Review: Craig Young Paintbox

This review has been a long time coming, as it was around five years years ago that I received my paintbox from Craig Young.  The problem was, when it arrived I was so disappointed that I couldn't bear to look at the thing and just put it away.

This is very contrary to what most people say about Craig Young paintboxes. I was prepared to be as happy as any other artist when I ordered two paintboxes for delivery to Australia. One box was a gift to my watercolour painting mentor, and one was for myself. I had chosen the 16-pan model, "The Paintbox". I ordered the paintbox and all was well. A year and a half passed. I had allowed eighteen months, and planned to present the paintbox to my mentor for her birthday. Craig and I had discussed when it needed to be ready by, and as I gave him so much notice, I was assured this was not a problem.  As the date drew closer, I enquired about the paintbox, it was not yet started, but I was assured it would arrive in time.

The paintbox did arrive in time, but I was so disappointed in the quality of it that I cancelled the order for my own paintbox. I was appalled, and couldn't believe I had parted with more than five hundred Australian dollars and now had a paintbox I was too embarrassed to give away as a gift.

First was the lumpy appearance of the paintbox. Nothing was quite as smooth as it could-and should- be:

There are plenty of photos of lovely smooth Craig Young paintboxes around, but this isn't one of them.

Then there was the paint finish, poor would be a good word for it:

Exposed brass, overspray, chips and unpainted areas.

This next issue really annoyed me. The long strip of metal in the lid presses against the enameled inner lid - this chips paint off both surfaces. It shipped to me with that chip:

Surely this little ridged area could have been filed to ensure it didn't make contact?

This is another annoying one. The left mixing well is smoothly finished with minimal sharp rim. The right mixing well is unevenly cut out, and traps paint in the overhanging sharp lip area. Too hard to file this away? The two wells on the other side have the same issue, so four wells; one ok, three sub-par.

So different.

Rough brass snap-point or saw-point areas are also present.

The Paintbox, No. #930. I would have been ashamed to put my name on it.

On and off over the years I have taken this paintbox out and wondered about it. Did I get sent a b-grade or old paintbox that had been laying around? Did it get banged out in a hurry when I contacted Craig about it? Who knows, who cares. Just know that for all the great reviews, I'm sure there are more people like me who paid a lot of money for something so disappointing.

A couple of years ago I decided to make peace with the paintbox. I put a new and lovely palette of paints in it, and we've been getting along ok.  It just a shame that such a neat design is spoiled by the poor quality.

Artist's Palette: Thomas Aquinas Daly

One day, about three weeks ago, I was sitting in my home studio drinking coffee and staring into space. I was listening to some music on my iPad (which I had just recently started using again, it having had been unavailable for the last few months). While I sat there, my eyes drifted to my bookcase, and somehow found my copy of 'Painting Nature's Quiet Places' by Thomas Aquinas Daly. I started to think about how much I love Daly's work, and presently I brought the book down from the shelf and began reading it again.

I have attempted to emulate Daly in my own watercolours many times, but the specifics of his style and technique remains a mystery to me (him being a modern day watercolour master and all). It was while pondering his style that I began to speculate about his palette and the paints he used, something I have pondered many times before. Suddenly, I decided I wanted to understand his palette, and being a paint pigment nerd I made a list of Daly's paints, researched the colours and then laid them out on a colour wheel, in the fashion of the handprint artist palettes.

Daly's traditional paint choices form a somewhat subdued split primary palette.While I couldn't quite find an artist whose palette is as constrained, Michael Rocco comes closest, with both choosing 16 paints developed around the "primary" triad footprint.

Since the reliance on mixing comes from Daly's palette, I decided to order a few tubes of his essentials to complement my existing paints, and start mixing to see how broad the mixing capabilities of his paints were. Daly uses only Winsor and Newton. Daly's palette, as per his 1985 book is as follows:

• Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red Deep
• Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Sienna, Light Red
• French Ultramarine, Cerulean Blue, Prussian Blue
• Davy's Gray, Payne's Gray
• Olive Green
• Warm Sepia, Ivory Black

Luckily, I have old Winsor and Newton catalogues. In recent years Winsor and Newton have reformulated Light Red and Davy's Gray, and discontinued Warm Sepia (amongst others). A minor brand revision occurred in 1995 or so, and a major revision occurred in 2005. The changed paints that feature in the Daly palette have undergone minor change, none were fugitive or unstable to begin with. The Light Red is now brighter, the Davy's Gray is now semi-transparent due to the removal of the white which made it opaque, and they suggest adding Burnt Sienna to Sepia to approximate the colour of the old paint (Warm Sepia).

