CHEAP WATERCOLOR SETS

Two pages ago, I offered thoughts on watercolor sets.  I also commented on the cost.  The three sets that I highlighted were all around $70.  In the whole scheme of things, when a tank of gas costs $50, then the expenditure of $70 for a watercolor set that could last you the rest of your life seems reasonable.

However, there are ways to spend less and still get satisfactory results.  Windsor and Newton offer the Cotman line of watercolors.  These are aimed more at the student market.  And they work great.  In the Cotman line, the expenditure of $27 gets you a very compact set of 8 colors with a small brush.  This is called the Mini Watercolor Set, as shown on the left.

Then there is what they call the Compact Set, which contains 14 colors and costs $23.  I don’t know why a set that has less colors costs more, but that is what the Dick Blick site says.

So with either of these two sets, you get great watercolors in a compact case for less than half of the cost of the previous offerings.  The key for our purposes is compact.  Any of these sets are easy to travel with.  They also are easy to keep with you all the time.  Since you always have your sketchbook with you, then it is not that much more bulk for the watercolor set to tag along.

But if all of this still seems too costly, then I have a set that you have no excuse not to buy.  This one is by Prang.  You may very well have had a Prang watercolor set in elementary school.  The colors in these sets are very soft.  That is to say, the wet brush immediately picks up the color.  And the color goes on the paper as smooth as you like.  I still have here in the office Prang set that I think must be something like 40 years old.  It still works.  The colors seem to have a small amount of shiny specks in them;  you can see these very tiny flakes after the tone has dried.  But they work!  And they are cheap!   A set of 16 colors will cost $3.50.  And the Prang sets come with a largish brush.

So like I said, now you have no excuse.  In fact you could take a set like this and then start to make transparent drawings on any piece of paper you happen to have lying around.

We’re not after art here.  We’re here to think.  And you can think just as well with watercolors geared for 6 year olds as you can with watercolors for “serious artists.”