This was an incredibly helpful video! Just watching the behavior of these paints as you put them on the paper, I can tell that they are definitely for me! The flow seems to be incredible, and I love all the unexpected blooms and different ways that the pigments settle. Also, holy crap they are so vibrant! My heart thanks you for making this one, though my wallet is considerably more skeptical!
Hahaha...Oh, I totally get that skeptical wallet!!! Mine's pissed off for ordering some really cool paints I soon want to share with you, but I'm afraid I've killed my budget for the months to come already.... Enjoy the paint!
Can't wait for more demonstrations. I love your commentary. Please keep both, plus some art demonstrations coming. Your work and explanations are superb. A fan!
Hi Mandy, I've watched this video maybe a dozen times. I finally bought 24 hand-picked Old Holland half pans, some of which are in your collection, and they are really beautiful. I put them in a tin that has room for 36 in case I pick up a few more. They don't take away from my love for Sennelier, M. Graham, and Daniel Smith, but I didn't think I had room in my heart for another brand of paint and it seems I do. Too bad for my budget!
:-) Uh-oh, sorry, dear budget :-) but you're so right....The Old Holland are a good affix to your collection (can I use 'affix' here?). Do you have work online? I'm curous!
I don't have work online, thanks for asking. Most of my better paintings are small and I've made them into special occasion cards or gifts for family and friends. I pretty much only have the ones that were less successful or my earliest attempts. Maybe I need a new plan. But I love the Old Holland paints. They are stunning. Thanks for the video.
I think I am in Love!! I bet these are expensive watercolors? I came to your channel to see the American Journey paints. But wowsers so lovely and transparent and bright!!! Happy 😊 😃
Hi, Mandy! Thank you for making all of these color swatch videos. You mentioned "being cheap" and squeezing out as much as you could with the pliers and then tossing it. I've seen something in another video that you might be interested in trying if you want to go a little higher on the "cheap-o-meter" LOL. I can't remember where I saw it, otherwise I'd provide a link. He took what appeared to be an empty tube, and cut the crimped edge off of the bottom. (Watch out for possible sharp edges). It was amazing how much paint he was able to scoop out of an "empty" tube of paint. You can even be "Uber" cheap if you want to take it a step further. With the cap on, you can add a little water and scrub all the nooks and crannies with a cheap old brush. Prop that up in a pill bottle or something and paint right out of the tube if desired, or pour it out on the paper. Have fun!
Do it all the time...i " wash" out the tube with a syringe...by the time the water dissipates I wind up with at least 1/4 of a half pan and then use it for plein aire.
Your description of Naples Yellow Reddish made me laugh - old leather ballet shoe pink. That is so accurate. My only half pan of Schminke is Naples Yellow Reddish and I never made the connection but you are so right.
If you visited New Mexico in the USA you might come to appreciate the Indian red-like colors such as Flesh ochre and Persian red. They reflect the landscape of the desert Southwest. We love them here. :-)
Thanks Mandy! I've never seen Old Holland paints and haven't bought any of them because they are so expensive, but I want to try a couple of tubes now. I like the Persian Red and Turquoise together!
I'm am so curious about Old Holland brand. Thanks for the video and your clear and detailed description of what you are observing and also for separating your personal preference from observation. I get accurate info.
I’m not sure I’d seen these swatched before, I hadn’t realised how strong they are. They’re quite a price too, but they’d last, needing so much less and their unique colours are very interesting.
My Favourite brand, tip for the flesh ochre and indian red, use it with yellow ochre/raw sienna it makes a great skin tone. My favourite PR101 colour is from a different brand though....
Beautiful, vibrant colors! (Well, except for a few weird ones like that Manganese Violet Blue...) A couple of them seem very similar in tint and pigment, is it like that in real life or is that just the video (or my badly calibrated screen)?
Hi Mandy! This is my first video of yours after being directed to you by a friend, and I thank you for doing it, as I have many colors from many brands, but this allows us with already large paint collection to decide what colors are unique to this brand that we need to have as this is kind of a pricey brand over here in the states, so now when I look at new brands I try to just pick up one or two colors that are absolutely unique to a brand (for OH that looks like it could be the Scheveningen Blue Light; I have an affinity for unique blues, and I actually like the earthiness of the Green Umber). Also upon further research are two you didn't show: Schevenigen Red Scarlet and Gamboge Lake Extra. Thanks also for showing us the proper pronunciation of Scheveningen; I'd have murdered it lol.
