List Price: $151.52
Sale Price: $79.03
Today's Bonus: 48% Off
Like many of us who work with watercolors, I couldn't resist buying yet more paints, even though I hardly need them, and trying a brand that's new to me. And I'm glad I did for I love these paints! Only time will tell how lightfast they are, but my first impression is that Blockx watercolors are on a par in terms of quality with my two favorite brands, Winsor & Newton and M. Graham.
I own a similarly sized set of Winsor & Newton half pans and the tins are almost but not quite identical, but the Blockx half pans seem moister and creamier from the get go than I remember the W&N being when I first got that set. (And I'm talking about top of the line W&N, not their Cotman budget brand.) Coverage is just as good as what I get with W&N and M. Graham, and all the colors lay down smooth (on Arches 140 lb. rough and cold-pressed watercolor paper).
After getting this set I decided it would be convenient to have all my W&N pans and Blockx pans in a single container, so I bought an empty KREMER PIGMENTS Watercolor Box and put them all in there, and when doing that I discovered that the Blockx half pans are slightly larger than the W&N half pans (as you can see in a photo I posted on the product page for the Kremer box).
I really like the Payne's Grey that's included in this set, as that color has for some reason been a favorite watercolor color of mine since I was in my late teens over 40 years ago (and this is the first time I've used anything other than W&N Payne's Grey from tubes). I wish expensive watercolor pan sets didn't include Ivory Black, which is included with this set as well as my W&N set, because it's not a color I use much and I suspect many watercolorists don't use black all that much. But comparing the Blockx Ivory Black with the Ivory Black half pan in my older W&N set, I find the Blockx Ivory Black creamier and richer looking. (And so I put the Blockx Ivory Black in my Kremer box and left the W&N black out, which gave me room to put a full pan from another, budget brand set.)
Blockx has a nice website that's well worth visiting. Otherwise it can be difficult to find reviews of their colors, though there is a long review at the wonderful, incredibly information packed watercolor section of handprint dot com. (To find the review of Blockx watecolors there, go to handprint dot com, click on the color wheel icon on the upper right, which takes you to the watercolor section, then click on paints, then watercolor brands, and finally Blockx.) The review, written in 2008, is not entirely positive (and it led to an exchange of emails between the reviewer and Jacques Blockx which are documented at handprint), but nothing in it discouraged me from wanting to try Blockx watercolors, and I am very glad that I purchased this set.
I hope to add some Blockx tube colors to my collection eventually.
No comments:
Post a Comment