New paints and Brushes from Kama Pigments

 

Kama Pigments is an art store in Montreal that specializes in raw colour pigments, but they also sell a huge range of brushes, and they carry Daniel Smith brand watercolour paints at low prices. With the current lockdown it is not possible to visit the store, but you can still order online and Canada Post delivers. This time the package came in about one day! The three new paints I got here are Lemon Yellow (PY175), Deep Scarlet (PR175) and Indanthrone Blue (PB60). I used to have Lemon Yellow from Winsor and Newton, but I used it up on one of the big abstracts this summer "Spring Fawn Dancing Across a Sun-kissed Meadow". Deep scarlet is chemically similar to the Lemon Yellow, they are both benzimidazalones. It is very similar to the old Alizarin Crimson (PR83) that I abandoned early in 2020, but it leans more to the yellow than Alizarin. Indanthrone Blue is one I already have from Winsor and Newton, but I am using it a lot. The Daniel Smith version is more purplish compared to the Winsor and Newton one. 

The three brushes are made by Princeton, their Neptune brand of synthetic brushes. The left-most brush is one I had never seen before, it is called a dagger due to the unique shape of the brush, which is 1.4 inch wide at the base, and sharp on the tip. It holds a lot of paint, but gives a sharp line. The middle brush is a standard number 4, although the length of the brush fibers is longer than my other number 4, this one is called a script brush. The last one is a 0, very small and long script brush. I hope to bring more detail to the paintings with these brushes, like the old Japanese masters!

 

Here is a small painting I made with the new paint, the background is a rich navy blue (PB60), the yellow stands out a very bright lemon (PY175), and the red was used to accent the middle section (PR175). I added some phthtalo green yellow shade (PG36) on the left to see how it blended with the lemon yellow. These are powerful and versatile paints. The title is a play on the brand name Daniel Smith. 

Paint Smithing, 1 1/4 x 5 1/4" hot press, watercolour January 2021 (No. 2614a)