Hehehe...no, can't murder Scheveningen, now can we? It's very well possible I didn't show those two colors, I have to confess that not being near my stash of watercolor right now I can't say by heart which colors I own, but I don't own even half of their collection. They have a huge collection of colors. The Scheveningen Bleu Light is wonderful, indeed... I'm filming a huge collection of Sennelier paints soon...100 colors!!! Swatching and reviewing...
Hehehe...Maria, thanks! I'll try! I love making them! It's not my work, so I have to see to it that I squeeze in some review time next to my work, but it's such fun that I think I'm not done yet...not by far!!! Too many paints to review and try...Have at least 12 paints lined up for reviewing as we speak!
For some reason I like that Manganese Violet Blue. :D From afar it looks like a darker shade of Flesh Tint. And that O.H. Yellow Brown looks a bit goldish, the first thing I though is autumn light. :) And that Flesh Ochre is like Australian desert sand and Uluru. :) Maybe you'd consider making a challenge for yourself (and for us to see) and make a painting using 3 (random or chosen) colours? :)
Hah!!! That is a nice challenge! Sounds tempting! I could let you choose! I don't have time for it right now because I'm in the middle of creating an online workshop, but I'm definitely keeping this in mind. I like a challenge! Keep an eye on my channel...I may just post a challenge proposal soon!
hi Mandy! I did notice with the violet grey swatch when you look at it at different angles you do see the violet clearly, it almost separates from the grayish blue,I would play with that pigment a little more so you can really see the separation more! have a creative week sweetie Heather
Beautiful paints Mandy!! Thank you for swatching them. If your friend has more for sale I would like to be put in line to buy one of each of what he or she has left them!!!
lovely, lovely review - only saw it now - what was really interesting is that some of the reds (that I really wanted) had a major drying shift - dulling them - but I love the ruby red; schev. rose deep and purple lake - not to mention the manganese blue - I could go on but my wallet won't allow me ;) - really excellent detailed, quality video - thanks so much
Thank you so much for doing this video! I love the few colors I have from Old Holland, and your video helped me make some more decisions about colors that I would really like to try. One thing about your ultramarine blue, I see that it doesn't really granulate when it's dry. That's really strange because Old Holland makes my very favorite granulating ultramarine blue. It is just gorgeous! I wonder if you got an old product? I am going to do a small review of this brand soon, it really is unique. 😄
Hi Sadie, I just checked and the Ultramarine blue did granulate. It may not have shown very well in the video, but I can reassure you...it did! And it's gorgeous indeed! :-)
Ooohh...that is a tough question out of all the paints I have so far...I love the Scheveningen colors, which are typical for the brand. But ALL colors are extremely intense. If I were you, I'd got for a few favorite colors of your own...and choose colors you wouldn't mind using intensely because this paint is really intense. Indigo is one of my faves...and Scheveningen red and the King's blue....and the warm grey is also fantastic...
I have to add one more praise for Old Holland: This is the only line with true Manganese Blue (not the hue form that are dye based), it's the real pigment that naturally granulates and to top that Old Holland is the only source (as far as I can find) of the true Cerulean pigments in three forms, it naturally granulates. Expensive for the watercolorist connoisseur. I got another brand listed as cerulean blue, it was a dye based color so far off from the real thing. Old Holland goes back to 1664 and has maintained artistic integrity in its full line of 168 colors.
Old Holland makes their paint in old traditional styles but have changed a few of their formulas (aka Extra) to more modern formulas to make them more lightfast (like Alizarin Crimson) and safer - like making a shade of Vermillion without mercury. Hope that helps. Paula in Florida
I have a palette of 14 different colours. I bought a 6 tube intro pack and some loose tubes. Normally I won't buy them because they are quite expensive here. The olive green is similar to the one in the Daler Rowney range. Still not used mine in anger yet?
