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sadiesavestheday · 7 years ago

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Art Supply Review: Old Holland Watercolors

Old Holland is kind of a strange brand. There are not a lot of reviews of it because of its expensive price in many parts of the world. I’m lucky enough that my local art store has a full collection of this brand at fairly reasonable prices.

Handprint.com doesn’t think very much of this brand because of its lightfastness issues and its odd labeling practices. That’s totally understandable. I don’t think I would ever recommend this brand to a beginner.

The pigments are definitely pure. They claimed that they include twice as much pigment as other brands, and that might be true. However, the binder for these paints is what makes it different from all other paints, and calm cause problems for a new or experienced watercolor artist. The binder has been described as gummy and sticky. And the paints lift extremely easily.

Not normally something that you’d associate with a high-grade artist quality watercolor brand.

Despite all of that, I love these paints!

Background

Many artists don’t like Old Holland watercolors. They say that they are too gummy , too thick, and too difficult to rewet. And all of these things are true to a certain extent. The colors do not stay still on the page, and lift extremely easily. All of these things can easily be considered negative points.

But there is one thing that I think is important to realize about these watercolors. They are really gansai.

Pseudo-Gansai

Okay, or at least they are basically gansai or very similar to gansai.

At my local art store, I picked up this pamphlet talking about Old Holland watercolors that comes directly from the company. Here is what it says.

Old Holland Classic watercolour These watercolours combine the best qualities of the original colours as used by the Chinese masters. All 168 colours are lightfast. The old fashioned Chinese binder accepts more pigment. This binder is based on distilled water, bleeched cristal arable gums, pure glycerine 99.9% with various mixtures of different natural sugar syrups,special selected honey, rabbit skin glue, rosin varnish (made from roots), seaweed extract, mhyr, etc. The colours tend to be considerably stronger than normal artist’s watercolours, while retaining the transparency required to produce the most delicate hues. Due to the higher level of pigmentation the intensity and brilliance is superior, while less quantity of paint is required to make the artwork.

Pamphlet

Okay, so what does that sound like? If you have read my blog post about Gansai, this will all sound very familiar.

And it makes sense. The Dutch were one of the few countries that were able to trade with the Chinese and the Japanese in the 17th century. You have probably heard of the Dutch East India Company, haven’t you?

Gansai is a Japanese art medium, but many of Japanese traditional arts have their roots Chinese culture. I don’t know what the Chinese word for gansai is, but I’m pretty sure that is what is going on here with these Old Holland watercolors.

So the characteristics fit. They lift easily, they are extremely vibrant, and extremely pigmented. The only thing that seems to be different is that the colors also mix with absolutely no problems.

Also, it is important to note that this binder is the main reason why old Holland colors have a bit of a lightfastness problem in some formulations. Some of the binder combinations that Old Holland uses yellow over time.

Stats

Quality Where Does it Stand? Lightfastness varying lightfastness, I would not trust the lightfastness rating given by Old Holland Where Is It Made? Holland Identification (Color Labeling and Accuracy) No pigment number or other information on the tube, also the label does not match the color inside at all Tube size 6 mL Price US$6 - US$22

Colors Reviewed

GOLDEN BAROK RED – PO 65

SCHEVENINGEN YELLOW LIGHT – PY 174

ULTRAMARINE BLUE DEEP – PB 29

Swatches

These colors are all extremely vibrant. They are surprisingly transparent, and every single one of them is extremely lifting. I have never seen colors that lifted as easily as this. You could put a drop of water on the paint and it would completely come off the page.

This can actually be really frustrating when you’re painting because you can basically erase the entire thing depending on what paper you are using.

This Ultramarine Blue Deep is my favorite ultramarine. The granulation is absolutely gorgeous and unlike the granulation I have seen in any other brand. I will definitely be buying more of this.

Scheveningen Yellow Light is now my favorite warm yellow. It’s transparent, and just glows.

Mixing

The colors mixed together extremely well. They harmonize and have a lot of movement when used wet in wet. The painting that I did using these colors has a sort of gentle harmony to it.

Re-wetting

This is where these colors fall down. Because of the binder, it’s extremely difficult to rewet these pains in comparison to other artistry paints. You have to add water to them before the pigment will come off of the pan.

