influence one another
• colour associations and their impact on our psychology
• how transmitted light works and what its impact is
• what subsurface scattering is and how it works
• the different colour zones if the face
• how to create convincing hair
• what a caustic reflection is and how it is generated
• three rules of specularity
• the different types of highlights - and how they work
• how to use photographs more effectively

Atmospheric effects

• how the color gradations work in a sky
• the impact of atmospheric perspective on colour
• what is reverse atmospheric perspective - and how it works
• why painters prefer to work at dawn and dusk
• how to paint sunsets from observation
• techniques for painting rainbows
• why transparency is important when painting trees
• how sunbeams and shadowbeams work - and when to use them
• the shape of dappled light
• three rules of cloud shadows
• how the lighting and colour of the foreground influences design and focus
• why the age of snow makes a difference
• reflections, refraction and shadows on water - and why they are different
• how the behaviour of water impacts on colour and light

Now I'd extremely surprised if a lot of this is not entirely unknown to self-taught painters.  Much much may also only be a vague memory to those with fine art degrees - assuming they were ever taught it in the first place!

I first commented on Color and Light in MAKING A MARK: "Color and Light" and Making a Mark.

.......and finally

James Gurney's first art instruction book was published in 2009.  A year ago I published my review of it - see Book Review - Imaginative Realism by James Gurney

Note:  I was sent a review copy of "Color and Light" by James Gurney. 

Product review: Marc Dalassio's Vermillion Test

Shop selling Sindoor (Vermilion) in Pushkar, Rajasthan

I've only recently discovered Marc Dalessio did a colour test of different paints in relation to vermilion.  You can read about it here Color test: Vermilion and also see the colour charts which he created as a result.

The purpose of the test was to find a red to use in portraits.  I've added in the relevant link to the paint in the quote from the post below

For me the best of the hand-ground paints was Robert Doak’s vermilion, which I believe is either cut with cadmium if not entirely cadmium-based. That said it is extremely similar to the old Zecchi cadmium vermilion they stopped selling 8 years ago (which we all remember fondly). 

Marc Dalassio

You can find our more about Robert Doak specialised art materials and paints on his website - Robert Doak Colors.  He also does concentrated liquid watercolors which, according to the website, are brilliant and lightfast colors.

Daniel Smith's Watercolor 66 Try-It Color Sheet

Sometimes a manufacturer comes up with a new idea for how artists can try out their products which just make you nod your head and say "Yes!"

This is one of those - and it comes to you courtesy of DANIEL SMITH.  This Try-It Sheet contains 66 paint-able "dots" of pure DANIEL SMITH Watercolor.

DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine Watercolor 66 Try-It Color Sheet

I particularly like the fact that each colour is listed with information about:

• its ASTM Lightfastness rating 
• whether it is staining or non-staining
• information about the extent to which it granulates
• whether it is transparent, semi transparent/opaque or opaque

You can either use the sheet as a reference for when you are choosing which watercolour paints you want to use from the DANIEL SMITH watercolor palette.  Or you can just wet the dot with a brush and try out the paint.  Or both!

I've no idea how long this Try-It Sheet has been around, but I think Daniel Smith has just ramped up the "information for watercolour artists" stakes - in a very good way.

Thanks to Billie Crain on Facebook for drawing this to my attention.

UPDATE

DANIEL SMITH sent me a message to (1) thank me for this blog post and (2) tell me that they have posted two useful videos relating to this product on YouTube - so here they are:

• DANIEL SMITH 66 Try-It Color Sheet - Tip for using as a Reference
• how to use DANIEL SMITH 66 Try-It Color Sheet of Extra Fine Watercolors

Jonathan Linton's Review of the lightfastness of White Oil Paint

Jonathan Linton (Theory and Practice) has published images of the results of his comprehensive test of various white paints - oils and alkyds - in The White Test. . . 5 Years in the Making 

These are the white paints he tested

Winsor & Newton (Artist Oil Colors)
    Titanium White  37 ml
     Zinc White  37ml
     Flake White #1  37 ml
     Foundation White  37 ml
     Cremnitz White  37 ml
     Transparent White  120 ml
Winsor & Newton (Griffin Alkyd)
    Titanium White  37 ml
     Mixed White  37 ml
Gamblin (Artist Oil Colors)
    Titanium White  37 ml
     Radiant White  37 ml
     Titanium Zinc White  37 ml
     Zinc White  37 ml
     Quick Dry White  37 ml
     Flake White Replacement  37 ml
     Flake White  37 ml
Grumbacher (Artist Oil Colors Pretested)
    Titanium White (soft form)  1.25 fl. oz.
     Titanium White (original form)  1.25 fl. oz.
     Zinc White  37 ml
     Flake White  37 ml
Holbein (Extra Fine Artist Oil Colors)
     Ceramic White  50 ml
     Zinc White  50 ml
Lukas 1862 (Finest Artist Oil Colors)
     Opaque White  37 ml
     Zinc White  37 ml
     Titanium White  37 ml
Old Holland (Classic Oil Colors)
     Mixed White #2 (zinc & titanium)  40 ml
     Titanium White  40 ml
     Cremnitz White  40 ml
     Flake White #1 Cremnitz & Zinc  40 ml
Vasari  (Classic Artist Oil Color)
     Titanium Zinc White  40 ml
     Zinc White  40 ml
     Titanium White  40 ml
Permalba (Artist Oil Color)
     Original White  150 ml
     Zinc White  37 ml
     Titanium White  37 ml
     Iridescent White  37 ml
Chroma (Archival Permanently Flexible Artists Oils)
     Titanium White  40 ml
Chroma (Professional Artists Oils)
     Tinting White (Pearl/Titanium)  40 ml
C.A.S. Alkyd Pro
     White Luster  70 ml
     Titanium White  70 ml
Rembrandt (Extra Fine Oil Colors)
     Transparent White  40 ml

