I've been on the fence about Michael Harding watercolors, but so far I haven't seen a color that feels as if it would be an interesting addition to my extensive collection. Thanks for this review. I always value your opinions and enjoy your paintings.
Thank you. I figured I'd get a few to see what all the fuss was about. They're great paints but so are plenty of other brands so it isn't a big loss to not have these. I might just stick with these ones, unless I cave and get the Amethyst, haha!
Thank you so much for actually using the blasted paint. Everyone seems to just swatch these and calls it a review. This was far more useful watching how the paint behaved for you. Glad you chose the pink with your heart. I try and do that now, some practical colours and one for the heart 💕. Feeds the want monster on a budget.
Ah yes, I'd only seen a couple of swatching videos around; it's always better to actually paint with them to get the best idea of how they're going to behave, and mix with each other. I am glad I chose the pink; I've used it a few more times since this review and it's really great!
Thanks so much Becky...for the purchase of these and your review...just LOVE your RED GLOVE lady...and all your paintings...look forward to more of your paintings with these new...expensive brand...Mr. Michael's...
Love your paintings you created with these and your color choices for the limited palette. I agree on needing to let them dry awhile before traveling. I made a little palette for work, dried a couple of days and put it in my bag to transport and when I got to work I had to play watercolor palette surgeon with toothpicks and paper towels as some of the wells spilled over into the next well below. *learned my lesson but saved them. i also got the Brilliant Pink and Belladonna and made up my own embellished "Vivid Colors" palette in anticipation of spring summer flower painting!
I've had that happen too with Sennelier paints, when they ran everywhere in my palette and I needed to perform "palette surgery", haha! The Vivid Colours was one of the sets I seriously considered. ❤
I loved everything about this video!! sadly I don't think I'm ever going to be able to afford these gorgeous paints but that's ok as I have a few DS ones which I love and it sounds like they are just the same! great video once again!! Thank you! :D
Daniel Smith paints are excellent so you can't go wrong with those! Much easier to travel with them too, unlike honey-based ones which tend to run everywhere.❤
Lovely choice of colours in your collection of 8. I know you said the Payne's grey did not lean towards blue, but I still would have liked to see if it made a nice green when mixed with the yellow. I had to look at least 3 times to check if I saw the price of the paint correctly ... eeep! Thank you for another lovely video.
I don't think I mixed Payne's Grey with the yellow...not having an organised mixing chart meant I missed a lot of them, lol. Eeep indeed on the prices! 20% discount made them slightly more manageable, but the curated sets of ten were still out of range so I figured I'd go for mostly series 1 and just managed to stay under budget.
Love your reviews and especially all the paintings- really gives an idea of the characteristics of the watercolor. I’ve been so curious about this brand and haven’t seen too many people talking about it. Last time I checked, it still wasn’t available in the US. I’m still regretting not getting Charvin watercolors when I was in Paris a couple months ago because I can’t find them anywhere online (but did make it to Sennelier, although I can buy that at home). If you get the chance, I know you’re traveling to Europe (have fun!) it would be great to see a review of Charvin.
I would love to visit the Sennelier and Charvin stores in Paris! I think there's an art store in Sydney which stocks Charvin but otherwise I haven't seen them here either. I'm hoping to find some European supplies in Greece, which are impossible to find in Australia. 🙂
Living in the U.K. the prices are comparable to other brands like W&N , Daniel Smith etc. I bought the Opera Rose to try as it has a light fastness of 2 rather than being fugitive, Time will tell.
Hi, Becky. I'm a bit worried about two of those 'Lake' colours (four at first, but then saw the pigments for the Blue Lake and Green Lake), because 'back in the day', any colour with Lake in its name was fugitive - as are the yellow and scarlet in this group! They've been taken out of just about every brand, or renamed, if not actually fugitive, so it's weird to see the pigments / the word 'Lake' popping up in the the names. (Michael Harding is of the same generation as Michael Wilcox, who made a big noise about fugitive colours and non-labelling of pigments and lightfast ratings on paints, so this is very surprising!!!) The red in the pink and Belladonna mixes isn't lightfast, either. What do the tubes say? (Michael Wilcox was ostracised and stores were threatened with boycotts by the big names if they stocked his paints, but even so, that's how we got the pigment numbers and lightfast ratings on our tubes - pretty quick, too, after his work was published and printed in major art magazines! I still have some of the articles, which I saved at the time) I really liked your duckling, and the outline helped it a lot. I don't think he looks angry, but more pensive, or "Just what are they up to now?" ish. Have you managed to make up your mind about your colour choices for Greece yet? Your love of bright colours will pay off in a Greek Springtime environment, that's pretty certain. I'm just hoping that you aren't too tired after your mega-efforts to keep us supplied with videos while you're away! Happy Orthodox Easter to you both! 😊
Yes, a lot of lakes can be fugitive but I just decided I wanted them anyway because the colours looked so appealing. I think the pigments used aren't necessarily matching with their names, especially blue and green which are regular phthalos! 😂 Maybe they chose the word lake for their transparency? Who would know! LF ratings on the brochure range from excellent, with both Yellow and Scarlet lake being in that category (!!), then very good and good. Two in the range are labelled Fugitive, which are Alizarin Crimson and Rose Madder. There's a note which says they were included because of their history and beauty, but are quite clearly labelled as not lightfast. As for other pigments, it's so hard to know what is going to hold up so I just buy what looks pretty, ha! But since I only have eight colours, I might actually paint these out and hang 'em up in the window to see if anything fades or changes colour. Oh and I will hopefully have a travel art kit video made for the end of the month or early May just before we go. ❤
@@BeckyTregear handprint has the yellow listed as synthetic and calls it among the most durable of artist pigments, so assuming it's the right one i think its safe.