Hi Mandy, loved your Daniel Smith videos but there is just something I love about the Old Holland paint, could you suggest a 16 colour palette, would be appreciated.
That is the million dollar question....and I hope I don't come across as mean, but I'd rather not suggest such a color combo. The thing is, it so depends on the subjects you paint which colors are right for you. Also, in choosing colors for my swatches and reviews I tend to go for singular colors that are quite unique to the brand, so I don't know all colors and sometimes you need standard pigments for proper mixing, etc. When my students ask me this question, I advise them to buy a standard 12-color set containing a warm and cool version of yellow, red, blue, green and brown plus black/payne's grey and chinese white and add to that their favorite colors. Or, if they are more experienced, start out straight away with their favorite colors. This online store sells sets, maybe it can help you decide on the colors for you to start with Old Holland: www.lawrence.co.uk/shop/Old-Holland-watercolour-sets.html
Old Holland is most likely the only maker of traditional pigment based paints left. These are the ones that are truly lightfast. There are many newer lines that use aniline dyes that pump up the vibrancy when one first sees the color, really bright and transpaent, but dyes are all fugitive, meaning they all fade with UV light. Note that many traditional pure pigment based colors granulate, that is part of the beauty of traditional watercolor!!! Dyes do not granulate, but oh do they fade, the brighter the color, the faster they fade. Thanks for this detailed documentation on the best of the best of traditional true pigment based colors.
well according to Old Holland's color chart it should be blueviolet and is made with pv16: www.oldholland.com/water/196.html. interestingly, handprint.com mentions the same discoloration: "Hilary Page noted discoloration in her sample of Old Holland, which may not have been a single pigment paint; my swatch began life as a dull, scabby purple, not at all pleasant to look at, and the vehicle (or pigment?) discolored to a browish cast after about a month of sunlight exposure. Two thumbs down!" perhaps it was because the tube was dried out?
I don't know if that's possible, Aaron. but maybe sometimes there's a tube with a problem in every brand. It's one ugly color now, though...that I won't use for sure...
I wish you had compared or shown lifting. Others are saying that they are more like a gansai..what do you think of the binders used and the performance of this brand??
Oh no...this is nothing like Gansai at all. Old Holland is like Blockx....overloaded with pigments. The binders are very good and the performance is very good, like Blocks, but ONLY IF you can tame the overload over pigments. They are really in-your-face. Even though I love working with very deep colors, they are a tad much for my liking and need to be watered down a lot. I prefer paints that are a little more easy going so that I can layer better. The gansai has a totally different binder. I'd compare gansai to gouache rather than watercolor. It has its value for certain techniques, I'm sure, but I hardly ever reach for them.
I would like to try out your favorite Old Holland watercolors! I want to get warm and cool yellow, red and blue watercolors similar to the Daniel Smith's Hansa Yellow Light, New Gamboge, Pyrrol Scarlet, Quinacridone Rose, French Utlramarine and Phthalo Blue. Which ones would you recommend? Thanks, Paula in Florida, USA
Oof...that is so difficult to say...maybe you'd best look up a color chart online and compare some pigment information on their site because I don't have the entire collection and find it hard to advise you about which colors match the DS colors best. It also depends on the subjects you like to paint. I'm sorry I can't help you work this one out,but Old Holland has a HUGE collection of colors so I'm sure that if you check out the color chart, you're bound to find the matches to your DS colors!!!
Oh boy, that is a really tough question!!! It so depends on my mood and the topic I'm painting and even the style I work in. I would say in any brand Indian Yellow is in the top 5 as is Indigo and some pink color like quinacridone magenta and olive green and......hmmmm....gosh, so hard! It changes so often...though these four are always in my top ten!
I don't agree that the problem of Old Holland watercolours is vibrancy. They're at best as vibrant as any professional brand and in the samples that you made you did use a lot of pigment. I think that because the paint was not dry you picked quite a lot of pigment, which is harder with other brands which dry more completely. You can always dull a color if it is too vibrant, so this can't be a problem. The problems with Old Holland watercolours that I see are: 1. 25 of the paints contain white 2. A lot of paints that are convenience mixtures made from 2,3 and some even 4 or 5 pigments. 3. All watercolour paint formulations are the same as their oil paints. So it seems they haven't made any research to make better paint formulations for watercolours, compared to other brands who have put dedication and effort into formulating every single paint for watercolours. 4. They cost a lot more than other brands. High price means better quality. Well, not in this case.
