Does brand of paint matter?

[Mary Sparrow]

I'm a self taught artist and would really like opinions on paint..does it really matter what paint you use (brand wise)..is the more expensive always better? What about the new water soluble paints? I have always just used the basic Winsor Newton or Grumbacher oils because that is what is available to me in this small town..but no matter how I try, my portraits just don't seem as vibrant as I would like for them to be. I am wondering if I need to spring for the high dollar paints, or if the real problem is with me and I need to learn to manipulate the paint better?

What are your thoughts and what do you get the best results with?
Thanks.

Mary

[Chris Saper]

Dear Mary,

Yes, I do think paint brands matter; however the hues you pick as well as the overall composition of hues on your palette will also have enormous effects on your results.

First, with respect to brands: you should expect to pay more for better paint. I feel we should all buy the best quality that is in budget...student quality paints often have "fillers" which can mean you need to use more paint to try to get rich saturated hues; not only will you go thru the tube faster, your results will be disappointing. Winsor Newton and Grumbacher are excellent quality paints, and you should feel comfortable with them (not the student grade, however). Living in a small town, you will be thrilled to enter the catalog (and cost-saving) world of art supply shopping; send for catalogs from all the major suppliers...you will find them in ads of magazines like Artists and American Artists' magazine. (If you would like, just call or email me for phone numbers or web addresses.) Utrecht puts out its own brand of oils www.utrechtart.com, which are reasonably priced. I have been happy with the quality as well. I think it is better to shop for prices among different catalog (or other) suppliers, than to shop for prices among different hues.

Second, the actual hues, even though they may have the same names, can be vastly different among manufacturers. Artist Stephen Quiller has published a wheel and detailed chart that will give you some basis of comparison among manufacturers...look at his book "Color Choices".

With regard to actually selecting colors for your palette, you'll find that hues like the cadmiums tend to be more costly than the earth colors...beware of cadmiums that have labels like cadmium HUE or cadmium-BARIUM as these have the fillers I mention above. However, it's important to have the super saturated colors available because you can always gray them down with their complements, but you can never, for example, bring a yellow ochre up to the intensity of a cadmium yellow or lemon. Earth colors are, in my view, "convenience colors", meaning you can mix them from other more basic, stronger colors. They cost less because the expensive colors are mixed with inexpensive colors.

Then, with regard to the hues you actually place on your regular palette, you will find as many compositions as artists. If you look at the various discussion on the Forum under the topic "flesh tint in oil", you will see that every contributor has a different approach. I use a limited 6-7 color palette without earth tones, yet many painters incorporate a large inventory of hues, including earth tones.

I have seen your critique request, and would like to consider your work in more depth before offering my opinion. It may well be that making different color choices about skin tone color is what you are after, rather than manipulating the paint.

Kindest reagrds, Chris

[John de la Vega]

Paint brands do matter. Not all oil paints are created equal. The main differences between brands are differences in hue beauty, paint flow and pigmentation. Hue beauty is a personal, let's call it subjective, matter. It depends on sensitivity, taste, and exposure to color. Paint flow is affected by ingredients, binder and manufacturing, such as degree of thorough mixing of binder and pigment. Today most brands have standarized the procedure, but occasionally you find paint tubes with less-than-thorough mixing, where the oil is runny. This happens not only in student-grade paint but also in some so-called 'professional' grade colors. It's a quality control factor.

Some of the more expensive brands give you more concentration of color, so they are highly cost effective, although not always. Take the case of Old Holland, one of the best, if not THE best, overall brand. Some of the Old Holland colors are not expensive, comparing very favorably in price to brands like Winsor Newton and Grumbacher. A case in point is the Naples Yellow Deep, which I mention in my article in the "Flesh tint in oil" section of this forum. It's a beautiful and unique hue, with a lot of pigment, costing under 12 dollars. Then you have the Old Holland Magenta, a beautiful hue in the 28-30 dollar range for a regular size tube, which can be VERY succesfully replaced with the Maimieri Puro Verzino violet, which I also mention in that article. The Maimieri is a lovely magenta, with the same amount of pigmnent as the Old Holland, at around 12 dollars. The Old Holland Dioxazine Mauve is also NOT cost effective at around 30 dollars. It is slightly, but not appreciably, more pigmented than the Winsor Newton or Gamblin dioxazines, these at about one-third of the price. So unless you're willing to experiment with different brands, not a bad idea if you can spend the extra money and work on another form of 'color awareness', stay with the ones you're using. Winsor Newton has lost a bit of the quality it once had. Better choices are Gamblin, Utrecht - recommended by Chris Saper in the previous article - or Daler-Rowney. Grumbacher Pre-tested is fine, and it's made in the USA.

The earth colors, Raw Sienna Raw Umber, etc., are not expensive in Old Holland but also not appreciable better than other professional color. The earth colors are indeed 'convenience colors', and, with the exception of Raw and Burnt Sienna (which I recommend to have on your palette), can be easily mixed, especially if you want to work with cleaner, more vibrant color in shadows, hair, backgrounds, etc. The Burnt Sienna I recommend is Blockx Burnt Sienna Deep.

Ordering through a catalogue would indeed be a convenient, and less expensive, way to buy oil paint for you. Stay away from the water-mixable oils. They just don't handle like regular oils, and the range of hues available is limited.

A word about number of colors on the palette. I work with a palette of about thirty-six colors (not all pure hues, some mixtures I pre-mix) plus white. If it's true you can do OK with a limited palette, why limit yourself to a portion of the rainbow, when you can work with the whole
rainbow? Sure, an experienced pianist can get good music from a kiddie piano or a spinet, but no one intersted in richness and ease of sound would even practice on one of these, let alone play a concert with them, right? When nothing less than a fine grand piano will do, when the rich, exquisite overtones that a Baldwin, Steinway, or Bossendorfer can provide, why even fool with the spinet? Unless, of course, you're trying to challenge yourself to really learn to produce the best sound with the least means, which you may want to do occasionally.

Too much color on the palette can be confusing to the beginner, but in the hands of an experienced, adventurous painter, there's nothing like playing on a full grand piano. Unlike a fine grand piano at many thousands of dollars, a full color palette is relatively inexpensive and exceptionally rewarding to a painter's soul.

[Catherine Ingleby]

In response to John, I agree that the majority of the Old Holland colours are the best ready made oils available but I have found that the yellow ochre, essential in creating flesh tone, is very green.

I have resorted to grinding my own which has produced a quality of colour far superior to anything manufactured. I buy the pigment from 'Zecchis' in Florence Italy and find that the result is well worth the effort. I would love to know how many others grind their own colours and how easily available pigments are?

Catherine

[William Whitaker]

Mary,
You

[Karin Wells]

I use mostly Windsor Newton Oils because I am used to them and know their colors. There are better grades of paint out there for sure.

As long as you generally avoid the student grades of paint (they are more like pudding than paint) you will do fine.

I really think that technique is more important than materials. (And I am NOT saying that anyone should use crummy paint!) I have seen a lot of artists and a lot of painting....and the quality of the paint does not necessarily make a good painting.

Knowing your craft and developing your skill makes for good painting.