@@jonmahashintina Actually Handprint doesn't list PY180, but Art of Color says it has ASTM rating II. Of course, I don't trust the ASTM ratings, and most companies ratings just go off the ASTM. And sometimes they just are fantasies, like lots of companies rating Alizarin as anything other than fugitive
@@jennw6809 its not in the yellow section, its on a page called synthetic organic pigments. word dump: "Benzimidazolone. An important group of about 20 azo pigments with a broad range of hues, from yellow (PY120, PY151, PY154, PY175, PY180, PY181, PY194), through orange (PO36, PO37, PO60, PO62, PO72) and red (PR171, PR175, PR176, PR185, PR208) to a maroon of fair lightfastness (PV32), and a delicious brown (PBr25). Developed and patented by Hoechst in 1960, the benzimidazolones were first used as watercolor pigments in the late 1970's. They are relatively expensive, but are also among the most durable pigments used in artists' paints. (Winsor & Newton, for example, has chosen a benzimidazolone pigment for their "winsor yellow" and "winsor orange.")"
@@jonmahashintina Ahh, that makes sense! I have the color index page of Handprint bookmarked since it's so hard to find by actually navigating the site! But yes, I've found interesting things on there by searching too. I wish we knew what Bruce is doing these days, he seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth!
thank you for this video! im looking forward to try a few colors from this brand, because my regular palette with Daniel Smith Winsor Newton schmincke they get way too dry during winter months, so im building a honey based palette with mgraham, sennelier, roman szmal and so glad to see some review from Michael Harding too!
Thank you! It was so hard to choose, although a lot of it was helped by the series number as it weeded out the super expensive ones. Lapis Lazuli was something like $45 on its own so I gave that one a miss. 😂
Hi Becky, I like all three of your paintings. The duck one made me think of an older female sibling scolding her younger siblings but with love. I cannot do portraits, so you did a great job. The fish's lips made me think of the fish kissing another fish cuz well...the lips. Grins. The colors were nice. The paints are nice. When you were in the art store, I saw some of the prices of the paint. Definitely expensive! Have a good weekend.
I bought the 10 tube urban set. I love them 😍 I might just collect a few more tubes as I have too much paint hehehe. They have been in my palette for almost a month and are still not set properly. I love it that they don’t shrink and crack in the pans.
I think the urban set had sold out at the store but I would have been curious to look at the colours in it. Hopefully it's a great one for urban sketching! I think I might want to get the Amethyst at some point; that purple looks too pretty to resist!
@@BeckyTregear the purple haze in the urban set is like moon glow in that it has colour separation. It’s very pretty. I have not done a picture with them yet only swatching and mixing so far.
I purchased the Lapis Lazuli one and i really enjoyed that one. Probably the only one ill get as the DS version is underwhelming. Kind of hard to add more too my collection when i got a toolbox full of DS, Maimeri, Senn, WN and Holbein's. At this point, i only look at convience mixes.. :X
No offense to anyone who has these or wants them but they don’t do a thing for me. There are paints that I get for something they do better or different from others . Then there are what I consider standard brands that pretty much do all the basic standard things you expect from a watercolor paint. These seem standard. Don’t think I will invest. The hype is nuts. “Almost a new medium”
I really love your reviews ! I have a lot of Daniël Smith so thank you for trying this new paints.I was a bit tempted, but I think that i stay with Dan Sm and Sennelier, i have a palette of smincke top, so i don't need these....❤Nadine ( Belgium)
I enjoyed your video and your duckling is adorable. I was super excited when these paints were announced, but honestly, although high quality, are not that special. There are also a number of fugitive pigments, which is disappointing. The pyrrole scarlet (PR254) is the only reliably lightfast red, besides the two cadmiums, and the specialty mixes are just so-so. There are only a handful that I want to get after the many reviews I have seen or read. I do like the formulation, as the paint seems to set up quickly (in a dry climate) and it seems to be easier to handle from pans. I would recommend only buying a unique color or two. I like M.Graham better for a honey-based, high pigment load paint.
Mine seem to have set pretty well, and don't seem as goopy as the M.Grahams. Reds are usually not great for lightfastness so I just picked the one that looked the prettiest. 😂 I like these paints but they aren't better than my other favourite brands so these go into the Nice to Have but Not Need to Have category.
For now at least, I'm ordering Michael Harding's Moss Green and Belladonna. If I were starting from scratch now, I'd be very excited to order a large palette of colors, but I have way too many tubes of paints. And I have a lot of 1/2 pans too. So it seems too indulgent to even pick a few favorites from a new brand. I have to figure out how to use self control with Roman Szmal too. Going by my Jackson's cart, it isn't going as well as it should.
Moss Green was one I was seriously considering when I chose my eight colours. Roman Szmal paints are fabulous and I have to stop myself from buying more, lol!
Thanks ever so much for the great service of your time and talents! The gloves were really well done - shadows were spot on. The honey in any paint can produce mold in more humid climates. Most of us have enough art supplies without "collecting" the next new thing to come along. The waste in the tube caps for expensive paints was not optimal. Often one may even feel than an expensive item is "better", but any good artist quality paint is fine, really. At the risk of sounding sexist, ladies seem to really go for "haul" videos and buying more, more, more. Must be a shopping gene! 😉
I can't argue with the shopping bit, lol! I was just curious to try their watercolours because MH oil paints have been around a long time and they're top of the line as well. Personally I think there are many other watercolour paints which are just as good (if not better) than these! It's nice to have a few though....and I haven't actually bought more since...yet...LOL!
The painting of the duckling is so cute! It looks sassy to me rather than angry. It's got so much personality! Looked great with and without the outline. I'm not interested in buying any more watercolors, I've got enough. I just watch your videos to see your paintings :)
Oh that's good to know! They must have just gotten them in too, because I went there recently and didn't see them. I only just discovered this store earlier in the year. I am sorely tempted by the Himi Miya products! 😂
Yeah they're pretty expensive....I'll probably just end up sticking with these ones seeing as how the palette is working well enough without needing more colours.
Lovely art works with these new paints. I am wondering if the duckling painting was done on Eraldo Di Paolo watercolour paper? It is good to know what to avoid as cotton paper can be so expensive.
