Many of you know already but for those of you who don't. In all my trials and tests on oils paints I have found pretty much most popular brands are suitable for the wet on wet technique. In today's class I quite happily proved this by using a total of not 1, not 2 but 5 different brands of paint. As I'm not tied into using any specific brands I'm free to use exactly what I want. One thing I will not do is compromise on standard and if it doesn't pass the test it finds itself left on a shelf somewhere in the dark and cobwebby recesses of my studio. With all these brands of paint squirted onto the palette side by side they all looked the same in consistency. You'd never know...... It's far better to pay attention to the actual quality of your painting surface, your base medium and the brushes you use. I really hope, as a tutor, I open up the many options available to students who want to set themselves up at home. Can anyone remember the test I done about 5 years ago? I painted 2 versions of the same painting side by side using identical brushes. Painting number 1 was made with student quality paint. Painting number 2 was made with professional artist paint. To give you a paint price comparison a 37ml tube of cad red student quality paint is £1.99, a 37ml tube of cad red professional artist quality paint is £10.39. 7 colours were used for the painting subject. When the painting was completed and dried I used to take them both along to art classes, explain what I had done, and ask the students to pick out which was the 'dear' one. And not many could. In one class I had another art instructor who studied both paintings, laughed and said 'Ha, it's obvious' and picked the wrong one. So, have fun, experiment, if you like a colour but it's not your usual brand - try it, the chances are in your favour it will probably work for you and mix in with your other paints just fine.
Art Instructor