I substituted M Graham for Winsor and Newton's Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange, and Cadmium Red. Alizarin Crimson, French Ultramarine, Ivory Black, and Prussian Blue were also substituted for their M Graham equivalents - all paints being matched pigment for pigment - ditto for Holbein's Cerulean Blue. Next, I ordered Winsor and Newton's Davy's Gray, Payne's Gray, Burnt Sienna, Light Red, and Olive Green. Winsor and Newton's Olive Green (PY42,PG7) surprised me - it is a lovely paint, and I had nothing like it in my collection of 230+ tubes. I have included Alizarin Crimson, PR83, a fugitive pigment. I don't sell my work and this is not my everyday palette, so I'll enjoy Alizarin Crimson for what it is.

I have put my paints in my Craig Young paintbox:

The Paintbox, 16 full pans.

Palette index.

My Field Paintbox

In a recent forum post I showed my outdoor paintbox, so I thought I would add the same information here.  The metal paintbox is from Natural Pigments, and has been a favourite of mine for a couple of years:

These are the colours I've used above, from the back left. (All colours are M. Graham & Co unless otherwise noted.)

• Back: Payne's Gray, Raw Umber, Winsor & Newton Caput Mortuum Violet, Terra Rosa, Maimeri Avignon Orange, Quinacridone Rust, Trans Yellow Iron Oxide.
• Middle: Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Prussian Blue, Holbein Cerulean Blue, Maimeri Turquoise Green, Cobalt Teal, Daniel Smith Undersea Green, Winsor & Newton Perm Sap Green.
• Front: Winsor & Newton Quin Magenta, Daniel Smith Quin Fuchsia, Daniel Smith Organic Vermilion, Indian Yellow, Naples Yellow, Daniel Smith Monte Amiata Natural Sienna, Nickel Azo Yellow, Azo Yellow.

Painterly Things

Well, I have been shopping for art supplies again! I have a nice assortment of watercolour paints enroute, and am looking forward to putting them to use. Here is the list:

From Daniel Smith:

- German Greenish Raw Umber

- Lunar Black · Lunar Blue · Lunar Earth· Lunar Red

- Moonglow

- Fired Gold Ochre.

I love textural paints, and since I love my Lunar Violet I figured all the other Lunar variants were worth a look.

From Natural Pigments:

- The gorgeous 12 pan 19th Century Watercolor Palette

- The cute 8 half-pan Watercolor Case

- Historic blues: Lazurite · Royal Smalt · Vivianite

- Earth reds: Indian Red · Violet Hematite

- Olive Green

I am a huge fan of earth paints, but also have many paintboxes with specific palettes such as bright earth, classical and Zorn.

Photo © 2005-2010 Natural Pigments, LLC.

From Blockx:

- Their discontinued Manganese Blue (PB33) in full pans and tubes.

Oh, happy, happy!

Paint Boxes

I love paint boxes... ever since I was old enough to have my first Crayola paint set (and then a Crayola "Caddy" once a year for several years, thereafter), I have never ceased to take delight in opening a paint box and seeing those little jewels of colour laid out within.

Earlier this year, when I took up watercolour painting again, I dug out my various paint boxes and set about preparing a field / sketch / plein air kit. Most of the artist's quality paint manufacturers make a vast array of travel and field paint boxes or paint sets, suitable for every occasion. I own several, of which Winsor & Newton are likely the best-known brand.

I like metal paint boxes, and so I have recently been looking at buying an empty box with the idea of filling it with full or half-pans myself, but nothing had caught my eye - until I found some wonderful metal paint boxes on the Natural Pigments website!

Natural Pigments formulate artist's watercolour and oil paint using rare, traditional pigments, which make for a more subdued, classical palette (you won't find Quinacridone Magenta here). The Natural Pigments paint brand is Rublev, and I was excited to see Rublev Watercolors pre-packaged in heavy duty enamel paint boxes - here was a perfect opportunity to get the metal paint boxes I wanted, and also experiment with a different type of watercolour paint in a classical palette.

I went a little overboard and ordered three paint boxes, two are shown below:

• J.R. Cozens Travel Palette
  A muted and warm palette comprised of 8 half-pans (box can accommodate 12 half-pans), in a black enamel Bijou-style paint box with an built-in water bottle (35ml), integrated water dish and two mixing wells inside the lid. (I was ecstatic to find this paint box, as I have admired the W&N version for some time.)
  
• 18th Century Palette
  A beautiful and natural palette comprised of 12 full-pans, this large paint box has a flip-out mixing area as well as four mixing wells in the lid.
  
• Introductory Palette
  An expanded natural palette comprised of 16-half pans, this paint box also has a flip-out mixing area, and three mixing wells in the lid. (Not pictured.)

All of the Rublev boxes have a thumb-loop and v-clips to secure the pans - they are very well-made and sturdy. As I already have my W&N Bijou Box for an 8 half-pan palette, I decided to modify the Cozens palette slightly:

I replaced an earth red, plus the blue ochre and black for paints with broader mixing capabilities, as well as adding a couple of essentials.

(PS: That travel paint box really *is* as adorable as it looks!)