(Originally posted 7/15/15)
The first time I tried the Holbein watercolors, I found them utterly disappointing. They were a bit too dry, the washes dried out faster, and I had some issues getting the same amount of flow and clarity that I was used to with other brands. Miffed, I returned them without a second thought.
But around a year later, I was browsing through the (now closed) Pearl Art Supply in Manhattan, and I bought three little Holbein tubes to give them a second shot. Perhaps the tubes I’d initially used were old or something, because when I tried them again I got far more satisfactory results.
These are probably one of the most saturated and transparent paints I’ve had the pleasure to work with. They rewet well, and they lift far more easily than most of the other super staining brands I usually gravitate towards. Overall, very user friendly.
The sketch to the right was painted with the Holbeins. In this I used one of my new favorite techniques of skipping a preliminary drawing and then layering three colors endlessly. I was especially happy with the very dark darks I could get in the hair and the pleasantly expressive back runs (I don’t hate back runs all the time).
Unfortunately, Holbein is notorious on my list for having very few single pigment paints and fairly poor lightfastness for a lot of its colors. Especially in the lightfast and single pigment area, the color yellow takes the worst hit. While I don’t necessarily have a favorite yellow pigment, I like my yellows transparent, lightfast, single pigment, and preferably with a warm bias. Nothing I found in Holbein met all of those requirements.
Sometimes I wonder if anyone else who uses Holbein is bothered by that. Especially when I hear people rave about their popular color Opera when it’s virtually a dye. If you do end up using Holbein and you want clean mixtures and you want your paintings to last, I highly recommend you research the pigments in each tube color beforehand. Spare yourself the heartbreak.
Despite the negatives, these tubes are so beautiful that I really think I will replenish my supply once I run out. And I suppose I can’t say that about all paints.