His colour charts group paint by type (eg Titanium, Zinc, Flake etc) and then go on to demonstrate

• how the white behaves when painted over a black stripe ie what is its covering power; how opaque or transparent is the paint and how does it behave when used as a glaze
• what it's like when mixed with black
• what colour the paint is after five years - in both solid form and brushed out

I give you the results of this expanded White Test (or Off-White Test, as it is known in-house.) 

The charts demonstrate which remain the same and which change - and, if they change whether they have a tendency to go towards orange or yellow.

A small sample of Jonathan Linton's colour charts for white oil paint

His charts when clicked produce large images and it's very easy to read which paint is which.

He then produces a ranked list for

• those which remained white, 
• those which practically turned orange and 
• those which had a distinct lemon yellow tint.

This is definitely a RECOMMENDED READ for all painters. Do also make sure you read the comments as they contain interesting discussions about different paints and indicate what he's now planning for the next tests!

Book Review: The Art of Impressionism

Title: The Art of Impressionism: Painting Technique and the Making of Modernity

Author: (Publisher): Professor Anthea Callen (Yale University Press Published: 15 November 2000)

Technical data: ISBN 13: 9780300084023 ISBN 10: 0300084021

Physical properties Format: Hardback; Number of pages: 240; Width: 245.00 mm; Height: 310.00 mm; Thickness: 27.00 mm; Weight: 2010.00 g

Synopsis: This magnificent book is the first full-scale exploration of Impressionist technique. Focusing on the easel-painted work of Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Cezanne, Cassatt, Morisot, Caillebotte, Sisley, and Degas in the period before 1900, it places their methods and materials in a historical perspective and evaluates their origins, novelty, and meanings within the visual formation of urban modernity. Browse the contents page here and here.

Who should buy this?: People who like the Impressionists a lot and/or are really interested in how they painted

Who should not buy this? people who aren't willing to search high and low for it! people who aren't interested in the Impressionists

Highlights well researched detail about context and practice in the past details what the Impressionist artists used for paint, what sort of canvases and grounds they painted on, how they applied their paint, where and in what sort of conditions they painted and finally whether and how they varnished and framed their works the very best photography of Impressionist paintings and small sections of them that I have ever seen in a serious art book many reproductions of paintings I've never seen before in any other book an opportunity to really examine the nature and quality of the mark making corrects the views some people have of Impressionist painters a fantastic glossary and very detailed bibliography and endnotes

Think Again? academic language used - typical of a university level text now apparently out of print and may be very difficult to get hold of the price you may now need to pay to get hold of a copy

Summary / Recommendation: I highly recommend The Art of Impressionism: Painting Technique and the Making of Modernity for anybody who, like me, likes the work of Impressionist painters and is also fascinated by the preparation and process behind the making of their art.

My purpose in posting is to update a post in February 2008 on my Making A Mark blog - The Art of Impressionism and associated painting techniques. Click the link to read my detailed book review - which is summarised above.

The painting on the front cover is part of "Boulevard des Capucines" by Claude Monet painted in 1873.
80.4cm x 60.3 cm
Nelson-Atkins Museum collection
According to Prof. Callen it was painted
on a 'horiziontal landscape no 25' canvas.

Drawing on scientific studies of pigments and materials, artists’ treatises, colormens’ archives, and contemporary and modern accounts, Anthea Callen demonstrates how raw materials and paintings are profoundly interdependent. She analyzes the material constituents of oil painting and the complex processes of “making” entailed in all aspects of artistic production, discussing in particular oil painting methods for landscapists and the impact of plein air light on figure painting, studio practice, and display. Insisting that the meanings of paintings are constituted by and within the cultural matrices that produced them, Callen argues that the real “modernity” of the Impressionist enterprise lies in the painters’ material practices. Bold brushwork, unpolished, sketchy surfaces, and bright, “primitive” colors were combined with their subject matter—the effects of light, the individual sensation made visible—to establish the modern as visual.

UPDATE

This very worthwhile book is now out of print and apparently copies are difficult to locate. Personally I think it is a book which is well worth owning. However if you want to acquire a copy you need to buy it now or you might not be able to buy it at all.

These are the libraries in the UK which have a copy.

If you want to purchase a copy then:

• EITHER you may need to try hunt it down off the Internet - and this may take some time
• OR you could be paying very high prices on the Internet - Amazon for example has book sellers in the US quoting prices from $400-600+. In the UK it was originally priced at £45.
  

This is also an excellent book to use as an example for telling your nearest and dearest why very good art books - packed full of information and expert comment - are a really a very worthwhile investment! :)

Plus we also need to let publishers know which books need to be reprinted! I'm off to write a note to the Yale University Press!

Note: Many thanks to Caroline Oakley, who's an Adult and Community Learning Tutor, who wrote to let me know that this book is now out of print.