I was lucky enough to be sent, with no strings attached, new equipment to try by Royal Talens. Over the next month or so I will be using and writing about what I was sent.  

First up: Van Gough half pan watercolor set (24x half pans). These are artists’ grade. Artist’s grade is not necessarily “lesser” than professional, once you are past student grade it becomes much more matter of what you are going to do with them and your technique.

The half pans come in a white plastic case. Despite being 100% plastic, it feels substantial. Some artists prefer plastic palette cases as they do not dent and are easier to clean.

The half pans fit into slots instead of there being one long metal slot or rut with metal crimps which bend over the edge of the half pans to hold them in place. These always loosen over time even if you do not remove the half pans often. It also has two slots which included a narrow natural sponge and a #6 Van Gough selected filament brush.

Crimp style

slot style

The lid is attached on an integrated hinge and opens to lay flat. The inside of the lid divides into six sections which can be used as palette.

Each half pan has easy to see/read info on the color located both on its side and top, the latter which pulls off like a snack pudding.

The color selection is several hues of red, yellow, blue, brown, green, orange, a gray and one white.

Usually, I eschew using gray regardless of the company. I find that they lean too towards blue or the truer gray has a murky/cloudy look. This gray has a light blueish undertone but is perfect, especially if depicting hair.

The paper I was givn is Rembrandt watercolor 9×12 140lb. It is an artist’s quality. 10x sheet, cold pressed.

The paper is secured via a glued top in pad stye. It has a soft cover and hard cardboard back. Only the top is secured, as I worked on a painting at end of each session there occurred minor curling. Once the paper was dry, I weighed it down overnight and next day it was fairly flat. I also tried using small clips in each corner and just leaving it. Both ways allowed me to get to work again easily. Once the painting was completely done and I cut it off the pad there was some minor curling. I let it dry and at the end of day put a few heavy books on it over night and next morning it was flat.

This is a heavy paper and would be great for anyone who does the wet-on-wet technique.  It is a clean natural white which doesn’t distort the nature of the paints. I do pencil outlines of what I am going to paint and when applying the eraser it didn’t tear nor drag, there was zero pilling of the paper as can sometimes occur with other brands.

My technique is to fill the slots of white porcelain palettes with water. Then using a damp brush mix in the paints.

These paints mix in smoothly. It is very easy to darken the hue via dipping the brush back into the half pan or to lighten the hue by diluting the palette section with water.

On the paper it gives true color representation right away as opposed to having to wait for it to dry a little. The paper allows for blending to achieve volume and mass, for example when portraying flesh. I found it behaves very similar to the 100% French cotton paper I sometimes use. It is a little more forgiving if one is quick enough, to fix any minor mistake.

With my style of painting, I found that when working on a face, I must give time in between brush strokes for them to mostly dry as to keep it from running. Once one has timing down, which doesn’t take too long, it is far from a hinderance.

I have always incorporated several brands into my palette. I will definitely be adding some of this set into my palette. The ones which are not making the cut, it is not about the quality but rather they are just colors I do not use and I only have so many  available slots.

“Blue Eye” 9×12

“Tagliatelle” Talen Art Creations Multi Media pocket Pad 4×4 inches