Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolor Paint Set, Compact Set, 12 Half Pan and Accessories

This is a great travel pallet! The colors are perfect for the landscape that I paint pleinair. The paints work well on 100% cotton, cellulose, and mixed media paper depending on your desired outcome/style. The pallet is well made easy to use and to pack into a small bag. I do take along other travel brushes but the tiny one it comes with is great for details and is the cutest little brush I own:) I was also able to fit 2 more color into the pallet using some extra pans I already had. It also helped the other pans not slide around. It was a happy discovery! Im very pleased. I will continue to enjoys this for a long time.

The packaging has been updated so it's not exactly as shown, but after double checking with Winsor and Newton, everything is in order and the package arrived in perfect condition! Note that the packaging it comes in is now silver and white instead of green and is labeled "Professional" watercolor instead of just "Artists' " watercolor. The pans do not have individual foil labels on them as shown, they arrive individually wrapped in clear plastic. Winsor and Newtons customer support confirmed that this is all correct. It's such a perfect watercolor set. The included waterbottle, with the amount I use, usually lasts me three paint sessions if I pour the cup out afterwards (Since then I've gotten better at cleaning with the sponge instead of swishing in the water and can reuse the water). The sponge is a great addition, you use it to both clean pigment from brushes and dab the paper to lighten areas and its better than a paper towel in size and cleans without issue. If its full of water, just squeeze it out into the grass or cup if you're indoors. The pigments are vivid and go a long way with just a little paint. They mix well. The brush is very tiny, so I'd recommend getting a Da Vinci 1523 Russian Red Sable Round size 5 portable brush or something to carry along with it. The included brush is maybe a 2, give or take. It works well but is best used in conjunction with a 5 or 6. I use a 5x8.25 moleskine watercolor album [EDIT: I don't like my moleskine as much as my plain Strathmore 400 series watercolor sketchbook. The paper is super thin in moleskine, good for light washes but not layers at all] and those two brushes work for just about everything, but I use more when I'm at my desk. If you're new and wondering whether you should spend twice the money of the Cottman colors, get what you can afford but lean towards these ones. I haven't compared them in depth, but the professional quality ones seem to be a better and the pans last a bit longer. Get yourself a good watercolor sketchbook too, and perhaps some sakura pigma micron pens and a gelly roll white pen and you can do anything. Don't be afraid to use up your supplies, you learn a lot from using them often. Overall this is a perfect set for doing watercolor on the go. I got them so I wouldn't have an excuse not to watercolor wherever I went. I do it in class, too. I'll attach pictures of all of the items. (sorry for bad lighting) Edit: Many years later! I still use this for everything! I buy the Professional Grade Watercolor tubes from the store and squeeze them into the tiny plastic squares and they dry perfectly. Watercolor is the absolute best and there is no need to be worried about a tube of paint breaking in travel. Watercolor pallets are dry until you want to use them.

Windsor and Newton, the best on the block. I’ve only been painting again for about a year, and this is the third set I’ve purchased! Just love the quality, the rich pigments, transparent, unless you need opaque. Windsor and Newton, the only water color paints I’ll ever buy!

I was really impressed with these watercolors. They are very consistent in texture. They mixed well and kept the vividness. They have a lot of pigment so a little goes a long way. The tin it comes in is great for mixing on. Easily unfolds and fold back up for transport. Both paintings were done with this set. It gives you an idea of what the colors look like and the consistency in coverage. Mostly wet on wet techniques was used.

Winsor and Newton, what can you say, best watercolors Paints on the market. Consistent color, and easy to use and mix. Best on the market.

Please note that not all the tubes from my picture are included in the Sketchers' Box (Antwerp Blue, Olive), I ran out of some of the paints before snapping a picture. Additionally the Sketchers' Box does not come with the pans as pictured. ---- At first I was skeptical given the price-point of this set as it was one of my first professional sets. Previously I worked with the Windsor and Newton Cotman Set and KOI Watercolors, but now I have these it's tough to go back to student grade. I find them so much more pleasant to work with due to how nicely they flow and how rich the colors are. It feels like I don't have to soak up as much water on the brush to get the paints to behave how I want them to compared to the Cotman sets. They're honestly a delight to use as paints. I wasn't as impressed with the tin they came in. It seemed to be partially dented on the top and is hard to close, so I don't usually travel with this tin and have re-panned the colors into another kit for travel. In the future I would likely not purchase this set and may opt for either the W&N Professional Compact Set, 12 Half Pans and Accessories, another W&N Professional set with pans, or just buy the tubes needed individually.

If you’re wondering if these are worth the price, yes! The professional quality paints are worth the investment if you love water color. The colors provided in this set are very versatile for mixing and will last a long time.

This is a well designed palette. I has plenty of wells for mixing, and a lift out set of colors which has a thumb holder below. The paints are the professional ones. I like how the colors are shown on the outside of the box, for reference to the actual paints, although the color names are printed on the sides of the individual removable holders. I think it is a bit pricey though.