Patreon Newsletter Week October 24th (Patreon)

Hey Artnerds!

Am I the only one who feels like September and October went by WAY TOO FAST?  How are we almost to November?!  Where did my Fall go?

Paints, Pigments, and Optical Brighteners:

I'm including some photos from recent student grade watercolor reviews, just to show you guys some of what I've been working with and seeing lately.

Coolbank watercolors and their swatches

So an interesting point was brought up in The Paintbox recently, regarding watercolor's relative opacity, the materials used to make the color, particle size, and the quality of the paints.  While we didn't go too in-depth (I would have loved to have learned more about particle size, mineral, and color!), it was brought to my attention that how I discussed how masstone is reflected to the user in my recent Superior Folding Palette Fieldtest might have been deceptive or confusing to some viewers, especially those who had not watched the Unbox and Swatch, or might not be familiar with my other watercolor reviews or blog posts.  

Schpirerr Farben watercolors

The gist is that a color's opacity, if using pure pigments, is more tied to the particle size of the ground pigments, and that should not change.  

Superior Foldable Watercolor Palette

And that's totally true if you're working with high-quality homemade or professional grade watercolors that are basically just Pigment+Binder (gum arabic or honey or aquazol, although the first two do change how blues look)+preservative (clove oil is often used with handmade watercolors).  If you're just talking about those three elements to paint, then predicting a color's opacity would be fairly easy.  

But I've been reviewing A LOT of student grade watercolors recently, and those typically use extenders to make expensive pigments cheaper (honestly, they often use alternative pigment mixes, which really skew what we can expect).  These extenders commonly take the form of white pigments- PW6 and PW20 are popular choices, but can also include other additives, more binder in relation to the pigment, ect.  Not only does this extend expensive pigments, but it also makes the masstone (the color of the paint in mass, either in a pile or in a half pan) brighter and more appealing, making the palette itself look bright and colorful.

SeamiArt watercolors- these are REALLY full of optical brighteners, to the point where I feel it really negatively affects the paint quality.

Now, these are the bane of many watercolor artists, particularly artists who are newer to the medium.  It's not something most art supply companies happily disclose either- so you sorta have to know about it to know about it.  Years ago, I wrote a blog post explaining what Optical Brighteners are, where they're commonly found, what negative effects they can have on your art supplies and artwork, and ways to work around them: https://nattosoup.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-cause-of-many-muddy-water-optical.html 

Since I've been reviewing A LOT of student grade watercolors recently for my Student Grade Showdown, I've been seeing and dealing with additives and extenders and optical brighteners far more than I usually would.  As someone who enjoys reviewing art supplies though, the more you review, and the wider array of quality you can get your hands on, and the more you research- all these add up to a better ability to access art supply quality and determine if it's worth the price.  It also gives you a basis for comparison- for the past couple years, I've ramped up my professional watercolor reviews (and have a BUNCH MORE coming up), and have tried to expand my repertoire to art supplies not commonly sold or availalbe in the US, so I have a wider area for comparison and expertise.  

Mungyo Watercolors

But this conversation gave me an opportunity to sorta crystalize how I determine if a paint is using optical brighteners to extend the pigments, and a chance to sorta formalize when and why they bother me, and when and why they don't.

So since most art supply companies don't openly admit the inclusion of extenders to make cheap paints even cheaper, I have to use some critical thinking to determine if there's a strong probability of inclusion.

I judge this by:

The pigment info itself, when available.  With student grade paints, this is a toss up, the really cheap ones don't include this.  If I see PW6 or PW10 in colors that never include pigment whites (like Venetial Red or Ochres), then that's a pretty good sign that those PW's were included to extend the paint (this is a weird example, bc ochres are DIRT CHEAP literally, but I've come across it a couple times, and am always like...what??)

