Brave New World!

It’s a brave new world with my new paintbox after 30+ years of my old, battered, metal watercolour box! Before I go into detail, this was my first sketch with my Sennelier ''Le Petit Aquarelle'' set! A fabulous half-timbered house in Bamberg which is about 500 years old. The sketch was done while standing on the corner of a street, as it took about an hour, it was quite strenuous. 

Sooooo, now to the Sennelier watercolours, here is the box and packaging......... eye candy, yum!  Looking all clean and neat. Speaking of yum, one of the special things about these watercolour paints is that they are made with honey. To be honest I haven’t licked them up till now but it’s well worth bearing in mind when hunger calls while sketching:)) 

I chose the set with 24 1/2 pans, but they also come in 12 1/2 pans or with tubes. The box I found quite sturdy and on the reverse there is a loop of elastic to slip your hand into while painting. Unfortunately, due to my bike accident I didn’t try them out before my trip, so the sketch above was truly a premier. Sooooo, how were they? 

The first word that comes to mind is creamy, maybe due to the honey, but the consistency was smooth and creamy and a little like using gouache. I wouldn’t normally have started sketching without trying the new materials first, but needs must! The Sennelier paints handle completely differently to  my old box which is a mixture of 30 year old Windsor & Newton pans and some more modern Schminke. 

Here is what the paintbox looks like now with a test of the palette (little did I realise that the colour chart was on the cardboard packaging), all in all a fair selection. I did find the first two yellows very similar and perhaps a darker brown would have been good, but a comprehensive, solid selection of intense colours. My old favourites are popped into the paintbrush section. 

Firstly, I really did not want a plastic box but I have to admit it is much lighter, therefore easier to cart about all day. Earlier attempts at working on plastic palettes were unsatisfactory as the paint ''beaded'', but here no problem. What I did love is the white, it actually shows up when popped onto other hues, a little like gouache too. If you botch with watercolour, or leave too little white paper showing, it’s tricky to remedy. 

On the downside, I found they needed a lot of water, normally I can sketch for hours with my waterbrush without having to refill, but here it was quickly empty. I preferred the handling with a normal brush/water but my waterbrush has seen better days, still I think I'll be back to taking brushes and little bottles of water with the Sennelier. 

All in all Senni and I's first foray went quite well, although we still need some more time to meld into a team. As you can see in the sketch we had a bit of a blooper in the shadows at the top of the building, but hey it’s early days.