As I say in some of my videos I do not look up pigment specifics. I share my experience with the paint here, so if you say that some of the Old Holland colors are formed by multiple pigments and white, that can very well be the case. Where I disagree with you is that the intensity of this paint is a lot more intense than of other brands in that the colours are much more noisy. It takes a whole lot of water to tone them down with water. Dulling is indeed no problem. Transparency is less in this brand to my experience. I don't see a problem with this paint, but for those used to working with Cotman, for instance, or Van Goh, moving up to artist grade paint and choosing this one, they will need some time getting used to this paint. The transistion from such paints to Horadam, Rembrandt and W&N Artist's will feel much more natural to them.
beautiful colours, I have recently purchased some colours, some I love others I dislike. The maganese blue deep i purchased is quite turqoise in comparison to this chart, is this normal?
Well, very possible. It's very hard if not impossible to get the colors perfectly across as they are on my paper...too much interference of technical hardware and their settings. But manganese shouldn't be turquoise, I'd say. I don't have the manganese from this brand, so I can't compare. But next time I'm in an art store I'll take a look at the color chart! I've taken a note!
I didn't do any except for my visual journal. I don't like them. They are too overloaded with pigments to control. They are like a wild horse. Just like Blockx. I don't feel at home in them. So all I have is swatches and some lame personal journal pages.
Hehe, you're right. But I did this color chart when I expanded my collection of the brand. So this is a second first impression! Yup! Totally possible!!! hehehe
I'm so sorry Teresa. I can't help you with that. I don't have time for this kind of specifics. Also, sometimes pigments change in the colors. So what you could perhaps do, is visit the manufacturer's site. They have all the relevant information about the pigments so that you can compare. I'm not really into the chemical specifics.
У меня у этого бренда Прусский синий (Французский синий) вообще не отдаёт пигмент, почти как вода просто с крупными огромными гранулами... думаю, мне попался какой-то странный, остальные все великолепны.
Mandy van Goeije у Rembrandt то же самое с Прусской синей: какими-то крупинками, хотя раньше всё было отлично. Может это характерно для этого пигмента?
I can't say. There are no cracks in my paint. Are you sure you got the real Old Holland paint? All my Old Holland paint is very sticky and mellow because of the honey that's in it. So sorry yours isn't good....
Geeft niets, Hanneke...het ging ook niet zo handig op UA-cam...maar nu lijkt er iets verbeterd te zijn...ik krijg nu véél meer reacties te zien.... Wat had je gevraagd? Misschien dat ik daar nu nog antwoord op kan geven...
This was an incredibly helpful video! Just watching the behavior of these paints as you put them on the paper, I can tell that they are definitely for me! The flow seems to be incredible, and I love all the unexpected blooms and different ways that the pigments settle. Also, holy crap they are so vibrant! My heart thanks you for making this one, though my wallet is considerably more skeptical!
Hahaha...Oh, I totally get that skeptical wallet!!! Mine's pissed off for ordering some really cool paints I soon want to share with you, but I'm afraid I've killed my budget for the months to come already.... Enjoy the paint!
Can't wait for more demonstrations. I love your commentary. Please keep both, plus some art demonstrations coming. Your work and explanations are superb. A fan!
Hi Mandy, I've watched this video maybe a dozen times. I finally bought 24 hand-picked Old Holland half pans, some of which are in your collection, and they are really beautiful. I put them in a tin that has room for 36 in case I pick up a few more. They don't take away from my love for Sennelier, M. Graham, and Daniel Smith, but I didn't think I had room in my heart for another brand of paint and it seems I do. Too bad for my budget!
:-) Uh-oh, sorry, dear budget :-) but you're so right....The Old Holland are a good affix to your collection (can I use 'affix' here?). Do you have work online? I'm curous!
I don't have work online, thanks for asking. Most of my better paintings are small and I've made them into special occasion cards or gifts for family and friends. I pretty much only have the ones that were less successful or my earliest attempts. Maybe I need a new plan. But I love the Old Holland paints. They are stunning. Thanks for the video.