How quickly my rinse cup turns to chocolate milk (an opaque brown) or how fast it turns muddy (hence why I always show yall my rinse cup b/w rinses during the Unbox and Swatch reviews)

How opaque traditionally transparent colors are during the swatch part of the Unbox and Swatch

Colors that are normally very dark in masstone (pile or halfpan) being much brighter than usual (for example, Indian yellow, which is a dark brown in masstone, or a pthalo blue, which is a darker blue than it swatches, or a diox purple, which can appear black, ect)

In the fieldtest I look for:

How badly the original inked lineart has been obscured

Difficulties in how the paints handle (I use a standardized paper- Stonehenge Aqua)

Chalkiness/Muddiness in the paints on the paper

Swatches for Etchr watercolors and color mixes

Of course, this isn't true for all types of watercolor!  Different watercolor traditions use different formulations, and that skews things quite a bit. Gansai in pans and traditional Chinese watercolors (especially those available pre-mixed in tubes) are both meant to be handled quite differently and to appeal to different sensibilities- so judging those the way I'd judge Western formulations would be unfair to the product, unfair to yall, and cheating myself of something I might possibly love.  With Western watercolor, IN GENERAL, we don't grind the particles finer (or less fine) to get a deeper version of that color, but in Chinese watercolor, there are blues and greens that are darker colors just because the pigments are more finely ground and sifted.

Gansai isn't really meant for a lot of color mixing, wet into wet, or even a lot of layering- it's meant for a thick, immediate application.  That's why Gansai palettes usually have so many colors!  You CAN use it for other types of watercolor, but they really shine when used for etegami!

Chinese watercolors are meant to be more opaque, meant to be handled a bit more thickly, aren't really intended for loads of layering, and wet into wet color gradations are usually done on the brush itself, rather than the paper!  Chinese watercolor is also designed to be used on both sides of the specialized paper.  Again, you can use it for other types of watercolor if you wish, but traditional Chinese watercolor is really cool, and will definitely teach you to appreciate all that your brush can do!

Using Marie's Professional Chinese watercolors for an illustration

I actually have a set of Chinese Winsor and Newton watercolors that were formulated for the Chinese market that I want to share with yall and compare it against Western Winsor and Newton and Marie's Professional Chinese watercolors.

To be absolutely honest with yall, I really wish I had a stronger scientific background to utilize when reviewing art supplies.  There are so many cool properties that I could better explain if I had that basis.  While I have a minor in Earth Environmental Sciences (focusing on invasive species!), my chemistry and physics are really lacking, and I feel like having more science-minded art buds to bat ideas and experiments around with would make for such a richer experience for everyone.  In the nearish future, I hope to start a natural dye garden and attempt to make some natural plant-based watercolors myself (mainly for the experience), which falls more into my area of expertise, but if any of yall would ever like to share something neat about color or the physical properties that give certain minerals their colors, or anything art and science-related, please do!

And I know it's not just me, but dang, Google has changed so much over the past 10 years, and it's made digging for accurate information so much harder!  Joseph's suggesting I switch over to Duck Duck Go, and I probably will, but if any of yall ever want to help with research, please chime up over on The Paintbox!  I'll try to be better about asking for help myself!

Lilliputian Living:

Day 17- Laundry: https://twitter.com/Nattosoup/status/1449942030491213825

Day 18- Shopping: https://twitter.com/Nattosoup/status/1450305842620796928

Day 19- Housework and Cleaning: https://twitter.com/Nattosoup/status/1450677274492166148

Day 20- House Maintanence: https://twitter.com/Nattosoup/status/1451010813326659586

Day 21- Attending Class: https://twitter.com/Nattosoup/status/1451361009046786057

Day 22- Dropping off Packages: https://twitter.com/Nattosoup/status/1451749590315716608

Day 23- Dancing: https://twitter.com/Nattosoup/status/1452118571212066819

Backer Exclusive and Early Access:

Etchr Student Grade Watercolors Unbox & Swatch: https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-access-57702010

Mungyo Student Grade Watercolors Unbox & Swatch: https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-access-and-57701637

New to the Public:

Tuesday, Oct 19th : Witches Brew- Graphitint Fieldtest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP-DKav8rGY&t=4s (Graphitint, painting, Halloween, watercolor, art supply review)

Saturday, Oct 23rd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-06uXpPKmg&t=15s (art supply review, Superior watercolors, watercolor walkthrough, watercolor tutorial, watercolor painting)