Not Eraldo, but I do have some of their rough cotton paper which I'm planning to try out soon to see what it's like, lol. The paper I used for ducking is a "Be Creative" Watercolour Pad, and I have absolutely no memory of where I found it! 😂
@@BeckyTregear I have used the Eraldo hot press and it can be of varying quality. Good for swatches and sketching but the rough I found to be pretty awful. I havent come across be creative before thanks for that info.
I have some Sennelier and M Graham and while it is certainly nice having paints that rewet easily, I don’t like having to remember which paints I can’t grab/use in a travel palette. My Sennelier tube paints were put in pans *months* ago and are still sticky… same for M Graham. I like the paints, just wish I could throw them in a bag and they wouldn’t make a mess of my palettes 😅. (I do have some Sennelier pan paints and they’re obviously okay.) Michael Harding isn’t available where I live, not sure I’d bother with the extra expense for a paint that I can only use at home. Love the paintings… especially the portrait… gorgeous!! Every video where you use your Etchr sketchbook that has lost it’s sizing, I get nervous about my supply of sketchbooks and hope the sizing will last!! I need more time to paint and use them!!
Honey-based watercolours are so beautiful yet so treacherous for travelling! After having a mishap with my Sennelier paints on a trip, I am very leery of using them outside of the studio. I might have to risk it again someday, but usually I’ll go with Daniel Smith and Schmincke as they dry better in pans. That Etchr sketchbook paper has deteriorated a lot, far more than anything else I’ve used. It’s disappointing because the actual paper itself is amazing for watercolours but it just hasn’t lasted well over time. Oh, and thank you!😊
Hello Becky! I had a good look at the MH watercolors last time Jackson’s had their watercolor sale. I must say I couldn’t see any colors that I really wanted. Personally I don’t believe they have reinvented the wheel. I might change my mind but right now it’s a pass from me. If I was starting from scratch and I didn’t have any watercolors then I might have been very much in the camp of ‘I got to have these!’ 😅
The duck gives me sassy vibes 😂 and I loved the lady's painting 😍😍😍- yes I love reds as well 😅 The paint looks really nice but still pricy for me from where I live 😅 now I don't mind spoiling myself from time to time so who knows if I'll ever get them or not 👀
Thank you, and yes it turned out very sassy! 😆 I think the general consensus is that these paints are expensive everywhere, lol. Eight was more than enough for my price range! 😂
That paynes grey seems closer to my oil paints. They still lean blue a tad, but I basically use the colour as a black. I have actually been surprised by some of your PGs and how some brands seem to have more blue. I love watching skin tones in watercolour come together. It always scary when the darks go down and yet, once smoothed out, its always perfect and beautiful. I love the purple background. I was wondering what a good introductory water colour set would be. Although I do have some Reeves tubes, so might stick with those, since I am still a newbie.
It is definitely more of a neutral Paynes Grey and it mixes nicely with pretty much everything so I glad I picked that one. Skintones are always a gamble, haha! The Daniel Smith introductory set with six 5ml tubes in split primary is a good starting palette, or Roman Szmal starter set I think would be good too. You'll notice a big difference between the professional brands and Reeves. Not that Reeves are bad! But do your paints have a smell? I gave my tube set away because they had a gross smell to them! 🤢
Very interesting and great paintings. The outline on the angry duckling is good. The lady looks a bit like Lady Gaga.. I wouldn't mind trying the moonlight colour, myself. Have a brilliant weekend, Becky and Happy Easter to Nick.
Thank you! What's the bet if I actually tried to paint a portrait of Lady Gaga that it would end up looking nothing like her! 😂 I will pass your Easter wishes on to Nick. ❤
Lovely paints! But extremely expensive, even here in Europe. I can get M. Graham which are kind of a difficult to find here, for nearly the same price.
Yes, they certainly have a hefty price tag! But with the sale it made them....slightly more reasonable? Enough for me to fit eight colours into my budget. 😂
Thank you for this review! All the paintings turned out lovely ♥ Overall, it seems a good brand, but I feel that if you already have a good color selection from other brands, you'll not get much more from this one. I do have their PG19 Cobalt green deep and it's absolutely stunning, for the rest I don't see myself buying much more. Possibly the lapis lazuli one and the Turner yellow, who's a bit of a rare pigment to find (py216)
Was waiting for this video review by you. You chose beautiful colors! Not a pink person so except for that color , I loved all the rest. Can you do a comparison between MH Belladona and DS moonglow? I have read both ate similar and people are preferring MH Belladona over DS (& artemis by Da Vinci) as its light fast. I would love if you could do a comparison in future!
Thank you so much! The Belladonna is a gorgeous colour, and a lot more purple than Moonglow but as you could see, it mixed with the Payne's Grey to get a very similar shade. The swatch in the brochure of MH's Moonlight looks very much the same as DS Moonglow.
Thank you for the video 😊 ... I ordered them after watching aaaaall the videos and comparisons on RUclips. Seems that they are very pigmented and go a long way. In Austria they have the same price as Daniel Smith and almost the same as Horadam, so - why not 🤣. Nice paintings ... lots of love for the duckling
Fascinating watching colours behave as they do. However, have to ask, why did you choose Scarlet lake? The PR170 is very fugitive. Reds always require attention to the pigment info.
I went with the red which was the prettiest on the colour chart, after deciding not to worry too much about having everything super lightfast, otherwise I'd end up with an identical colour palette to my other sets, and I just wanted to try something different. 😊
Enjoy learning about these new paint your video was interesting and informative...i liked your paintings, my favorite was the duckling..mikelle art mom🇨🇦🇺🇸💛
These are really expensive at my local art store. So I am looking up reviews to see what the fuss is about the brand. Wondering if I should invest in some tubes, comparing to Roman Szmall how would they rate?
Yes they cost a fortune! You might want to check out the channel Miranda Watson - Alkali Creek Art; she has a couple of reviews on these paints too. Michal Harding watercolours are very nice paints, don't get me wrong, but I also absolutely adore the Roman Szmal watercolours (I have a full pan set), and really if you have those then that would be enough. In fact I'd pick RS over MH just for their price and quality. I have both now, lol.
