Van Gogh watercolours.

When I was in Amsterdam for the Urban Sketchers Symposium in 2019, the faculty was taken on a fabulous tour of the Royal Talens factory. Royal Talens has been creating art materials since 1899. 

We also had the chance to 'play' with many of the products created there or under the Royal Talens umbrella - Sakura, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Bruynzeel, Ecoline and others.

I have shown many of the 120 colour professional Rembrandt watercolour range here, but we were given a dot card sampler of the Van Gogh student range. While I don't usually write about student ranges, as they don't have all the characteristics that I so enjoy about professional watercolours, I decided this one may be helpful since so much work went into producing it. However changes have been made in the formulations since this was produced so the latest product information is best seen on the website.

Van Gogh sample dot card 2019

Student ranges are often less-highly pigmented than professional ranges, and many contain more binders or fillers. While it as more difficult to get a strong wash with many of these colours, others painted out very nicely. 

Van Gogh student watercolours 2019

Van Gogh student watercolours 2019

The information on these charts was based on the dot-card, but some was incorrect. Dusk Yellow is PBk11/PY128, and the PBk101 pigments listed for the gold and metallics should be PBk11.

Van Gogh student watercolours 2019

Happy painting!