Brands I Love: Water Color Paints

I have used everything under the sun when it comes to watercolor paints and these are the brands I use and I only have good things to say about these few paints so let me speak of nice things....

Winsor & Newton:
I use these more than anything else and I wish I had some sort of disclaimer or warning as I would with any other paint but I just don't....Winsor & Newton are the bees knees.  Seriously, the bees knees, you can't beat the prices, you get more than you pay for.

"Since 1832, when Henry Newton and William Winsor introduced the first moist watercolors to the world, much of Winsor & Newton’s reputation for supreme quality has stemmed from the Artists’ Watercolor range. More than 170 years later, the original Winsor & Newton moist watercolor continues to be formulated and manufactured according to the company’s founding principles — to create an unparalleled watercolor range that offers artists the widest and most balanced choice of pigments with the greatest possible permanence.

Through strict adherence to these founding principles, Winsor & Newton has achieved brilliance, transparency, and purity of color unparalleled by any other watercolor. For the 21st century, these key qualities are achieved through a combination of choice of raw materials, custom-made machinery, and expert formulation by experienced chemists and artists who have spent their working lifetimes formulating Artists’ Watercolor.

Today, the Winsor & Newton Artists’ Watercolor range benefits from continued advancements in pigment technology and production methods, building on the company’s already high standards to produce even brighter, more transparent, and more stable colors. Equally important, many of the formulations remain the same — proving that they cannot be bettered!"

Holbein Irodori-Antique Artist Watercolors:

Looking for the best ultra-marine around? Try Holbein Irodori-Antique Artist Watercolors...Once again, these are paints I am impressed with all the time.  They are most perfect for Chinese techniques.

"Ancient oriental watercolors are characterized by their delicate hues. Now today's artist can journey back into time to create with the same timeless palette used by Japanese and Chinese artists 15 centuries ago.
Delicate and harmonious, the 48 Irodori colors are created using pure pigment in gum arabic for clean, crisp results that won't darken or muddy. Highly saturated, they granulate very freely, and are more opaque in the true Asian fashion. Available in 15 ml (0.5 oz) tubes."

Schmincke Hordam Aquarell Artist Watercolors:
Just bought the set of 12, and couldn't be more happy with my purchase.  More German than I am...? Perhaps.

"Schmincke has been developing and manufacturing its Horadam line of watercolors since 1881, and the company is now owned by the fourth generation of the original family. Today the Horadam line includes 110 colors, 70 of them formulated with a single pigment. Each color has its own individually optimized formula.
Schmincke has a reputation for using only the highest-quality natural gums, water-soluble resins, and pigments. For example, the company uses only Kordofan Gum Arabic from the southern Sahara region, and distinguishes between good and bad harvests or "vintages" of this natural resin as it selects its raw materials."