I think I am in Love!! I bet these are expensive watercolors? I came to your channel to see the American Journey paints. But wowsers so lovely and transparent and bright!!! Happy 😊 😃
Hi, Mandy! Thank you for making all of these color swatch videos. You mentioned "being cheap" and squeezing out as much as you could with the pliers and then tossing it. I've seen something in another video that you might be interested in trying if you want to go a little higher on the "cheap-o-meter" LOL. I can't remember where I saw it, otherwise I'd provide a link. He took what appeared to be an empty tube, and cut the crimped edge off of the bottom. (Watch out for possible sharp edges). It was amazing how much paint he was able to scoop out of an "empty" tube of paint. You can even be "Uber" cheap if you want to take it a step further. With the cap on, you can add a little water and scrub all the nooks and crannies with a cheap old brush. Prop that up in a pill bottle or something and paint right out of the tube if desired, or pour it out on the paper. Have fun!
LOL...great tips for my cheap-o-meterness....it sure is worth it with this paint!
Do it all the time...i " wash" out the tube with a syringe...by the time the water dissipates I wind up with at least 1/4 of a half pan and then use it for plein aire.
Your description of Naples Yellow Reddish made me laugh - old leather ballet shoe pink. That is so accurate. My only half pan of Schminke is Naples Yellow Reddish and I never made the connection but you are so right.
:-) Thank you! I try my best!
That Payne's grey... 😍 Look at the granulation and separation of pigments!
If you visited New Mexico in the USA you might come to appreciate the Indian red-like colors such as Flesh ochre and Persian red. They reflect the landscape of the desert Southwest. We love them here. :-)
Thanks Mandy! I've never seen Old Holland paints and haven't bought any of them because they are so expensive, but I want to try a couple of tubes now. I like the Persian Red and Turquoise together!
I think that would be lovely....you'll be amazed at the strength of the colors...it's overwhelming...
I'm am so curious about Old Holland brand. Thanks for the video and your clear and detailed description of what you are observing and also for separating your personal preference from observation. I get accurate info.
You're welcome Elsa...hope to have been of help! :-)
I’m not sure I’d seen these swatched before, I hadn’t realised how strong they are. They’re quite a price too, but they’d last, needing so much less and their unique colours are very interesting.
My Favourite brand, tip for the flesh ochre and indian red, use it with yellow ochre/raw sienna it makes a great skin tone. My favourite PR101 colour is from a different brand though....
Beautiful, vibrant colors! (Well, except for a few weird ones like that Manganese Violet Blue...) A couple of them seem very similar in tint and pigment, is it like that in real life or is that just the video (or my badly calibrated screen)?
No true....the light bleus are VERY much alike...I'd have to see if they mix differently, but they look identical....
Hi Mandy! This is my first video of yours after being directed to you by a friend, and I thank you for doing it, as I have many colors from many brands, but this allows us with already large paint collection to decide what colors are unique to this brand that we need to have as this is kind of a pricey brand over here in the states, so now when I look at new brands I try to just pick up one or two colors that are absolutely unique to a brand (for OH that looks like it could be the Scheveningen Blue Light; I have an affinity for unique blues, and I actually like the earthiness of the Green Umber). Also upon further research are two you didn't show: Schevenigen Red Scarlet and Gamboge Lake Extra. Thanks also for showing us the proper pronunciation of Scheveningen; I'd have murdered it lol.
Hehehe...no, can't murder Scheveningen, now can we? It's very well possible I didn't show those two colors, I have to confess that not being near my stash of watercolor right now I can't say by heart which colors I own, but I don't own even half of their collection. They have a huge collection of colors. The Scheveningen Bleu Light is wonderful, indeed... I'm filming a huge collection of Sennelier paints soon...100 colors!!! Swatching and reviewing...
Wow those blues are amazing! I love watching your videos- Please dont ever stop! :) Maria
Hehehe...Maria, thanks! I'll try! I love making them! It's not my work, so I have to see to it that I squeeze in some review time next to my work, but it's such fun that I think I'm not done yet...not by far!!! Too many paints to review and try...Have at least 12 paints lined up for reviewing as we speak!