I really like your painting of the woman! I only watched one video about these when they first came out, and the person swatching was very stingy - it didn't show them well. And I do try to stick mostly to brands that are made in my country for the price advantage... So, I hadn't even really seen these shown well. I'm glad they are so good -- they should be for that eye-wincing price - still not sure why they would be 20 years in the making though! 🤣 I do absolutely love M. Graham though so you kind of made me more interested, darn it!! I see there are a few interesting pigments in the line, like a PO 34, and there are some nice earth tones like the one you got! Although a lot of them are ones I associate with A. Gallo. Hmmm, It is disappointing that in 20 years they only came up with dupes for DS and AG instead of making their own unique mixes and hues?!?! But they sure did make pretty swatches and nice names. Although... when I read "Lake" I automatically think "fugitive," so I do find it odd he'd use that term to describe phthalos!
I wrote my original comment under your reply to Miranda's comment because i forgot i hadn't gone back to the regular comment section. Happy Orthodox Easter.
I love your paintings, the lady is my favorite. I think the duck looks better with the ink outline. I probably won’t be buying these, but if I did I would invest in the dot card, first. I think they took years to come up with different colors and couldn’t figure out anything different and ended up copying Daniel Smith, because they are so popular, lol. Thanks for sharing!
Well at first I thought there was a dot card. I just noticed this brand of paint, today, on the dickblick website, here in the states. So I went and searched for a review onRUclips, your video popped up. Loved your video, by the way. I just went back and checked dickblick, they call it a “ hand painted” color chart. So it’s already painted on watercolor paper, so you can check out the colors. So i understand that you can’t paint it yourself, it’s done for you already! Well that’s annoying, to be honest. How can you tell how they rewet!?! Sorry to get your hopes up. Some of the colors are gorgeous, like lapis lazuli, ( although it’s very expensive) loved the colors you picked out, Hopefully one day they will have a dot card.
The paints coming out when you open them - I don't think it's a feature of the paint formula. Isn't it affected by the tubes being shipped in low pressure environments like planes? I'm trying to understand how paint formula could determine that and I'm at a loss. Thanks for posting this. I love seeing how new paints work. Appreciate it!
I'm sure atmospheric pressure would have some influence on paint tubes, if nothing else but to make them explode, lol. Otherwise your guess is as good as mine....I think it also depends on the properties of the pigments themselves; fine vs coarse grain etc.
The uniqueness is Michael Harding *has honey added* (for binding) "while D.S. doesn't"!!! 🤔 -I use these colors *as add-ons* to my "M. Graham's/Sennelier" collections; that doesn't have a color like (DS's) Moonglow/etc!!! 😉
PR170, PR112, PR112, are not light-fast, and PY180 is marginally light-fast. If you're a person who displays and/or sells your original work, it's definitely not good. There are other colors in the line that are light-fast, but the price is way more expensive than other 15ml tubes of professional watercolor available where I live. They are pretty though.
I'm thinking of painting some swatches to hang in the window to see how they'll go for fading or colour changing. And yes they are very expensive, though the store which has stocked them here has them for comparable prices to the UK which is surprising as things in Australia are usually a lot more expensive! The 20% discount made them slightly more "affordable", and I just knew I wanted to review some of them ASAP!
I don't see the point of them...for the price, I can buy DS and know I am getting professional level stuff that TONS of artists use and can provide help with. These... no one has really heard of them nor use them so.. meh!
Yeah I don't think they became as popular as the company wanted them to, mainly because as you say, Daniel Smith has already done it all beforehand, and extremely well! 😆
I've been on the fence about Michael Harding watercolors, but so far I haven't seen a color that feels as if it would be an interesting addition to my extensive collection. Thanks for this review. I always value your opinions and enjoy your paintings.
Thank you. I figured I'd get a few to see what all the fuss was about. They're great paints but so are plenty of other brands so it isn't a big loss to not have these. I might just stick with these ones, unless I cave and get the Amethyst, haha!
Thank you so much for actually using the blasted paint. Everyone seems to just swatch these and calls it a review. This was far more useful watching how the paint behaved for you.
Glad you chose the pink with your heart. I try and do that now, some practical colours and one for the heart 💕. Feeds the want monster on a budget.
Ah yes, I'd only seen a couple of swatching videos around; it's always better to actually paint with them to get the best idea of how they're going to behave, and mix with each other. I am glad I chose the pink; I've used it a few more times since this review and it's really great!
@@BeckyTregear good to hear it.
Thanks so much Becky...for the purchase of these and your review...just LOVE your
RED GLOVE lady...and all your paintings...look forward to more of your paintings with these new...expensive brand...Mr. Michael's...
Love your paintings you created with these and your color choices for the limited palette. I agree on needing to let them dry awhile before traveling. I made a little palette for work, dried a couple of days and put it in my bag to transport and when I got to work I had to play watercolor palette surgeon with toothpicks and paper towels as some of the wells spilled over into the next well below. *learned my lesson but saved them. i also got the Brilliant Pink and Belladonna and made up my own embellished "Vivid Colors" palette in anticipation of spring summer flower painting!
I've had that happen too with Sennelier paints, when they ran everywhere in my palette and I needed to perform "palette surgery", haha! The Vivid Colours was one of the sets I seriously considered. ❤
I loved everything about this video!! sadly I don't think I'm ever going to be able to afford these gorgeous paints but that's ok as I have a few DS ones which I love and it sounds like they are just the same! great video once again!! Thank you! :D
Daniel Smith paints are excellent so you can't go wrong with those! Much easier to travel with them too, unlike honey-based ones which tend to run everywhere.❤
Lovely choice of colours in your collection of 8. I know you said the Payne's grey did not lean towards blue, but I still would have liked to see if it made a nice green when mixed with the yellow. I had to look at least 3 times to check if I saw the price of the paint correctly ... eeep! Thank you for another lovely video.
I don't think I mixed Payne's Grey with the yellow...not having an organised mixing chart meant I missed a lot of them, lol. Eeep indeed on the prices! 20% discount made them slightly more manageable, but the curated sets of ten were still out of range so I figured I'd go for mostly series 1 and just managed to stay under budget.
