You are such an incredible artist – I love seeing your work and I am constantly amazing how you do those dribbles and see such beautiful things that come out above those splotches (sorry – lol – I’m not saying any of that correctly). Kuretake and other reviewers claim that they are something between watercolour and gouache due to the binders that are used, in other word some kind of semi opaque watercolours. The colors were meant to match the natural colors of the Japanese landscape, and while most are very similar to what you would find in Western paint boxes, many are slightly different.

These high quality paints, made in Japan by a 100 year old paint maker, can be used directly out of the box with a wet paintbrush - either thinly in translucent washes, or by layering for a bolder effect. Some previous reviewers commented that they found the colours slighty thicker and with less ‘flow’, but having played around with various amounts of water, I found that I can get them to behave like western watercolours. Recently, I was gifted a set of gansai by Kissho, which I have grown to love over the last couple of months. The Gansai Tambi Japanese watercolour paint set from Kuretake comes with 18 traditional Japanese colours, designed for use by professional artists and enthusiasts alike. I split these further into ‘wet mixes’ and ‘wet on dry base’ to see if the colours behaved differently and if so, how.These paints work well with waterbrushes as they can be used to easily wet the paint pans, allowing you to work from them directly. Unfortunately, the process is hard to show because you could do it a thousand times and it would never come out the same way. They are suitable for professional and amateur artists, and are ideal for drawing, illustration, Sumi-e etc. I think these might be good for adding shimmer to mattes of the same hue, but again I’ll test that theory when we coming to mixing colours. Oudo - Ochre; perhaps the oldest pigment, found globally in prehistoric cave paintings - synthetic alternatives to the natural pigment are more frequently used today, as in this instance.

Discover a range of thoughtfully selected art supplies and curated books featuring the works of illustrators and artists presented in the exhibition. Much larger than traditional western whole pan watercolours, one pan of these paints measures 48 x 28mm. And here compared with a Jackson’s full pan that is a bit larger than the regular full pans that you can find in watercolour sets.Rokusho - Green rust - this colour was traditionally made from a malachite pigment and was used for ancient buildings and sculptures in East Asia. My tests for this review haven’t changed that preference, and this is probably the paper I’ll use most often when using them.

The box is light, but has nothing to keep the lid closed, and the pans are loose, not fastened in any way. The Kuretake Gansai Tambi 18 Large Pan Watercolour Paint Set includes eighteen whole pans of traditional Japanese paint.However, as I further experimented with the Kissho Gansai, I ended up needing to use my spray bottle less and less, showing how easily these paints absorb water and lift onto the brush. For my painting style, that includes mixing colours ( that was the reason why I got the 12 colour set), colour sets that can’t be mixed properly or give weak results, is a big disadvantage. Enji - Shortened from enjimushi which is the Japanese name for the insect from which the deep red dye carmine is derived. Instead of mixing colours, I used bright purples, pinks and yellows straight from the palette, rather than trying to create a completely realistic painting and found the Chinese brushes absolutely perfect for adding to this watery effect. They are designed to be used in a single layer on absorbent Japanese paper rather than in several layers.

Because the binder adhesion in gansai is weaker, the colours are also easier to lift (removing with a wet brush to lighten an area). I’m posting some of the photos here and I’ll give for the review purposes some links for some photos in full size directly from my site. I think that Kuretake has to deal with this issue because these colour sets offer otherwise some very good features that you can’t find in other watercolour sets. As with all the other paint colours, the pigment easily collects on the brush with a bit of water, and is completely opaque on paper (as you can see on the above swatches).Water is brighter than paint, so often the more water the brighter the color when wet, and the duller it will be once dry.