For some reason I like that Manganese Violet Blue. :D From afar it looks like a darker shade of Flesh Tint. And that O.H. Yellow Brown looks a bit goldish, the first thing I though is autumn light. :) And that Flesh Ochre is like Australian desert sand and Uluru. :)
Maybe you'd consider making a challenge for yourself (and for us to see) and make a painting using 3 (random or chosen) colours? :)
Hah!!! That is a nice challenge! Sounds tempting! I could let you choose! I don't have time for it right now because I'm in the middle of creating an online workshop, but I'm definitely keeping this in mind. I like a challenge! Keep an eye on my channel...I may just post a challenge proposal soon!
This is a really great idea!!! I'm going to do this...making a planning right now!
Hi, Mandy - I had a tube of Manganese Violet that turned that sort of brown, too. I threw it out.
hi Mandy! I did notice with the violet grey swatch when you look at it at different angles you do see the violet clearly, it almost separates from the grayish blue,I would play with that pigment a little more so you can really see the separation more! have a creative week sweetie
Heather
Really? I'm going to have to try! It will be nice to check that one out and mix it...see what happens! Thans, you too have a creative week!
Beautiful paints Mandy!! Thank you for swatching them. If your friend has more for sale I would like to be put in line to buy one of each of what he or she has left them!!!
No, I'm sorry...it was a one off....but this is paint you can keep your eyes open for! It's worth a little hunt :-)
Incredibly bright colors I would like to invest one day my budget is OK for these 😁
I simply love your reviews.
lovely, lovely review - only saw it now - what was really interesting is that some of the reds (that I really wanted) had a major drying shift - dulling them - but I love the ruby red; schev. rose deep and purple lake - not to mention the manganese blue - I could go on but my wallet won't allow me ;) - really excellent detailed, quality video - thanks so much
You're very welcome! I'm glad you like it!
Thank-You so much for this wonderful video!! It is sooo helpful.
You're welcome, Debbie Lee!
grappig om te horen hoe mooi je het Nederlands uit spreekt ;) mooi revieuw
Dankjewel Hanneke :-)
wow those blues are beautifullll
Yes, those blues are really only this beautiful from this brand...or at least...in comparison with blues from the other brands I have...:-)
Thank you so much for doing this video! I love the few colors I have from Old Holland, and your video helped me make some more decisions about colors that I would really like to try. One thing about your ultramarine blue, I see that it doesn't really granulate when it's dry. That's really strange because Old Holland makes my very favorite granulating ultramarine blue. It is just gorgeous! I wonder if you got an old product? I am going to do a small review of this brand soon, it really is unique. 😄
Hi Sadie, I just checked and the Ultramarine blue did granulate. It may not have shown very well in the video, but I can reassure you...it did! And it's gorgeous indeed! :-)
I'm glad to hear that, since it would be such a shame if you missed how pretty it was! 😄
:-) Absolutely! Thanks for point it out to me♥
Hey Mandy! Hope you're doing great! I'm looking into buying a few of these old holland paints. Which ones are your favorite?
Ooohh...that is a tough question out of all the paints I have so far...I love the Scheveningen colors, which are typical for the brand. But ALL colors are extremely intense. If I were you, I'd got for a few favorite colors of your own...and choose colors you wouldn't mind using intensely because this paint is really intense. Indigo is one of my faves...and Scheveningen red and the King's blue....and the warm grey is also fantastic...
I have to add one more praise for Old Holland: This is the only line with true Manganese Blue (not the hue form that are dye based), it's the real pigment that naturally granulates and to top that Old Holland is the only source (as far as I can find) of the true Cerulean pigments in three forms, it naturally granulates. Expensive for the watercolorist connoisseur. I got another brand listed as cerulean blue, it was a dye based color so far off from the real thing. Old Holland goes back to 1664 and has maintained artistic integrity in its full line of 168 colors.
Sky David Dye based?
I love watching you swatching!! What makes a paint "extra"; what does that mean?
Old Holland makes their paint in old traditional styles but have changed a few of their formulas (aka Extra) to more modern formulas to make them more lightfast (like Alizarin Crimson) and safer - like making a shade of Vermillion without mercury. Hope that helps.
