What would your ultimate watercolor set be like?

HarvestMoon · #1 01-28-2008, 06:28 PM

Ok, so if you wanted to create a line of watercolors..... what would your DREAM set be like???? Is there anything lacking in your current set? Perhaps if you combine your favorite paint qualities with your favorite palette design? What would it be???

I think I would go for a square palette, with room in the middle, and a mix of the best of the natural colors in the daniel smith line, with my favorite holbeins and old hollands....heavy on the purple, magenta, and turquoise... PLEASE...

or really a COOKIE box like troutbum got....with room for about 50 tubes of paint and a half-pan set of 48...and the mister and the water holder...and the brushes.....

or in particular... what would your ultimate PAINTS be like???

CharM · #2 01-28-2008, 08:06 PM

Wow... I keep trying to make up the Perfect Palette... I haven't got there yet and I seem to be spending more money than I'd like to try and get there... My plastic palettes are stained... the edges are cracked and they haven't stood up as well as I'd like... porcelain palettes are just too heavy.

So... my Dream Set of watercolour...

would dry nicely in my palette wells, but reactivate to creamy consistency easily and quickly...
would be heavily pigmented and vibrant...

Well... you know, Linda, I have to say that M. Graham and D. Smith have met my needs with such good quality paints... I would like them to be even cheaper $$$ wise than they are, but even the current cost isn't all that bad... A tube of paint lasts a long time.

I really think that my search for perfection doesn't lie with my tools but my need for improved skills...

lyn lynch · #3 01-29-2008, 09:58 AM

I'm with CharM...improved skills, that's what I need.

My choice of palette depends on my mood of the day so I have many different kinds. I use a limited palette and fresh paint with each sheet, so the little plastic ones, with thumb hole work for me, for now. But I especially love my medium-sized butcher pan for a big wash.

CharM, re the staining. I clean it out with hot water. Then I pour a good amount of MURPHY'S OIL SOAP over the palette, rubbing it into the creases.

Next, add hot water just to cover the wells and let it sit. Works best if you can cover it with saran (plastic) wrap.

After a few days, dump out the water, give the wells a bit of a wipe, and most of the stains will be gone.

Emme2 · #4 01-29-2008, 10:33 AM

Interesting question, Linda, I read it yesterday, and thought about it overnight. I think between M.Graham and Daniel Smith (okay, and a few WNs, Sennielers, and Holbeins) I've got the paint side of things locked down. I will probably always buy a new tube of paint, because as Painter Ron once said, "there's a little bit of magic in a new tube of paint." I would add "especially if it's a new color!"

My struggles have been with finding the ultimate palette. A few years ago I stumbled across a photo of an art supply store window in Europe. They had a new Old Holland WC palette on display. It held 48 whole pans!!!

and it looked to be about 6" x12" in size. I don't remember if it had a fold out palette or just the lid. Mind you, I don't want the paint just the box!! The price was in Euros and at the time of conversion it would have been over $2000 US dollars

!?!?!! If I ever win that lottery. . . .

Meanwhile, I have three metal palettes and one plastic one that I alternate between depending on the subject. Somehow, though, I don't think there will ever be an ultimate palette for me - color wise or support wise - not as long as new paints and new palettes keep coming out on the market! ~ Emme

HarvestMoon · #5 01-29-2008, 10:38 AM

well, personally, I need an infusion of talent LOL... but I keep trying to create a perfect set of watercolors....'to go' places and such...
love this from char:

So... my Dream Set of watercolour...
would dry nicely in my palette wells, but reactivate to creamy consistency easily and quickly...
would be heavily pigmented and vibrant...

HarvestMoon · #6 01-29-2008, 02:12 PM

Well- I am happy to see we have a new sponsor with the banner ads this morning- Jerry's Artarama!!!!! They do have a terrific selection of watercolor thingys....

CharM · #7 01-29-2008, 04:53 PM

...and Holbein!!! Their Opera is the most beautiful colour I've ever used... All my favourite colours on my Perfect Palette would never, ever, ever be fugitive either!

HarvestMoon · #8 01-29-2008, 06:12 PM

yep Char- I have bought the full selection of holbien watercolors (and daniel smith's)... they are both terrific... if only they could make 'talent in a tube' LOL...

nes7827 · #9 01-30-2008, 07:11 PM

Yer lookin' at it - all 90 Da Vinci Artist watercolors and Arnold Lowrey's signature palette.

And don't forget all 48 Da Vinci Artist Fluid Acrylics, for acrylic watercolor work (with a few more colors recommended by your's truly on the way)...sorry, no pic of my butcher's tray palette handy.

rgb · #10 02-01-2008, 12:58 AM

Ah, Nick! Another opportunity to show off your wondrous toys! You are a very happy and blessed man!

Neeman · #11 02-01-2008, 02:10 AM

Terrible!!!!
Does this mean we would never buy any more stuff!!

Seriously, it does not exist.

Pleine aire pocket kit, with small blocks; for a stop the car and play
Pleine aire sketching kit with a gouache watercolor mix, crayons, water soluble pencils, and oil pastels, with medium blocks; for a quick morning off.
Full pleine aire kit, with large blocks and 1/4 sheets; for my painting trips
Landscape palette studio
Abstract palette studio
Gouache palette
Cotman palette to doddle
A experimental pan box to shift around colors to test palettes
Ink palette

An ultimate watercolor set?
Never, it means I would be stuck in a method!!!

jaytee · #12 02-01-2008, 12:02 PM

..... microchipped paint tubes that when I held them up would pass a message direct to my brain telling me their properties and how they behaved with other paints on different paper surfaces

FriendCarol · #13 02-01-2008, 03:22 PM

Gotta agree with Neeman... I have everything I want or need, and put in or take out specific items for particular (local) art treks.

The smaller porcelain palettes are quite wonderful for mixing, and then storing mixed colors, btw. I have a smallish round "greens" palette I take on plein air trips, for example, and a slightly smaller (and fewer wells) porcelain palette for life classes. "Nesting" sets of round ones, large and small, are great for the studio, but I also use a variety of round 'floral' sets, in varying sizes, for specific sets of colors in a particular wip.

HarvestMoon · #14 02-01-2008, 09:28 PM

nick- wow - that photo has me drooling.... what a selection... now to find a 'to go' box so you can take it all with you!!!

neeman- well, I am a 'shopaholic' I am not adverse to 5 or 6 ultimate sets lol...

Christie · #15 02-01-2008, 09:43 PM

This is, without a doubt my dream. There is no way on earth I will ever be able to afford it, but I can dream...

Check this out

It is not just supplies... look at the work that went into that box!

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