Glazing and Layering

I don’t use these paints when I am planning to do a lot of layers. Or at least I don’t use them on the bottom layers, particularly because of that issue with listing. These colors don’t stay down very well. They always want to come off the page if there is any sort of agitation on top.

So I normally only use these paints if I am going to be doing a painting that doesn’t require a lot of layers, or if I want to use them on top of already painted layers.

They glaze well, and are very vibrant.

Vibrancy

Extremely vibrant, obviously full of pigment. Beautiful. There are variations of tone within each color.

Pros and Cons

Pros Cons Extremely High Pigment Load No pigment information on the tube The Most Beautiful Granulation Difficult to Rewet Very Vibrant Lifts easily Unique Pigments Extremely Expensive Questionable Lightfastness Strange Names The line is full of overly complicated convenience mixes

Who is it for?

Obviously not a reasonable person.

Not for anyone who is a stickler about single pigment paints or lightfastness.

I will probably continue buying these pains, but I will attempt to be aware of the limitations of the paint and careful about the lightfastness.

This brand is definitely a “luxury” brand if you think about the price and the lack of functionality. This isn’t really a brand that you go to for consistency or predictable quality. This is a brand that you go to because there’s just something about it that you love, despite all of the negative aspects.

So this is for somebody who has already tried artist grade watercolors, and is already very comfortable with them, and wants to be a little silly with their paints.

The Last Word

Price: ★

Quality: ★★★

Overall: ★★

Official Website

Classic Watercolours | colour chart | Old Holland Classic Colours

Availability

Starting at $6.33 at Dick Blick

Around $20 on Amazon

In Europe

Starting at £5.30 on Jackson’s Art Supplies

Ab €4.15 bei Gerstaecker

Other Discussions

Old Holland artist grade watercolor paint Color Chart - Mandy Van Goeije

Review Old Holland Watercolour - Mandy Van Goeije

Watercolor Paint QOR and Old Holland Challenge - Angela Moulton

Old Holland Watercolour Paint Review - Penholder Art

Watercolours: Old Holland Watercolours (review) | artdragon86

Jane Blundell Artist: Old Holland Watercolour complete range

OLD HOLLAND Watercolour Paints // Review + First Impressions + Swatches - Warm Yellow Shade

#old holland #gansai #paint #watercolor #art #supplu #review #golden #braok #red #schveningen #yellow #light

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sadiesavestheday · 8 years ago

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A Look Inside My Palette

I have been wanting to make a sort of watercolor resource including swatches of all the colors I have been able to get my hands on. Since that would mean watching all of the colors in my palate, I decided to take this as an opportunity to talk about the colors that I paint with regularly.

At the moment there are 42 colors in my main palette, although that’s probably way more than I need. My palette is in a state of transition, and I’m really trying to figure out what yellows and oranges are important to my painting.

In addition to those 42 colors, I also have 38 other colors that are not in my main palette. They are either redundant, not exactly fitting my needs, or waiting their turn to be put into the pallet.

My Selection Criteria

The way I choose colors is pretty simple. I want high quality, single pigment colors, that are fairly non-toxic. I stay away from cadmium, cobalt, cerulean, manganese, and viridian paints.

(Even though I really love cerulean and viridian, and miss them very much. I have heard that Kremer Pigments sells a non-toxic Zirconium Cerulean that I just can’t wait to get my hands on!)

I also want my colors to mix well and try to avoid repeating the same hue unless there is something very different in the characteristic of the watercolor.

The brands I choose are often determined by whether the pigment I want is available in the brand, the quality of the pigment in that brand, and the price.

Main Palette

Yellows

PY 53 – Nickel Titanate Yellow – Daler Rowney

PY 175 – Lemon Yellow Hue – Winsor & Newton (discontinued)

PY3 – Lemon Yellow – Schmincke

PY 97 – Transparent Yellow – Winsor and Newton (discontinued)

PY 153 – Sennelier Yellow Light – Sennelier

PY 97 – Hansa Yellow Medium – Daniel Smith

PY 74 –Schveningen Yellow Light – Old Holland

PY 153 – Indian yellow – Daler Rowney

PBR 7 – Raw Umber – M Graham

PBR 7 – Burnt Umber – Daler Rowney

PY 43 –Goethite – Daniel Smith

PBR 24 – Naples Yellow – M Graham

PO 49 – Quinacridone Gold – Daniel Smith

As you can probably tell from this list, I have some kind of yellow obsession. For a while I was on the hunt for the coolest yellow possible, and I think that I have finally found it with Nickel Titanate Yellow. Still I am tinkering around to figure out the best combination of cool, warm, and middle yellows, so my palette is kind of a mess.