Paula in Florida
I have a palette of 14 different colours. I bought a 6 tube intro pack and some loose tubes. Normally I won't buy them because they are quite expensive here. The olive green is similar to the one in the Daler Rowney range. Still not used mine in anger yet?
In anger?
Sorry! I've not used them seriously yet. ;-)
Hi Mandy, loved your Daniel Smith videos but there is just something I love about the Old Holland paint, could you suggest a 16 colour palette, would be appreciated.
That is the million dollar question....and I hope I don't come across as mean, but I'd rather not suggest such a color combo. The thing is, it so depends on the subjects you paint which colors are right for you. Also, in choosing colors for my swatches and reviews I tend to go for singular colors that are quite unique to the brand, so I don't know all colors and sometimes you need standard pigments for proper mixing, etc. When my students ask me this question, I advise them to buy a standard 12-color set containing a warm and cool version of yellow, red, blue, green and brown plus black/payne's grey and chinese white and add to that their favorite colors. Or, if they are more experienced, start out straight away with their favorite colors. This online store sells sets, maybe it can help you decide on the colors for you to start with Old Holland: www.lawrence.co.uk/shop/Old-Holland-watercolour-sets.html
Thanks Mandy
Old Holland is most likely the only maker of traditional pigment based paints left. These are the ones that are truly lightfast. There are many newer lines that use aniline dyes that pump up the vibrancy when one first sees the color, really bright and transpaent, but dyes are all fugitive, meaning they all fade with UV light. Note that many traditional pure pigment based colors granulate, that is part of the beauty of traditional watercolor!!! Dyes do not granulate, but oh do they fade, the brighter the color, the faster they fade. Thanks for this detailed documentation on the best of the best of traditional true pigment based colors.
well according to Old Holland's color chart it should be blueviolet and is made with pv16: www.oldholland.com/water/196.html. interestingly, handprint.com mentions the same discoloration: "Hilary Page noted discoloration in her sample of Old Holland, which may not have been a single pigment paint; my swatch began life as a dull, scabby purple, not at all pleasant to look at, and the vehicle (or pigment?) discolored to a browish cast after about a month of sunlight exposure. Two thumbs down!" perhaps it was because the tube was dried out?
I don't know if that's possible, Aaron. but maybe sometimes there's a tube with a problem in every brand. It's one ugly color now, though...that I won't use for sure...
I wish you had compared or shown lifting. Others are saying that they are more like a gansai..what do you think of the binders used and the performance of this brand??
Oh no...this is nothing like Gansai at all. Old Holland is like Blockx....overloaded with pigments. The binders are very good and the performance is very good, like Blocks, but ONLY IF you can tame the overload over pigments. They are really in-your-face. Even though I love working with very deep colors, they are a tad much for my liking and need to be watered down a lot. I prefer paints that are a little more easy going so that I can layer better. The gansai has a totally different binder. I'd compare gansai to gouache rather than watercolor. It has its value for certain techniques, I'm sure, but I hardly ever reach for them.
I would like to try out your favorite Old Holland watercolors! I want to get warm and cool yellow, red and blue watercolors similar to the Daniel Smith's Hansa Yellow Light, New Gamboge, Pyrrol Scarlet, Quinacridone Rose, French Utlramarine and Phthalo Blue. Which ones would you recommend?
Thanks,
Paula in Florida, USA
Oof...that is so difficult to say...maybe you'd best look up a color chart online and compare some pigment information on their site because I don't have the entire collection and find it hard to advise you about which colors match the DS colors best. It also depends on the subjects you like to paint. I'm sorry I can't help you work this one out,but Old Holland has a HUGE collection of colors so I'm sure that if you check out the color chart, you're bound to find the matches to your DS colors!!!
Mandy, what are your top 5 colors from old holland, top 5 from Daniel smith, top 5 from Schmincke, top 5 from senelier?
Oh boy, that is a really tough question!!! It so depends on my mood and the topic I'm painting and even the style I work in. I would say in any brand Indian Yellow is in the top 5 as is Indigo and some pink color like quinacridone magenta and olive green and......hmmmm....gosh, so hard! It changes so often...though these four are always in my top ten!
