The High Cost Of Art Supplies - Gouache Adventure

Hi Portal.

with the American brands I can't help you but Winsor and Newton is English and i know them. They are a very reputable company so I'm sure you'll be happy with their paint.

Good luck with your commission.

Thanks, Viv. I am not partial to windsor and newton oil colors, but Iv'e heard good things about their designer gouache so we'll see. As for the M. Grahm gouache, I got it in the mail today and it seems to be creamy and heavily pigmented - good signs. I can't wait to use it.

W&N artists quality oils are ok but i love Old Holland and Sennelier and Mussini. Artists quality are just so much better and because of their quality and intensity they aren't as much more expensive as they appear.

I don't know if you get those branks in the USA?

Sennelier oil pastels are also luscious - I only use them occasionally in mixed media pieces but they are just so far above the other brands. They are great in combination with watercolours.

Oil pastels or traditional pastels (Unison and Sennelier particularly good) are both good with gouache.

I -love- sennilier, and they have them in the U.S.. I also really like RGH, which you can get online http://www.rghartistoilpaints.com/. But they come in jars so you have to tube them yourself or use them straight out of the jars. I don't think they're in the states, but I'll be sure to try old holland or mussini if I come across them . Good oil paints are totally worth the cost. I would like to try making paints myself, sometime in the future when I (hopefully) have a studio.

I use MisterArt.com which give a pretty whopping good discount when you join their club. I bought a Windsor Newton Series 7 Number 7 Sable watercolor brush for under $60.00. I prefer to buy paper at my local Art Warehouse store so I can see the texture and quality (I don't always buy Strathmore).

There's this weird guy who comes to my art school sporadically with scads of factory reject brushes- the ones that are a bit off color, or whatever. I doubt he's street legal, but the brushes are super cheap so I don't think anyone asks questions. It's funny to see the art students rush over and fight for the good ones.

My local Art Warehouse has jars of brushes that may be discontinued or the paint finish is damaged on the handle, etc. I've found some great brushes and they were .99.

Portal Star,
That's a pretty good deal on the gouache. M Grahm is out of Oregon and supports organic, non-toxic paints. It's comparable to W&N. I use their oils and really like the pigment and consistency. $6.00 is about what you pay for Arches 140. If it was 300, you got a very good deal.

Well, the pigment is going to be toxic no matter what, but I appreciate it when companies make an effort not to set their artists aflame. I don't like Windsor and Newton oils because they have a low pigment content and don't use high grade oil. I like windsor and newton brushes, though. I have hope for their designer's gouache, especially if you like it.

Btw, I checked out Old holland and Mussini and they are EXPENSIVE (gasp) so they must be good . I'll have to keep them in mind for when I come into money ;p.
I saw a vermillion (red) on the internet yesterday (at RGH) that was $15 for 1/8 a quart. Some of those pigments are so expensive. At least I'm not using lapis lazuli.


Always tempting when they should not... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2342180758

are you using student/normal quality oils or artists quality Portal? Mussini and Old Holland are artists quality with a very high pigment ratio and are really beautiful to use.

The price you quote sounds like students.

There are different qualities of Windsor & Newton oil paints -- some are not good for opaque oils painting but as far as glazes, the quality of their pigments is unsurpassed for the price. There really isn't much of a different in quality of linseed oil but the other binders that are in oils are also important. I find Windsor & Newton is one of the oil paints that will not crack when using drying accelerators and extra body mediums. Too much pigment in impasto painting with oils and they have a tendency to craze and/or crack.

Here's a link to W&N on Misterart:

WINDSOR & NEWTON AT MISTER ART

There is a good mail order catalogue calle Great Art - very thick with a huge variety of makes and products - i think you have it in in the US as well?

Here we also have Jacksons.

Lightwizard: what mediums are you using? Do you use an extender to do impasto? I generally use liquin/galkyd, and poppy or safflower oil. Sometimes damar varnish, when I use turpentine, otherwise I use mineral spirits. When I want a matt sheen I mix in some wax.

Windsor and newton is still less bang for your buck. I guess it depends on the kind of painting you do, and what suits your needs. Color and color mixing is very important to my painting, so I try to get heavy, true pigments (not "hues"). A nice, creamy texture is also better to mix with.

I also dislike grumbacher. Have you tried other brands of oils?

Don't need an extender with the W&N Griffin Alkyd oils as they include a non-yellowing resin that dries faster without crazing or cracking. For really think impasto, I would still use acrylics and modeling paste. It depends on the effect. For smooth, consistent transparancies with glaze painting in oils, W&N best quality is superior to anything I've tried but I'm not married to them. Grumbacher is for school kids and Sunday painters. I believe they have come out with a higher grade but I haven't researched it. I've always used W&N watercolors as nothing else is the same. Acrylics, still Liquitex.

BTW, it's $25.00 a year to belong to Mister Art but with the deepest discount, it is worth it if you buy a lot of supplies.

Ive always used fine mill W/n watercolors , but ever since theyve gone to a different terminology for their granular colors, Ive switched over to Sennelier. Thety have about the finest milled gran colors, so many times when i top off a painting withs some thin washes or airbrush, the opacities match nicely.

Have you used Ox Gall and Gum Arabic for your washes yet/. is youre art school organized into semester sections re watercolor and oil?

I looooove sennelier (oils- haven't tried their watercolors) but they are so EXPENSIVE. I think RGH is second in quality/price ratio. They have oil paints and dry pigments. You order them online which I also like, but the downside is you have to tube them yourself (they come in jars). BTW, if someone does end up ordering from RGH, pm me and tell me b/c if you enter my name in the text box I get a discount.

I haven't made my own watercolors, but I would find that interesting someday. I have never tried ox gall fluid, mostly because it is called ox gall fluid. I mean, who was the first person to use the fluid from an ox gall and think: "Yes, I believe this will greatly enhance my watercolors?"

My art classes are divided up into semester long classes. Right now I'm taking figure painting in oils. In the basic painting classes, they offer watercolor intro, intermediate, and advanced, same three levels for oils. And we can repeat advanced as many times for credit as we want. They also have a "works on paper" class involving wet media.

hee hee. Yeh, sounds kinda gross when you first aproach it. It does do great things for making super graded washes and feather edges for spotting.

Think you have an idea for a great thread. ie 'notable firsts" , like who were the first people to look at an oyster and say "lets eat this pile of slime, Ill bet it would go greatr with trhat white stuff we got out of that cow'