Quality over quantity

I started out using the cheapest colors I could find (my budget is very limited). I found that they are perfectly good for learning purposes. In fact, I think one can even do some professional work with them if you have colors that won't fade.I am now gradually replacing them with slightly more expensive ones - I still cannot afford top grade colors. It definitely makes a difference. The more expensive brands tend to be a bit thicker in texture, and not so oily. One day when I'm rich, I'll get the very best available. :-)

I entirely understand this - I took a deep breath a while ago, strained the credit card to bursting, and bought Michael Harding's (actually quite reasonably priced) trial set of paints - which are obviously the cheaper ones - plus Ultramarine and Cobalt Blue. The coverage I could achieve with these, and Burnt Umber - a world away from the muddy, sea-sick brown from some manufacturers - was incredible. I have never found a Cobalt Blue before that could really stand on its own and glare out of a painting as if to say 'I've arrived; this is it; it doesn't get any better than this'. Affordability - well; my income is basically the state pension, plus occasional earnings, plus a tiny bit extra. I still find it worthwhile to buy the best paints I can get my hands on - the initial outlay is heavy, but you don't use the same quantity of paint because you don't need to. And anyway - you'll find it's very hard to go back to standard oil paints once you've tried these. But - always a 'but': more than one professional artist uses Georgian or Winton oils, maybe supplemented by more expensive colours. It can be done - you can paint using student range colours, or what you might call the sub-optimum price range, and many do. For anyone really strapped for cash, I can recommend Lukas oils; or Rembrandt; or Jackson's artists' oils, and Bromley's ditto (both are excellent value for money). As we all know, the problem arises with the heavy metal colours - no Hue colour can match them; but as an alternative to very expensive, top-grade Cadmium Red, try Winsor Red in the W & N artists' range - it's still fairly pricey, but nowhere near so much as the Cadmiums. For myself, I'm gradually replacing my old oil paints as they run out - happily, I have an awful lot of paint, so can make this a gradual process; I have a few Winton and Georgian tubes left, for instance, and I'm quite happy with my Bromley and Jacksons' paints: but I'm looking to build up a collection of premier quality paints over time, and recommend this to you and anyone else - but don't forget: Winsor and Newton and Daler-Rowney have been around for a VERY long time, and you don't get to survive for several hundred years by selling sub-standard products. They still make very good paint, particularly in their Artists ranges - some of which are unique to them. So mix and match, and upgrade gradually. Just watch out for the addition of Zinc White to colours like Naples Yellow in the cheaper ranges - Zinc is not good in lower layers, and that's probably where you'd tend to use Naples Yellow.

I think I have better things to do with my time than make paints! Give me ready made any day.

I haven't the time, or the space, to make my own paint - there is an artist who sometimes visits us here (I think Melanie Cambridge is the name, but my memory for names is not brilliant) who makes her own paint, and I keep meaning to try some but haven't yet. I buy lead whites sometimes from another member here - another rare visitor, sadly - and I wouldn't try making that myself, for space and toxicity reasons; you need the space in order to counteract accidental inhalation and other contamination, or would be well-advised to leave it someone who knows what they're doing. The old masters made their own paint of course, and it's still perfectly possible to do so - but then, they had to; and guarded their secrets, for the most part, carefully. It's not hard to find suppliers of powdered pigment, and all the supplies needed to make it into workable paint. But I'd need a proper studio or workshop to do this, and distinctly more energy and enthusiasm than I currently possess.