I don't agree that the problem of Old Holland watercolours is vibrancy. They're at best as vibrant as any professional brand and in the samples that you made you did use a lot of pigment. I think that because the paint was not dry you picked quite a lot of pigment, which is harder with other brands which dry more completely. You can always dull a color if it is too vibrant, so this can't be a problem.
The problems with Old Holland watercolours that I see are:
1. 25 of the paints contain white
2. A lot of paints that are convenience mixtures made from 2,3 and some even 4 or 5 pigments.
3. All watercolour paint formulations are the same as their oil paints. So it seems they haven't made any research to make better paint formulations for watercolours, compared to other brands who have put dedication and effort into formulating every single paint for watercolours.
4. They cost a lot more than other brands. High price means better quality. Well, not in this case.
As I say in some of my videos I do not look up pigment specifics. I share my experience with the paint here, so if you say that some of the Old Holland colors are formed by multiple pigments and white, that can very well be the case. Where I disagree with you is that the intensity of this paint is a lot more intense than of other brands in that the colours are much more noisy. It takes a whole lot of water to tone them down with water. Dulling is indeed no problem. Transparency is less in this brand to my experience. I don't see a problem with this paint, but for those used to working with Cotman, for instance, or Van Goh, moving up to artist grade paint and choosing this one, they will need some time getting used to this paint. The transistion from such paints to Horadam, Rembrandt and W&N Artist's will feel much more natural to them.
beautiful colours, I have recently purchased some colours, some I love others I dislike. The maganese blue deep i purchased is quite turqoise in comparison to this chart, is this normal?
Well, very possible. It's very hard if not impossible to get the colors perfectly across as they are on my paper...too much interference of technical hardware and their settings. But manganese shouldn't be turquoise, I'd say. I don't have the manganese from this brand, so I can't compare. But next time I'm in an art store I'll take a look at the color chart! I've taken a note!
Thank you, nice video.
Hello Mandy. May I see any of your paintings with the Old Holland watercolours? Thanks
I didn't do any except for my visual journal. I don't like them. They are too overloaded with pigments to control. They are like a wild horse. Just like Blockx. I don't feel at home in them. So all I have is swatches and some lame personal journal pages.
Mandy van Goeije
Thank you so much, I completely understand that. Happy painting and exploring further!
Smitten by it 😄
Mandy, me again, lol, did you not have these tubes and these are your first impressions?
Hehe, you're right. But I did this color chart when I expanded my collection of the brand. So this is a second first impression! Yup! Totally possible!!! hehehe
It would be very helpful if you could put the pigment numbers, for color comparison.
I'm so sorry Teresa. I can't help you with that. I don't have time for this kind of specifics. Also, sometimes pigments change in the colors. So what you could perhaps do, is visit the manufacturer's site. They have all the relevant information about the pigments so that you can compare. I'm not really into the chemical specifics.
Son hermosas
Gracias!
У меня у этого бренда Прусский синий (Французский синий) вообще не отдаёт пигмент, почти как вода просто с крупными огромными гранулами... думаю, мне попался какой-то странный, остальные все великолепны.
Really? That shouldn't happen! It's very weird. My prussian blue of this brand is magnificent...perhaps there's something wrong with the consistency?
Mandy van Goeije Такое ощущение, будто что-то случилось со связующим и краска стала как сухарь.
Mandy van Goeije у Rembrandt то же самое с Прусской синей: какими-то крупинками, хотя раньше всё было отлично. Может это характерно для этого пигмента?
I can't say. There are no cracks in my paint. Are you sure you got the real Old Holland paint? All my Old Holland paint is very sticky and mellow because of the honey that's in it. So sorry yours isn't good....
sorry ben niet zo goed met you tube vroeg je nog iets
Geeft niets, Hanneke...het ging ook niet zo handig op UA-cam...maar nu lijkt er iets verbeterd te zijn...ik krijg nu véél meer reacties te zien.... Wat had je gevraagd? Misschien dat ik daar nu nog antwoord op kan geven...
old Holland=expensive 😂
You sounded a bit nervous and jumpy, saying “um” a lot too. Try to not say “um” too much.