PY 53 – Nickel Titanate Yellow – Daler Rowney

This is the coolest yellow that I have been able to find. Unfortunately, it’s a bit opaque, but it makes the most vibrant greens with phthalo blue or phthalo green that I have ever seen! Note: You can mix this with nearly any color to make a pastel or milky version.

PY 175 – Lemon Yellow Hue – Winsor & Newton (discontinued) & PY 97 – Transparent Yellow – Winsor and Newton (discontinued)

I was lucky to find beef to discontinued yellow colors from Winsor and Newton on the sales rack at my local art store. They are both beautiful colors, and very lovely and transparent. Unfortunately, I don’t think that I will be able to find a replacement once they are out because the same pigments and other brands seem to have a different hue.

PY 153 – Sennelier Yellow Light – Sennelier

My favorite middle yellow. Sennelier makes the best yellows, they just all glow.

PY 74 –Schveningen Yellow Light – Old Holland

This warm yellow is a unique pigment to Old Holland. It’s also different because it is very transparent, but also very lifting. That is a rare trait for yellow paint. Most are very staining.

PY 43 –Goethite – Daniel Smith

I use this pigment instead of yellow ocher. It’s not quite as opaque, and has a nicer texture and some granulation.

PBR 24 – Naples Yellow – M Graham

Naples Yellow is a very opaque paint, and not normally something that I would have imagined keeping on my palette. However I have found that it is really nice and glowing when extremely diluted. It’s useful for natural colors, beaches, and mixing into skin tones to give a little more weight to transparent colors.

PO 49 – Quinacridone Gold – Daniel Smith

Do I even need to say anything about this color? It’s super famous. I actually changed how I painted once I got this color, that’s how useful it is.

Oranges

PY 110 – Indian Yellow – M Graham

PO 62 – Chrome Orange – Schmincke

PO 71 – Translucent Orange – Schmincke

PO 48 – Quinacridone Burnt Orange – Daniel Smith

PO 65 – Golden Barok Red – Old Holland

PBR 41 – Translucent Brown – Schmincke

PR 101 – English Venetian Red – Schmincke

PO 73 – Scarlett Pyrrole – M Graham

PO 62 – Chrome Orange – Schmincke & PO 71 – Translucent Orange – Schmincke

Schmincke definitely make some of the best oranges. These colors are pretty unique to them. They are transparent unlike most orange colors, single pigment, and extremely vibrant. Wonderful colors for botanical painting

PO 48 – Quinacridone Burnt Orange – Daniel Smith

I love all of the Quinacridone colors. This is color that I use very often for portrait painting.

PO 65 – Golden Barok Red – Old Holland

A gorgeous brick red, this is a unique color to the Old Holland line. I use it sometimes as a substitute for burnt sienna that doesn’t granulate.

PBR 41 – Translucent Brown – Schmincke

I use a ton of this color for painting portraits, particularly of people with darker skin. I don’t like to use burnt or raw umber because they granulate. If you mix this color with Indanthrene or ultramarine blue, you get a super nice dark brown color.

PO 73 – Scarlett Pyrrole – M Graham

Probably the brightest and most saturated color on my palette. It just pops off the paper. Crazy dispersion. Crazy saturation. Just crazy.

Reds

PR 254 – Permanent Red Light – Van Gogh

PR 206 – Madder Brown – Schmincke

PR 254 – Winsor Red – Winsor and Newton

PR 179 – Deep Red – Schmincke

PR 209 – Quinacridone Red – Daler Rowney

PV 19 – Quinacridone Rose – M Graham

PR 122 – Purple Magenta – Schmincke

PR 206 – Madder Brown – Schmincke

Another color that I use a lot for portraits. I just really love how soft and warm it is. Nice for a warm brown skin tones, or blush.

