Watercolour: Gift Sets

Give the Gift of Creativity this season. Our kits are functional as well as inspirational. We can also customize them to suit your wishes.

Watercolours: Daniel Smith

DANIEL SMITH PrimaTek® pigments come from all over the world - North and South America, Europe, Africa and as far away as Siberia and China. PrimaTek® Series are carefully ground to optimize the qualities of each natural mineral pigment, then blended with the finest imported Gum Arabic, and put in tubes and labeled by hand.

The unique character of pure mineral color has its own attraction and unique value to artists. Their working characteristics range from the captivating granular effects of our Hematite watercolors, to the amazing tonal richness of Natural Sleeping Beauty Turquoise Genuine—a pigment whose history is second only to its stunning beauty. Every DANIEL SMITH PrimaTek® color has a story to tell.

Zipp Clamp

Finally there is a way to stretch your paper easily and quickly, without tearing, folding, staining or puncturing your sheet. The Zipp Clamp is a re-usable tool, available in three sizes to fit a quarter, half or full sheet of paper. It clamps the paper firmly in place, then when it's dry it is ready for painting, with no buckling. This device is the best-designed paper stretching system on the market, and it sure beats taping down your paper. It consists of a water-resistant board to fit 1 of 3 sizes of paper, and 4 plastic edge-clamps. It does not mar, fold or stain your paper - it only leaves a slight impression. Your painting can be ‘floated’ in the frame with the deckle edges intact. Only a ½" border of paper is covered by the clamps. SEE OUR ADVICE LIBRARY UNDER WATERCOLOUR FOR TIPS ON USING THE ZIPP CLAMP.

Watercolours: M Graham

Formulations taken from a time when artists relied on natural materials;

we created a watercolor with exceptional amounts of pigment in an old fashioned binding medium of pure gum arabic and natural blackberry honey. The result is watercolor of extraordinary strength that is easily diluted for smooth, controlled washes and deeper "darks". Alive with strength and intensity, watercolor made with honey absorbs moisture from the air, preventing hardening on the palette or in the tube

Watercolour: Schmincke Horadam

While we sell watercolours by Winsor & Newton, Stevenson (Canadian made) and Holbein, our greatest pride is in Schmincke’s Horadam watercolours. We are delighted to be Canada’s foremost full-stocking dealer. This German brand's success is a result of outstanding quality, colour range and price. Schmincke Horadam Aquarell colours are made from the finest pigments available in the highest possible concentrations that are consistent with good handling properties. Each colour is still manufactured to a unique formulation designed to enhance its particular characteristic. We stock their 5 and 15 ml. tubes in all 110 colours, as well as all their large and small pans (whole and half pans). In addition to the Schmincke Horadam line, we also stock Schmincke sets under the name Akademie, and empty metal trays to help you create your own set of tube or pan colours. ("Lizard Eye" painted by Robin Morley).

Watercolour: Stevenson

Made in Canada, Stevenson produces intense watercolours of excellent value. Only full strength light-fast pigments are used. They are comparable to other top-grade artists’ colours but are much more affordable. These transparent watercolours are supplied in large 15ml tubes or 6ml pans. There is no difference in formulation between pan and tube colour. Therefore, an artist can create their own pan colour and travel sets by filling the wells of a suitable palette with the desired colour selection. Permit to dry, and then wet the colour when needed. Stevenson watercolours dry semi-moist and will rewet easily. D.L. Stevenson & Sons was the first brand of watercolours we stocked. Look for other Stevenson products: acrylic paint, oil paints and sticks, pure pigments and brushes as well. We are proud to stock over 46 lines of Canadian-made products. (“Floral” painted by Christine Wallewein).

Watercolour: Holbein

Holbein offers a range of 108 transparent watercolours. It is a European style transparent watercolour, but Holbein watercolours also preserve the brush handling qualities inherent in traditional Japanese watercolour techniques. Without ox-gall or dispersing agents normally found in watercolours, Holbein watercolours move slowly, permitting greater colour density and brush control. It is a colour line with a consistent creamy texture that remains smooth when dry. ("Bird" by Kim Fjordbotten).

Watercolour: Winsor & Newton

Since the 1830's, when the original founders of the company introduced the first moist watercolours, much of Winsor & Newton's reputation for quality has been based on their artists' quality water colour range. The wide and balanced spectrum has each colour specially selected to offer the greatest choice and flexibility, ensuring that all artists can obtain the palette which best suits their work. Each of the 91 colours has been individually formulated to take advantage of each pigment's characteristics for colour stability and clean, bright mixes. Permanent alternatives have been developed for the less durable traditional colors, without compromising handling properties, to generally improve the permanence of the range. As a result 88 colors are now classified as permanent for artists' use. ("Coliseum" painted by Robin Morley).

Watercolour: Gouache

Gouache [pron: gwash] is very similar to watercolour, with two differences. While a good watercolour is transparent, gouache is the opposite: opaque, and matte. Designers’ gouache is made with gum arabic binder, pigment and small amounts of various modifiers (sounds just like watercolour so far), but also has matting agents and opacifiers to make it matte in finish and opaque. Horadam gouache however, is made to be matte and opaque without the use of the last two additives. These qualities are achieved simply by the use of much larger proportions of high quality artist pigments.("Image" by Fiona Yardley-Jones)

Watercolour: Student Quality

Young artists and hobby beginners looking for economy paints should consider Cotman Watercolours. It is a very good paint of student quality. We carry both the 8ml tube and the larger 21ml tube of Cotman watercolours. We also stock a number of children's watercolour sets. Sorry, although the Cotman pans are shown here we do not stock them.

Watercolour: Mediums

Watercolours have been a very popular painting medium for the last 500 years. Many different effects can be created: from soft, soothing landscapes to bright, bold abstracts. Many watercolourists are not aware of mediums available that can help create different effects in their paintings. There are mediums that will help protect the white of the paper, help colour “lift” easier, create texture effects, improve flow and blending, retard drying, add pearlescent shimmer, or cause coarse granulation. Refer to our Advice Libary for more information about using watercolour mediums.