(Originally posted 7/16/14)
Perhaps the most well-known brand of watercolor available, Winsor & Newton was the very first professional grade of paint I used. I previously wrote on one of the Winsor pan sets, but I’ve decided to explore my feelings on their tubes. To some extent, the hype is justifiable. The paints have a bright, transparent color that’s wonderful and rich. The colors are meant to reflect the subdued hues of the English landscape.
What I appreciate most about these paints is definitely the fact that they have the biggest color variation I’ve ever seen. The Cobalt Blue is the only completely transparent version I’ve found, and the Cerulean Blue is the greenest one I’ve used. This makes for a nice contrast when I often find the two identical in other brands. New Gamboge was a fairly neutral yellow, and I’m sad that they’ve now discontinued the original and replaced it with a mix of other pigments. Winsor Violet is probably my favorite Dioxazine Violet even if I rarely use the color save for occasional shadows.
Scarlet Lake is one of my favorite reds for its transparency, and though I haven’t tried its equivalent in other brands, I wonder if I’d find a version that could top this one. Permanent Alizarin Crimson is also very nice, and makes good blacks with Winsor Green. Adding a bit of yellow can help neutralize the mix. Permanent Rose and Green Gold are also exceptionally saturated and transparent. I’m also slightly in love with their earth colors Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber. They both are so rich, glowing, and transparent, and they make excellent mixers. Mixing Burnt Sienna with French Ultramarine Blue will give you a nice dark. Sometimes the pigments will push away from each other due to their sedimentary qualities and give you an interesting wash with blue and orange-brown speckles.
The first con that comes to mind is that the tubes get stuck more problematically than any other brand I’ve tried. I don’t know how or why this is the case, but I’ve often had to wrap the cap around an old shirt to crunch the tube open. I also feel this a remarkably inconsequential gripe, but to me their new metallic tubes are really quite ugly. I wonder who came up with that in their marketing department.
Another thing I find a bit annoying is that they name a lot of their colors after the company which tells me nothing of the pigment content. For example, Winsor Green is Pthalo Green and Winsor Blue is Pthalo Blue. For those of us that do not live in the UK, a more serious thing to consider is the price. This is the most expensive brand I have, and I suspect prices will not drop so long as people are happy to pay for them. But if I can get a 15 mL tube of M. Graham for the same price and quality as a 5 mL tube, you can probably guess what I’d pick.
These paints also do not rewet very well. It’s doable if you spritz with water and leave it to soak a bit, but they crack and crumble on your palette. So I try to only squeeze a little at a time. There are a couple exceptions: Scarlet Lake and Payne’s Gray for example.
All in all, these are good paints, but once my tubes run out I’m not entirely sure I will replace them except for the colors I really admire. I feel as though most of the recognition comes from its wide availability, and sometimes I suspect those who declare it the best watercolor paint on the market have probably not experimented with the other brands I cherish. It will certainly give you decent results, but if you’re extra nutty about watercolors I’d try the other paints too.
