Review of Schmincke Horadam Watercolours

~ MAGNY TJELTA

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Review of Schmincke Horadam Watercolours

I have a Winston & Newton box which is 25 years old that I am still using! When I bought it, I didn´t know that he colours were chosen for painting landscapes and nature, I don´t often paint landscapes, and now I prefer to pick the individual colours that I will use.  I usually like the colours that are perfect for painting city life, cafes, flowers and people. It might make it a bit more expensive than choosing a ready-made kit, but the different brands offer different prices, so I am sure you will find the product to match your budget. A lot of the brands make a student quality that work great.

A friend of my loves Schmincke watercolours so much that they are the only ones she uses. So, I had to try them out for myself, just to see if I would like them as much as she does.

I bought 12 Schmincke watercolours from their range of 110 colours. Of the 110, 70 are single pigment paints and the use of good reliable pigments is prevalent in this brand. I usually buy the tubes because my art works for exhibitions are large, often 2 to 3 meters high and over 150 cm wide so I need a lot paint.  But, when I do sketches for ideas or work in my home studio, I need to have a smaller paint sets.  This time I chose the tubes.
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The 536 Green Yellow is my new favourite colour.

schminceFor me the primary colours (magenta (red but looks like pink), cyan (blue) and primary yellow.) are the most important, and are what I look for first.  These are the basic colours of the rainbow and you can make all the other colours from these. When I went to the shop I found magenta but had to choose another blue and yellow, but they worked out just fine. Besides these three colours I chose some earth colours and two that are great for painting skin tones. Burnt Sienna or a Burnt Umber are also great choices but I didn´t take them this time as I wanted to try something new.

Below I show how to combine the 3 primary colours to get all the other colours,
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When you are choosing the paint,  you also need to consider what you will use them for.  If you are doing illustrations or working in an art journal or sketch book , they are all good.  But if  you are going to exhibit or sell your work you will want to choose a paint that will not fade over time when exposed to sunlight.

One of the colours I chose is not light-resistant but can be perfect for sketchbooks and personal use. I must admit that I will have a problem to keep this colour separate. How on earth will I remember which is the light resistant one? I should have checked more closely before buying this one.

Over all, Schmincke is an great watercolor paint, and has lovely colours that I like, they did their job well because when I mixed the colours I got exactly the shade I wanted. I absolutely love them. They make some colours that the other brands don´t have and my pallet will include these colours from Schmincke in future.

 

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I was able to get the exact colours of the flowers and it was easy with these paints!

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22 thoughts on “Review of Schmincke Horadam Watercolours”

  5. Wow, really great pictures and insight about watercolour paint. You have such a natural skill for drawing.

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  7. I have used them many years. But I switched to “white nights aquarellfarben”.by Jax Artcompany. They are brilliant, and less expensive.
    Love your roses!

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  9. Great post. I use mainly WN as they are more readily available here and not as pricey as Schminke. I have been using CYMK almost exclusively in my little gouache paintings and learning a lot about colour. I find it difficult to mix brown or mud with that combination.

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    1. Yes mixing the browns can be difficult so i usually get some earth colours (some brands are easier to mixes) I am now planing to buy some Gouache, do you have any recommendations?

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