PR 179 – Deep Red – Schmincke

If I were to narrow my palette down to a few key colors, this would definitely be on it. I mix this with pyrelene green to make the deepest darkest blacks.

PR 209 – Quinacridone Red – Daler Rowney

So I discovered this by accident. I had so many Quinacridone red colors, that I figured there wasn’t a reason to get another one. But I wanted to try a different pigment. And as soon as I decided to use Quinacridone read, I fell in love. This is just a wonderful, staining, transparent, mostly middle red. It’s lightly on the blue side, but I like my reds slightly cool anyway.

PV 19 – Quinacridone Rose – M Graham & PR 122 – Purple Magenta – Schmincke

Some people use these colors basically interchangeably. They both make wonderful purples when mixed with ultramarine blue. PR 122 is slightly better for this, but PV 19 is less of a finicky color when mixing with the right range of other colors.

Purples

PV 15 – Ultramarine Violet Deep – M Graham

PV 55 – Quinacridone Violet – Winsor and Newton

I don’t have a lot of purples because I like single pigment colors, and many purples are convenience colors or non-lightfast. Dioxazine Violet is often a fugitive color in many brands, so I stay on the safe side and go with my trusty Quinacridone.

Blues

PB 29 – Ultramarine Blue Deep – Old Holland

PP 29 – Ultramarine Finest – Schmincke

PB 60 – Indanthrene Blue – Winsor and Newton

PB 27 – Prussian Blue – Schmincke

PB 15:1 – Phthalo Blue – Schmincke

PB 15:3 – Phthalocyanine Blue – M Graham

PB 29 – Ultramarine Blue Deep – Old Holland & PB 29 – Ultramarine Finest – Schmincke

Normally I don’t have doubles of colors on my palate, but these two have very different characteristics. I often like to mix a warm blue that is not granulating, so Schmincke’s Ultramarine Finest is great for that. But when I want really lovely granulation, I go for the Old Holland.

PB 60 – Indanthrene Blue – Winsor and Newton

Probably my favorite blue. I use it to darken everything.

PB 27 – Prussian Blue – Schmincke

This is my mixing blue. I find that it mixes nicer and gentler colors and ultramarine does, so it’s an essential color on my palette. Also the blue that I use when painting portraits.

PB 15:1 – Phthalo Blue – Schmincke & PB 15:3 – Phthalocyanine Blue – M Graham

Phthalo blue comes in a red and a green shade, however if this pair is not far enough apart for it to be noticeable. I will probably replace the M. Graham phthalo blue with the new Rembrandt phthalo blue red shade that I have gotten.

Greens

PG 7 – Phthalo Green – Schmincke

PG 36 – Phthalo Green Yellow Shade – M Graham

PBK 31 – Pyrelene Green – Winsor and Newton

PBr 7, PB 15 – Cascade Green – Daniel Smith

PY 129 – Brown Green –Sennelier

PG 7 – Phthalo Green – Schmincke & PG 36 – Phthalo Green Yellow Shade – M Graham

I didn’t think that it was necessary to have both phthalo greens, but having been a green yellow shade makes a really big difference in mixing greens. This pair is sufficiently far enough apart that they can be really useful and versatile.

PBK 31 – Pyrelene Green – Winsor and Newton

This is the last in the series of dark colors that I love. I use this, Deep Red, and Indanthrene Blue to add deep values to nearly every painting.

PBr 7, PB 15 – Cascade Green – Daniel Smith

This is the only convenience color on my palette. I just love the granulation and how the color separate. Even though I can mix myself, this is much more convenient. I use the color rarely, but when I do I’m very happy to have it.

PY 129 – Brown Green –Sennelier

Another kind of odd color, that is really great because of its duotone nature. Mixes with purples and with yellows to make interesting browns and greens.

Other

PBk 11 – Lunar Black – Daniel Smith

Normally I don’t believe in using black in watercolor, but the granulation of this pigment is insane. I love using it just to play around, or to get texture in rocks.