I love the angry looking duck! Its fun to see what colors artist pick for their palettes 😃
It's always so hard to choose, when there are lots of pretty colours! I wanted to pick things that were versatile, but I also had to have pink! 😂
Really lovely paintings. Your reviews are always welcome as I think you're very fair and provide a lot of good information. Thank you!
Thank you, I'm glad it was helpful! 😊
Love your reviews and especially all the paintings- really gives an idea of the characteristics of the watercolor. I’ve been so curious about this brand and haven’t seen too many people talking about it. Last time I checked, it still wasn’t available in the US. I’m still regretting not getting Charvin watercolors when I was in Paris a couple months ago because I can’t find them anywhere online (but did make it to Sennelier, although I can buy that at home). If you get the chance, I know you’re traveling to Europe (have fun!) it would be great to see a review of Charvin.
I would love to visit the Sennelier and Charvin stores in Paris! I think there's an art store in Sydney which stocks Charvin but otherwise I haven't seen them here either. I'm hoping to find some European supplies in Greece, which are impossible to find in Australia. 🙂
Great review! I was also very interested in lightfastness and hope to see you address that in the Michael Harding watercolors.
When I return home, I'll try and remember to paint out a chart to hang in the window...I'm also curious to see how they'll hold up!
Living in the U.K. the prices are comparable to other brands like W&N , Daniel Smith etc. I bought the Opera Rose to try as it has a light fastness of 2 rather than being fugitive, Time will tell.
Hi, Becky. I'm a bit worried about two of those 'Lake' colours (four at first, but then saw the pigments for the Blue Lake and Green Lake), because 'back in the day', any colour with Lake in its name was fugitive - as are the yellow and scarlet in this group! They've been taken out of just about every brand, or renamed, if not actually fugitive, so it's weird to see the pigments / the word 'Lake' popping up in the the names. (Michael Harding is of the same generation as Michael Wilcox, who made a big noise about fugitive colours and non-labelling of pigments and lightfast ratings on paints, so this is very surprising!!!) The red in the pink and Belladonna mixes isn't lightfast, either. What do the tubes say?
(Michael Wilcox was ostracised and stores were threatened with boycotts by the big names if they stocked his paints, but even so, that's how we got the pigment numbers and lightfast ratings on our tubes - pretty quick, too, after his work was published and printed in major art magazines! I still have some of the articles, which I saved at the time)
I really liked your duckling, and the outline helped it a lot. I don't think he looks angry, but more pensive, or "Just what are they up to now?" ish.
Have you managed to make up your mind about your colour choices for Greece yet? Your love of bright colours will pay off in a Greek Springtime environment, that's pretty certain. I'm just hoping that you aren't too tired after your mega-efforts to keep us supplied with videos while you're away!
Happy Orthodox Easter to you both! 😊
Yes, a lot of lakes can be fugitive but I just decided I wanted them anyway because the colours looked so appealing. I think the pigments used aren't necessarily matching with their names, especially blue and green which are regular phthalos! 😂 Maybe they chose the word lake for their transparency? Who would know! LF ratings on the brochure range from excellent, with both Yellow and Scarlet lake being in that category (!!), then very good and good. Two in the range are labelled Fugitive, which are Alizarin Crimson and Rose Madder. There's a note which says they were included because of their history and beauty, but are quite clearly labelled as not lightfast. As for other pigments, it's so hard to know what is going to hold up so I just buy what looks pretty, ha! But since I only have eight colours, I might actually paint these out and hang 'em up in the window to see if anything fades or changes colour. Oh and I will hopefully have a travel art kit video made for the end of the month or early May just before we go. ❤
@@BeckyTregear handprint has the yellow listed as synthetic and calls it among the most durable of artist pigments, so assuming it's the right one i think its safe.
@@jonmahashintina Actually Handprint doesn't list PY180, but Art of Color says it has ASTM rating II. Of course, I don't trust the ASTM ratings, and most companies ratings just go off the ASTM. And sometimes they just are fantasies, like lots of companies rating Alizarin as anything other than fugitive
@@jennw6809 its not in the yellow section, its on a page called synthetic organic pigments. word dump:
"Benzimidazolone. An important group of about 20 azo pigments with a broad range of hues, from yellow (PY120, PY151, PY154, PY175, PY180, PY181, PY194), through orange (PO36, PO37, PO60, PO62, PO72) and red (PR171, PR175, PR176, PR185, PR208) to a maroon of fair lightfastness (PV32), and a delicious brown (PBr25). Developed and patented by Hoechst in 1960, the benzimidazolones were first used as watercolor pigments in the late 1970's. They are relatively expensive, but are also among the most durable pigments used in artists' paints. (Winsor & Newton, for example, has chosen a benzimidazolone pigment for their "winsor yellow" and "winsor orange.")"
@@jonmahashintina Ahh, that makes sense! I have the color index page of Handprint bookmarked since it's so hard to find by actually navigating the site! But yes, I've found interesting things on there by searching too. I wish we knew what Bruce is doing these days, he seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth!
thank you for this video! im looking forward to try a few colors from this brand, because my regular palette with Daniel Smith Winsor Newton schmincke they get way too dry during winter months, so im building a honey based palette with mgraham, sennelier, roman szmal and so glad to see some review from Michael Harding too!
The honey ones always stay a lot juicer and are so easy to activate with water. Great idea! 😄
I love the pen outline in the duck painting. Also, such great color choices for your eight colors - I love them all!
Thank you! It was so hard to choose, although a lot of it was helped by the series number as it weeded out the super expensive ones. Lapis Lazuli was something like $45 on its own so I gave that one a miss. 😂
Hi Becky, I like all three of your paintings. The duck one made me think of an older female sibling scolding her younger siblings but with love.
I cannot do portraits, so you did a great job. The fish's lips made me think of the fish kissing another fish cuz well...the lips. Grins. The colors were nice. The paints are nice. When you were in the art store, I saw some of the prices of the paint. Definitely expensive! Have a good weekend.
