Читать книгу Painting Expressive Watercolours - Mike Chaplin - Страница 6

With paints, you really do get what you pay for. There are ways to save money on equipment (see here), but using student quality rather than artist’s quality paints is a false economy. The latter are much more luminous and as the colour is far stronger you get greater covering power, making the difference in price less than it appears to be.

There is not much to choose between the cost of paint in pans or tubes. Pans are more useful for travelling and although half pans and full pans are the most commonly found, you can also buy quarter pans if weight is a problem and you do not expect to use large amounts. I use 15 ml tubes in the studio but when I am away from home I duplicate the favourite colours in my box with 5 ml tubes which can be left behind at the hotel. If the paint in the pans is running low I just squirt some more from the tube into the pans. Within an hour or two a skin forms on top and I can safely fold up the box and put it in my pocket for the next foray.

On tubes you will find information as to whether the colours are permanent or fugitive, but to discover whether paints are granulating, staining, opaque or transparent you will need to consult a manufacturer’s chart. A printed one has limitations, and to see the true quality of the colours it is worth paying for a handpainted one. Most manufacturers supply these at a cost of about £5, a price you will probably save by purchasing exactly the right pigments.