Supplementary Palettes/Other Colors

PBk 9 – Ivory Black – Schmincke

Po 62, Pg 7 – Permanent Green Olive – Schmincke

Py 151 – Azo Yellow – M Graham

Py 184 – Permanent Lemon Yellow – Van Gogh

Pbr 7 – Burnt Sienna – White Nights

PY 43, PR 102, PY 83 – Raw Sienna – White Nights

Nr 9 – Rose Madder Genuine – Winsor And Newton

Per 7 – Burnt Umber – Schmincke

PY 42 – Yellow Ocher – Schmincke

PB 29 – Ultramarine Blue – M Graham

PB 27 – Prussian Blue – Daler Rowney

PP 29 – Ultramarine Deep – Van Gogh

PR 122 – Opera Rose – Winsor and Newton

Gold (90) – Kuretake Gansai Tambi

Persian Blue (63) – Kuretake Gansai Tambi

Dark Pink (34) – Kuretake Gansai Tambi

PBR 7 – Burnt Sienna – Old Holland

PR 102 – Red Ocher – Old Holland

PB 16 – Helio Turquoise – Schmincke

PG 23 – Green Earth – Rembrandt

PV 42 – Royal Purple Lake – Old Holland

PBR 7 – Raw Sienna Deep – Old Holland

PR 255 – Permanent Red Middle – Rembrandt

PY 184 – Permanent Lemon Yellow – Rembrandt

PY 150 – Aureoline – Rembrandt

PB 15 – Phthalo Blue (red shade) – Rembrandt

PV 19 – Permanent Carmine – Schmincke

PB 15:1, PBR 7, PBK 9 – Sepia – Schmincke

Nr 9 – Rose Madder Genuine – Winsor and Newton

It’s too bad that this color is fugitive. It’s really beautiful. I don’t know of any other slightly granulating, non-staining, vibrant pink.

PR 122 – Opera Rose – Winsor and Newton

Another fugitive color, which is why I do not keep it in my main palette. It is superduper vibrant, but I feel like I can see it fading even a few days after I have painted with it. I almost never use it.

PB 16 – Helio Turquoise – Schmincke

A color in between phthalo blue and phthalo green. It’s really vibrant, and almost like a tropical sea. You can mix this same color by mixing phthalo blue with phthalo green, but this is more convenient. It is a good cyan primary color. One day I would like to try Holbein’s PB 17.

PG 23 – Green Earth – Rembrandt

A fairly odd color in watercolors. I am always interested in single pigment greens that are non-toxic. It’s nice that it granulates gently. I could see using this a lot for nature colors. I would also like to try this as a underpainting for portraits.

PV 42 – Royal Purple Lake – Old Holland

I saw this color recommended, and wanted to try it out as a pink watercolor. I don’t paint paintings very often, but I know that a lot of people do. This is very nice and pink, obviously not as pink as Opera rose. It is also a good magenta primary color.

PBR 7 – Raw Sienna Deep – Old Holland

While many people use yellow ocher when painting portraits, I really dislike the opacity in the flatness of it. Raw sienna has a similar hue, but it is much less opaque, and much more vibrant to me. I would recommend this over the yellow ocher.

PR 255 – Permanent Red Middle – Rembrandt & PY 184 – Permanent Lemon Yellow – Rembrandt

These will probably replace the Van Gogh versions that I currently have a my palette. Since these are the artist grade to their student grade, it makes sense that these colors are more vibrant and transparent.

PB 15 – Phthalo Blue (red shade) – Rembrandt

As I said before, this will probably replace the M Graham phthalo blue in my palette.

Winsor and Newton Cotman

PB 29 – Ultramarine – Winsor and Newton Cotman

PBR 7, PY 42 – Burnt Umber – Winsor and Newton Cotman

PY 42 – Yellow Ocher –Winsor and Newton Cotman

PR 101 – Burnt Sienna –Winsor and Newton Cotman

PY 139, PG 36, PR 101 – Sap Green –Winsor and Newton Cotman

PR 149, PR 255 – Cadmium Red Hue –Winsor and Newton Cotman

PY 65, PR 255 – Cadmium Red Pale Hue –Winsor and Newton Cotman

PY 97, PY 65 – Cadmium Yellow –Winsor and Newton Cotman

PY 175 – Lemon Yellow (discontinued?) –Winsor and Newton Cotman

That’s all for now! I love to collect unique colors, and new brands, so this list will probably be growing soon.

#watercolor #watercolour #Winsor and Newton #Daler Rowney #M Graham #Old Holland #artist grade #cotman #student grade #rembrandt #van gogh #palette #colors #collection

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