@@dianethoroughman9541 Eight was my very maximum for budget, lol!
I bought the 10 tube urban set. I love them 😍 I might just collect a few more tubes as I have too much paint hehehe. They have been in my palette for almost a month and are still not set properly. I love it that they don’t shrink and crack in the pans.
I think the urban set had sold out at the store but I would have been curious to look at the colours in it. Hopefully it's a great one for urban sketching! I think I might want to get the Amethyst at some point; that purple looks too pretty to resist!
@@BeckyTregear the purple haze in the urban set is like moon glow in that it has colour separation. It’s very pretty. I have not done a picture with them yet only swatching and mixing so far.
Such lovely paintings. These paints are very pretty but not different enough from what I own already, especially for the cost. Glad you enjoyed them!
Yes, I think that is a very fair statement! Very pretty, but other brands have made the same sorts of colours too, lol.
I purchased the Lapis Lazuli one and i really enjoyed that one. Probably the only one ill get as the DS version is underwhelming. Kind of hard to add more too my collection when i got a toolbox full of DS, Maimeri, Senn, WN and Holbein's. At this point, i only look at convience mixes.. :X
Thanks for sharing your experience with these paints
You're welcome! I enjoyed painting with them.
I think your paintings are well done! Good ones for us to observe the watercolors. Thanks for the review
Thank you 😊
I really like your colour choices.
Thank you, I spent quite a long time deciding which ones to go for.
No offense to anyone who has these or wants them but they don’t do a thing for me. There are paints that I get for something they do better or different from others . Then there are what I consider standard brands that pretty much do all the basic standard things you expect from a watercolor paint. These seem standard. Don’t think I will invest. The hype is nuts. “Almost a new medium”
It's a hard truth! I can say from using them that yes, they are indeed watercolours. 😂
I really love your reviews ! I have a lot of Daniël Smith so thank you for trying this new paints.I was a bit tempted, but I think that i stay with Dan Sm and Sennelier, i have a palette of smincke top, so i don't need these....❤Nadine ( Belgium)
All of those brands are great, and I love Sennelier so much!
All the paintings are lovely, I love the duckling. He’s adorable ❤
Thank you 🙂
I enjoyed your video and your duckling is adorable. I was super excited when these paints were announced, but honestly, although high quality, are not that special. There are also a number of fugitive pigments, which is disappointing. The pyrrole scarlet (PR254) is the only reliably lightfast red, besides the two cadmiums, and the specialty mixes are just so-so. There are only a handful that I want to get after the many reviews I have seen or read. I do like the formulation, as the paint seems to set up quickly (in a dry climate) and it seems to be easier to handle from pans. I would recommend only buying a unique color or two. I like M.Graham better for a honey-based, high pigment load paint.
Mine seem to have set pretty well, and don't seem as goopy as the M.Grahams. Reds are usually not great for lightfastness so I just picked the one that looked the prettiest. 😂 I like these paints but they aren't better than my other favourite brands so these go into the Nice to Have but Not Need to Have category.
For now at least, I'm ordering Michael Harding's Moss Green and Belladonna. If I were starting from scratch now, I'd be very excited to order a large palette of colors, but I have way too many tubes of paints. And I have a lot of 1/2 pans too. So it seems too indulgent to even pick a few favorites from a new brand. I have to figure out how to use self control with Roman Szmal too. Going by my Jackson's cart, it isn't going as well as it should.
Moss Green was one I was seriously considering when I chose my eight colours. Roman Szmal paints are fabulous and I have to stop myself from buying more, lol!
Thanks ever so much for the great service of your time and talents! The gloves were really well done - shadows were spot on. The honey in any paint can produce mold in more humid climates. Most of us have enough art supplies without "collecting" the next new thing to come along. The waste in the tube caps for expensive paints was not optimal. Often one may even feel than an expensive item is "better", but any good artist quality paint is fine, really. At the risk of sounding sexist, ladies seem to really go for "haul" videos and buying more, more, more. Must be a shopping gene! 😉
I can't argue with the shopping bit, lol! I was just curious to try their watercolours because MH oil paints have been around a long time and they're top of the line as well. Personally I think there are many other watercolour paints which are just as good (if not better) than these! It's nice to have a few though....and I haven't actually bought more since...yet...LOL!
I really like the Michael Harding paints, I agree that they have similarities to MGraham. Lovely paintings!
I'm glad to hear you like them too! I'm happy with the little set of colours I bought. And thank you. 😊
The painting of the duckling is so cute! It looks sassy to me rather than angry. It's got so much personality! Looked great with and without the outline.
I'm not interested in buying any more watercolors, I've got enough. I just watch your videos to see your paintings :)
Thank you! 😊 A few commenters have said sassy, so we shall go with that! 😆
Melbourne Artists Supplies 11 Dawson St, Brunswick Vic has Micheal Harding also
Oh that's good to know! They must have just gotten them in too, because I went there recently and didn't see them. I only just discovered this store earlier in the year. I am sorely tempted by the Himi Miya products! 😂
Great combination of colors! I had ordered several tubes from Jackson’s….really nice….not sure if it is worth the price. Thank you for the video!
Yeah they're pretty expensive....I'll probably just end up sticking with these ones seeing as how the palette is working well enough without needing more colours.
Lovely art works with these new paints. I am wondering if the duckling painting was done on Eraldo Di Paolo watercolour paper? It is good to know what to avoid as cotton paper can be so expensive.
Not Eraldo, but I do have some of their rough cotton paper which I'm planning to try out soon to see what it's like, lol. The paper I used for ducking is a "Be Creative" Watercolour Pad, and I have absolutely no memory of where I found it! 😂
@@BeckyTregear I have used the Eraldo hot press and it can be of varying quality. Good for swatches and sketching but the rough I found to be pretty awful. I havent come across be creative before thanks for that info.
