Winton Oil Colour vs Artists Oil Colour

Just a note about Michael Harding Cerulean blue oil paint. The price is eye-watering, yes. I took the plunge (not without reservation) and the tube arrived. I have to say that in comparison to anything else I have ever used carrying the label Cerulean Blue it is very intense, very surprisingly powerful. I have regularly used W&N Artists oils (and watercolor) Cerulean Blue as well as the Artisan Cerulean blue. There is simply no comparison. You don't need much of the Michael Harding cerulean blue...it goes a long way and tints quite powerfully.

I often use the Winton oils for blocking in a canvas and then use artist grade paint for the glazes and detail. It seems to work and saves a few bob along he way...important for a Yorkshireman.

<div>Michael Harding oil paints are indeed a pleasure to work with. I have just re-stocked from Jackson's but just to say Syd that the Ultramarine large tube is 225ml and weighs in at £24,50, I only buy the smaller tubes mind you 60ml is £8.20 so I consider this to be a very good price to pay for the best quality on the market.</div>

Interesting how these old threads come back to life, especially as someone has asked about starting out in oil painting, and I mentioned Winton colours in my reply. I think Stub's method is perfectly sound, and it's what I often do myself - ie blocking in with the less expensive paint and glazing or adding later touches with the best you can get. Since this thread began, I've used Michael Harding's Cobalt Blue - it was staggering .... it makes most other brands look ... well ... tepid. And his Ultramarine is a revelation too - this is never a weak colour, or shouldn't be, but the sheer covering power of the Harding version was almost startling. Of course, other brands are available, and we'll all have our idiosyncracies and personal favourites (eg, Rowney artists' quality Rowney Golden Yellow, and Winsor and Newton's Mars Violet Deep for me) but the point made above about value for money is bang on: if the paint gives you, instantly, the full depth of colour you need, you will use less of it: you really do get what you pay for.

Cerulean Blue is a colour with which I do not, I admit, get on - it's based on Cobalt Stannate, I believe (too late at night to check on this, but it's a sort of cousin of Cobalt) and I do find it extremely weak and not even all that pleasant a colour on its own. On the other hand, I've painted it over Ultramarine in a mixture of scumbles and glazes, and that produced interesting results (I thought). The original makers of Cerulean (George Rowney & Sons, now Daler-Rowney) called it Coeruleum - and I find Rowney's Coeruleum even weaker than most other manufacturers'. If you're asking 'is it worth the price', well - not to me! I'd prefer to use Cobalt Blue, preferably Michael Harding's - that gives me the strength and the subtlety that I can handle; whereas I struggle with Cerulean ... this may of course be reflective of my own lack of skill rather than anything amiss with the paint. The real pigment is expensive wherever you buy it, and very often it's a Hue colour - usually whited down Pthalo: there's a big difference in the price in that case.... but given we can reduce the intensity of Pthalo Blue ourselves, I don't really see the point of the Hue. It's interesting that Michael Willcox (of Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green fame) includes three blues in his set of 12 basic colours, Ultramarine, Pthalo, and Cerulean - but his Cerulean is distinctly stronger than Rowney's Coeruleum: I think the Willcox paints are made by Da Vinci. In watercolour, Coeruleum is a colour I find quite useless: but the Willcox and Rembrandt w/colour ceruleans are stronger and more useful, even though I'm still not keen on using them on their own. I think it comes into its own when mixing greens, and especially greys; but whether it's really worth the money .... I do without it, by and large. I'm sure there will be others who swear by it, but if they do it would be interesting to know which brands they use - because while the basic pigment will be the same, the strength isn't.