Spanish Watercolors- Mir Acquerla Watercolor Unbox & Swatch (Patreon)

Spanish Watercolors- Mir Acquerla Watercolor Unbox & Swatch

Shownotes: Full Shownotes, Including Pigment Information: https://tinyurl.com/x9udm9wj Website: https://www.jaurenaart.com/ Produced by Jaurena Art Greater Barcelona Metropolitan Area · Painting & Fine Art Material Manufacturer. MIR is one of their subbrands, and they also produce oils and acrylics under this line According to their site, these aren't student-grade at all, but Extra Fine Watercolors: https://www.jaurenaart.com/category/00004/watercolors-mir Swatch Information: https://www.jaurenaart.com/category/description/id/00004/watercolors-mir They use the same pigments as their oil paint line, and the binder is gum arabic. MSDS: https://tinyurl.com/4dbhnmt2 Other than this site, which does not list prices and doesn't seem to sell these paints, it's really difficult to find a US listing for MIR paints http://www.art-paints.com/Paints/Watercolor/Mir/MIR-Extra-Fine.html Swatches: From tube: Pouring into the included palette: MOST colors are a bit pasty, but fairly smooth. Color seems well mixed, not a lot of gum arabic seepage. The exception is Sepia- sepia had a LOT of gum arabic come out, but it was a very clean gum arabic (reminded me of Aquazol in color), and didn't seem to be too yellow or discolored. Colors swatched very clean. Not overly opaque, although a fair amount of opacity to many colors (possibly due to how finely milled the pigments are). Reminds me of Turner watercolors quite a bit. Color Mixing (Fresh) Atomic Mixing: Fairly easy to mix secondary colors with the included colors, although purples will prove challenging given the color selection. Payne's grey is a particularly easy mix because the colors don't really granulate that much. Glazing: Seem to glaze alright, although since everything is milled the same, it feels like some color is lost? Because most colors have some opacity to them, while glazing is possible and doesn't turn to mud, prior colors are obscured by new layers. After Drying for 1 Week: Lift Test (tubes) Colors seem to have even levels of granulation, which is a little disappointing, as some granulation can add a lot of visual interest to mixes. Colors are quite brilliant and seem to be semi-opaque, and are easy to use straight from the tube. After a week: Most of these colors are somewhat lifting, but not entirely lifting Reactivation after a week: All colors were spritzed with water I find color control a bit easier in this form, seems like there's also more transparency, I may have worked with the colors a bit too thick when working straight from the tube (this is a common problem I have, and one of the reasons I prefer to dry my paints) Colors reactivated well, good saturation, no real issues, and didn't muddy the water AS much Lift Test: Strangely enough, they were less prone to lifting this time, maybe because I hadn't gobbed so much paint on? Pros: After drying for a week, these reactivate like a dream and are nicer, less muddy, and easier to work with than fresh from tube- would be great in a half pan palette or for plein air watercolor Colors are vibrant and saturated Several single pigments in this set The brush is surprisingly good, but that's not a high bar- brushes included in sets like this one tend to be awful, so it being passable is impressive Cons: Challenging to find in the US- haven't seen them available through anywhere BUT David's Art Center, haven't seen them available openstock in the US, haven't seen them available in other sizes Kinda expensive- but then, David's can sometimes be a bit pricy for more unusual art supplies, so this price might not be a constant The browns have an usually high number of different pigments in them, especially sepia. The included plastic liner would be nice, but it's so cheap and brittle! For the price, I would've loved to have seen a ceramic or enamel one. The Verdict: Typically, imported art supplies tend to come at a premium, so you may find the MIR Acuarelas for a better price than what I paid. For my US friends, these are alright watercolors- probably would class these as professional-grade- but I feel a fieldtest will give us much more useful information. As it is, I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to track these down- they're alright, but we have better alternatives. Music: Summer Symphony Ball- Sir Cubworth Sonatina No 2 in F Major Rondo- Joel Cummins Dance for the Wind Trio- Sir Cubworth Italian Morning No 9 Esther's Waltz-Esther Abrami C Major Prelude In the Sweet by and By- Zachariah Hickman Sweet Relief- Zachariah Hickman Sunset Dream- Cheel Sunset Dream- Cheel Bike Sharing to Paradise- Dan Bodan Friday Fugue- Trevor Garrod Morning Mandolin #MirAcquerlaWatercolors #watercolorreview #watercolorpaints