I have some Sennelier and M Graham and while it is certainly nice having paints that rewet easily, I don’t like having to remember which paints I can’t grab/use in a travel palette. My Sennelier tube paints were put in pans *months* ago and are still sticky… same for M Graham. I like the paints, just wish I could throw them in a bag and they wouldn’t make a mess of my palettes 😅. (I do have some Sennelier pan paints and they’re obviously okay.) Michael Harding isn’t available where I live, not sure I’d bother with the extra expense for a paint that I can only use at home.
Love the paintings… especially the portrait… gorgeous!!
Every video where you use your Etchr sketchbook that has lost it’s sizing, I get nervous about my supply of sketchbooks and hope the sizing will last!! I need more time to paint and use them!!
Honey-based watercolours are so beautiful yet so treacherous for travelling! After having a mishap with my Sennelier paints on a trip, I am very leery of using them outside of the studio. I might have to risk it again someday, but usually I’ll go with Daniel Smith and Schmincke as they dry better in pans. That Etchr sketchbook paper has deteriorated a lot, far more than anything else I’ve used. It’s disappointing because the actual paper itself is amazing for watercolours but it just hasn’t lasted well over time. Oh, and thank you!😊
Yes, I consider buying them after your video
I'm thinking I prefer Daniel Smith, but the Michael Harding paints are good too. 😊
The portrait is beautiful 😍
Thank you 😊
Jerry’s Artarama and Blick in the USA have these paints. Thanks for the review.
Good to know - neither of those stores ship overseas so I hadn't looked at them for a while. They're on my visit list if ever I get back to the USA!
Hello Becky! I had a good look at the MH watercolors last time Jackson’s had their watercolor sale. I must say I couldn’t see any colors that I really wanted. Personally I don’t believe they have reinvented the wheel. I might change my mind but right now it’s a pass from me. If I was starting from scratch and I didn’t have any watercolors then I might have been very much in the camp of ‘I got to have these!’ 😅
I'd say it was a wise decision! After having tried a few tubes, I can attest that they are pretty much watercolours. 😂
@@BeckyTregear hilarious! BTW I love the fish painting. ❤
This is exciting! 💖
The duck gives me sassy vibes 😂 and I loved the lady's painting 😍😍😍- yes I love reds as well 😅
The paint looks really nice but still pricy for me from where I live 😅 now I don't mind spoiling myself from time to time so who knows if I'll ever get them or not 👀
Thank you, and yes it turned out very sassy! 😆 I think the general consensus is that these paints are expensive everywhere, lol. Eight was more than enough for my price range! 😂
That paynes grey seems closer to my oil paints. They still lean blue a tad, but I basically use the colour as a black. I have actually been surprised by some of your PGs and how some brands seem to have more blue.
I love watching skin tones in watercolour come together. It always scary when the darks go down and yet, once smoothed out, its always perfect and beautiful. I love the purple background.
I was wondering what a good introductory water colour set would be. Although I do have some Reeves tubes, so might stick with those, since I am still a newbie.
It is definitely more of a neutral Paynes Grey and it mixes nicely with pretty much everything so I glad I picked that one. Skintones are always a gamble, haha! The Daniel Smith introductory set with six 5ml tubes in split primary is a good starting palette, or Roman Szmal starter set I think would be good too. You'll notice a big difference between the professional brands and Reeves. Not that Reeves are bad! But do your paints have a smell? I gave my tube set away because they had a gross smell to them! 🤢
Very interesting and great paintings. The outline on the angry duckling is good. The lady looks a bit like Lady Gaga.. I wouldn't mind trying the moonlight colour, myself. Have a brilliant weekend, Becky and Happy Easter to Nick.
Thank you! What's the bet if I actually tried to paint a portrait of Lady Gaga that it would end up looking nothing like her! 😂 I will pass your Easter wishes on to Nick. ❤
Lovely paints! But extremely expensive, even here in Europe. I can get M. Graham which are kind of a difficult to find here, for nearly the same price.
Yes, they certainly have a hefty price tag! But with the sale it made them....slightly more reasonable? Enough for me to fit eight colours into my budget. 😂
Thank you for this review! All the paintings turned out lovely ♥
Overall, it seems a good brand, but I feel that if you already have a good color selection from other brands, you'll not get much more from this one. I do have their PG19 Cobalt green deep and it's absolutely stunning, for the rest I don't see myself buying much more. Possibly the lapis lazuli one and the Turner yellow, who's a bit of a rare pigment to find (py216)
I do love a cobalt green! I’d also consider the lapis lazuli, but eek it is so expensive. 😰
Love the duck the best ❤ He's giving more sass than angry imo 😂
Haha! Sassy duck...."oh no you didn't!" 😂
So nice painting thank you so much for sharing watching from Africa Uganda God bless you
Thank you so much! 💜
@@BeckyTregear you're so welcome I watch your videos from Africa Uganda have you ever visited in Africa? Where are do you come from?
Was waiting for this video review by you. You chose beautiful colors! Not a pink person so except for that color , I loved all the rest. Can you do a comparison between MH Belladona and DS moonglow? I have read both ate similar and people are preferring MH Belladona over DS (& artemis by Da Vinci) as its light fast. I would love if you could do a comparison in future!
Spoke too early. Just saw you talk about it
Thank you so much! The Belladonna is a gorgeous colour, and a lot more purple than Moonglow but as you could see, it mixed with the Payne's Grey to get a very similar shade. The swatch in the brochure of MH's Moonlight looks very much the same as DS Moonglow.
Thank you for the video 😊 ... I ordered them after watching aaaaall the videos and comparisons on RUclips. Seems that they are very pigmented and go a long way. In Austria they have the same price as Daniel Smith and almost the same as Horadam, so - why not 🤣. Nice paintings ... lots of love for the duckling
I hope you enjoy your new paints - sounds like a great Christmas present for yourself! 😊🌲
Fascinating watching colours behave as they do. However, have to ask, why did you choose Scarlet lake? The PR170 is very fugitive. Reds always require attention to the pigment info.
I went with the red which was the prettiest on the colour chart, after deciding not to worry too much about having everything super lightfast, otherwise I'd end up with an identical colour palette to my other sets, and I just wanted to try something different. 😊
Enjoy learning about these new paint your video was interesting and informative...i liked your paintings, my favorite was the duckling..mikelle art mom🇨🇦🇺🇸💛
Thank you! 🙂
These are really expensive at my local art store. So I am looking up reviews to see what the fuss is about the brand. Wondering if I should invest in some tubes, comparing to Roman Szmall how would they rate?
Yes they cost a fortune! You might want to check out the channel Miranda Watson - Alkali Creek Art; she has a couple of reviews on these paints too. Michal Harding watercolours are very nice paints, don't get me wrong, but I also absolutely adore the Roman Szmal watercolours (I have a full pan set), and really if you have those then that would be enough. In fact I'd pick RS over MH just for their price and quality. I have both now, lol.
Try Hackman’s handmade watercolours they are excellent I use them and am very pleased with results
I think you need to combine Nibbly bunny and Angry duckling in one painting 😅 I love Yellow lake, it's just a perfect yellow!
Haha that would be a funny pic! It's a delicious yellow 💛
Was trying to do life drawing with watercolours. Is a bit too hard for me but other people manage it.
I've done a bit of life painting with watercolours; it's quite fun! Usually I start with a bit of pencil though, so it isn't too blobby. 🙂
I really like your painting of the woman! I only watched one video about these when they first came out, and the person swatching was very stingy - it didn't show them well. And I do try to stick mostly to brands that are made in my country for the price advantage... So, I hadn't even really seen these shown well.
I'm glad they are so good -- they should be for that eye-wincing price - still not sure why they would be 20 years in the making though! 🤣 I do absolutely love M. Graham though so you kind of made me more interested, darn it!! I see there are a few interesting pigments in the line, like a PO 34, and there are some nice earth tones like the one you got! Although a lot of them are ones I associate with A. Gallo. Hmmm, It is disappointing that in 20 years they only came up with dupes for DS and AG instead of making their own unique mixes and hues?!?! But they sure did make pretty swatches and nice names. Although... when I read "Lake" I automatically think "fugitive," so I do find it odd he'd use that term to describe phthalos!
Yes, there are some strange choices in here - lake, same pigment mixes...where's the reinvention?? 🤔
How close are MH to MG? Are the MG paints as nice as MH?
They're pretty similar, though I haven't try any MH cobalts to compare them with the MG ones that I have.
@@BeckyTregear Thanks! M Graham has been of interest to me since very early on in my art journey.
I wrote my original comment under your reply to Miranda's comment because i forgot i hadn't gone back to the regular comment section. Happy Orthodox Easter.
Thank you 😊
I love your paintings, the lady is my favorite. I think the duck looks better with the ink outline. I probably won’t be buying these, but if I did I would invest in the dot card, first. I think they took years to come up with different colors and couldn’t figure out anything different and ended up copying Daniel Smith, because they are so popular, lol. Thanks for sharing!
Do they have dot cards yet? I'd get some too! And yes, nothing new here as far as I can tell - they're nice watercolours though. 😆
Well at first I thought there was a dot card. I just noticed this brand of paint, today, on the dickblick website, here in the states. So I went and searched for a review onRUclips, your video popped up. Loved your video, by the way. I just went back and checked dickblick, they call it a “ hand painted” color chart. So it’s already painted on watercolor paper, so you can check out the colors. So i understand that you can’t paint it yourself, it’s done for you already! Well that’s annoying, to be honest. How can you tell how they rewet!?! Sorry to get your hopes up. Some of the colors are gorgeous, like lapis lazuli, ( although it’s very expensive) loved the colors you picked out, Hopefully one day they will have a dot card.
The paints coming out when you open them - I don't think it's a feature of the paint formula. Isn't it affected by the tubes being shipped in low pressure environments like planes? I'm trying to understand how paint formula could determine that and I'm at a loss.
Thanks for posting this. I love seeing how new paints work. Appreciate it!
I'm sure atmospheric pressure would have some influence on paint tubes, if nothing else but to make them explode, lol. Otherwise your guess is as good as mine....I think it also depends on the properties of the pigments themselves; fine vs coarse grain etc.
I've used M.Graham for decades. There are no issues with travel, once set up, they don't run
I thought that about my Sennelier paints until they ran everywhere when I went travelling once. 🤣
I think that duck has a snazzy attitude……nice!
That one seems to be the most popular painting, haha! 😆
I love these paints…
Great to hear! I am really happy with my little palette of colours too. 😊
The uniqueness is Michael Harding *has honey added* (for binding) "while D.S. doesn't"!!! 🤔
-I use these colors *as add-ons* to my "M. Graham's/Sennelier" collections; that doesn't have a color like (DS's) Moonglow/etc!!! 😉
Haha yes that bit makes me laugh! I mean, let's just sweep M.Graham and Sennelier honey based paints under the rug....nothing to see here. 😂
PR170, PR112, PR112, are not light-fast, and PY180 is marginally light-fast. If you're a person who displays and/or sells your original work, it's definitely not good. There are other colors in the line that are light-fast, but the price is way more expensive than other 15ml tubes of professional watercolor available where I live. They are pretty though.
I'm thinking of painting some swatches to hang in the window to see how they'll go for fading or colour changing. And yes they are very expensive, though the store which has stocked them here has them for comparable prices to the UK which is surprising as things in Australia are usually a lot more expensive! The 20% discount made them slightly more "affordable", and I just knew I wanted to review some of them ASAP!
Hi Becky, I live on the other side of the planet, but I wish we were neighbors. Wouldn't we have fun, knee deep in watercolors. Donna
Yay I'm always up for new watercolour friends! We'd probably drown under the weight of our supplies. 😆
That duckling 😂
💜💜💜tfs💜💜💜
I don't see the point of them...for the price, I can buy DS and know I am getting professional level stuff that TONS of artists use and can provide help with. These... no one has really heard of them nor use them so.. meh!
Yeah I don't think they became as popular as the company wanted them to, mainly because as you say, Daniel Smith has already done it all beforehand, and extremely well! 😆
First!