The Field Box removed from its presentation box, showing the swatch with the range of colours available
Find out why Alan Bickley thinks the Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolour Field Pocket set has to be one of the most useful presents any aspiring watercolour painter could receive!
When asked to showcase and evaluate a Christmas gift that I would love to own there was one standout item, something that I’ve been pondering over buying for some time now, and I jumped at the chance to test out this very compact Field Set from Winsor & Newton.
Winsor & Newton need no introduction of course, being one of, if not the top premier paint manufacturer in the world, established since 1832.
About the Professional Watercolour Field Pocket Set
The set comes in an attractive and sturdy presentation box. The colours contained are listed on the reverse and, although it does say that contents may vary, my set contained the following colours shown above.
Needless to say the paints are of the finest quality, manufactured using the highest quality pigments available, many of the colours being classed as AA which is extremely permanent.
I was immediately impressed with how well-made, compact and sturdy this field set is. It’s a really cleverly designed item, and it’s obvious that a lot of thought has gone into the practicality of the design. Compact it certainly is, bijou one could even say, but it contains everything required for plein air painting (or studio) trip - apart from a sketchbook or paper of course, but there are plenty of those to choose from in the online shop.
What's included?
12 half-pans with the palettes opened, brush, water bottle and sponge. The water bottle can be removed or left in situ, and the indented area can be used as another mixing palette - thoughtful and ingenious!
Inside the box, there are 12 half-pans of artists quality watercolour paints, a sponge and a small brush.
The water container fits snuggly inside one of the wells, which also acts as a fairly substantial mixing tray for larger washes. The other two palettes fold out and are useful for mixing small areas of paint. The water container, which doubles up as part of the closed box, clips neatly onto the side of the watercolour box.
The underside of the Field Box showing the thumb ring, absolutely essential for plein air painting
As you would expect, there is a thumb ring on the underside of the box, so you can balance the whole thing nicely and securely in your hand while you are painting!
The paints lift easily out of the box, so replacing or swapping out colours isn’t a problem. As I don’t use a sponge when painting I will replace that space with two half-pans of watercolour at a later date.
Top tip
I found that once the sponge is removed from its designated place, the half-pan paints slide around and could actually exit the box altogether. So, if you intend to use the sponge, keep it in situ as much as possible. Alternatively, do as I intend and add a couple more half-pans, they fit perfectly into the space and keep everything secure!
The Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolour Field Pocket Set can be ordered from Art Supplies with Painters Online
The colours
The colours supplied are fairly decent for most outdoor projects. I will be adding my favourite neutral tint and Indigo in the space where the sponge went. You can of course mix your own black but the ivory black half-pan which is included in the set is useful, try adding a small amount to the sap green or yellow to create a decent range of greens.
The colour chart inside the presentation box contains a swatch of all the W&N colours in this range, more than 100 in fact, so you’ll never be left wanting! Just a word of caution here, particularly for the relative beginner to watercolour; generally, you don’t need more than a dozen colours at most, many professional artists use even less, so don’t get confused by the huge range that is available. What you have in this little compact set is more than adequate, add a couple more like I intend to do when you’re good and ready.
A set to keep close-to-hand
The opened box showing all the components plus my 4x6in Hahnemuhle toned grey sketchbook
I started to keep my Field Box in the glove compartment of my car, so that I’ve always got it to hand at a moment’s notice.
I’ve generally got a small selection of sketchbooks in there, small sizes and my preferred landscape format, as well as a few synthetic watercolour brushes, and I’ll often just start off with an ink drawing (working from the driving seat if I don’t need to get out) then dropping in some colour from the Field Box, it’s so handy and simple, it takes less than ten seconds to open out and I’m up and running!
The Field Box in use. All the wrapping has been removed from the paints, just a fabulous and practical set up for amateur and professional artists alike… what a superb gift this would make! I never leave home without mine!
Working with half pan watercolours
Old Grain Mill, pen and watercolour in a Stillman & Birn sketchbook, (14x22cm)
Half-pans are the perfect choice here, I’m not working on full imperial size paper after all, I prefer to stick to small sketchbooks when I’m out and about away from the studio, which I find more more manageable! Plus the fact that I’m a sketchbook addict anyway, I use one virtually every day.
For me, large watercolours are best suited for studio projects. However, it’s worth noting that the late Edward Wesson did quite often paint large plein air watercolours. He painted using the direct approach, which is ideal for plein air working, using positive strokes of pure transparent colour mixes in a controlled manner, capturing the main features and leaving out detail, often completing a painting in under 15 minutes! But that was Wesson, I know my limitations!
The object of watercolour, as in other wet medium, is to mix colours, and in general, not to use them neat straight from the pans or tubes (although certain colours can be used neat). But remember to limit how many colours you mix together. More than two, or let’s say three colours at most depending on which colours you’re mixing and you’ll be left with something akin to mud… the very last thing you need!
Watercolour should be used in a series of transparent washes in the main. Body colour CAN be applied to a painting but in certain areas, often the foreground and in a limited way. For body colour, you’ll need to mix your colours with white, Chinese white and Titanium white are available in this range and I would suggest buying it in tube format. A tube of white W&N Designer Gouache is also a good alternative and probably my first choice.
What else do I need for painting en plein air?
The opened box with the water bottle removed. This gave me quite a large area for mixing up a wash, which is particularly useful if you’re dropping in a wet sky or cloud formation.
The Field Pocket Set has everything you need but you will probably need to take a few larger watercolour brushes, particularly if you intend to work on a bigger scale, but many artists limit their paper size when painting out doors, and a sketchbook of course. It's aalways useful to have a few loose sheets of paper too.
I chose to work in both a Stillman & Birn and a Hahnemuhle sketchbook to start off with. The quality and weight of the paper in both of these sketchbooks is perfect for small watercolour work, and both offer a good range of sizes - in my opinion, these are a perfect accompaniment to the Field Pocket set which I have found to be the ideal paint box for plein air painting.
The Hahnemuhle sketchbooks that I have all have a hard front and back cover and some have a rather nice toned grey paper. These are available to purchase from Art Supplies with Painters Online too.
ADD A HAHNEMUHLE SKETCHBOOK TO MAKE THE PERFECT PLEIN AIR GIFT
Working with the Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolour Field Set
Kentish Oasts in Midwinter, limited palette snow scene painted using the Field Box on a sheet of Two Rivers Turner Grey handmade watercolour paper (11x15in.)
You don’t need to use every colour in the box to turn out simple little sketches such as this one!
Be selective and try not to paint in too much detail, particularly in the distance! I’ve used a Payne’s Grey wash for the distant shrubbery and buildings, with just a touch of Chinese white to pick out a few snowy highlights in the lane!
Oasts and Barns under Snow, pen and watercolour in a Stillman & Birn sketchbook
Lots of strong tonal values going on here, and loosely based on a Hilder watercolour!
If your paintings are looking a bit weak, chances are that they are lacking tonal balance. Try starting with a line drawing as I did here, then block in your darkest areas using ivory black or Indian ink, (I used a Tombow brush pen).
Finally wash in a touch of muted watercolour and you’ll end up with a powerful image!
Useful tips on tonal values:
I don’t paint ultra colourful ‘pretty’ watercolours, that isn’t my style, so you’ll notice that the colours I tend to use are mainly earth colours and neutral greys. I tend to rely more heavily on tonal values than colour. These contrasting tonal values help to give me the illusion of creating a three-dimensional image - it’s worth noting that tone is considerably more important than colour In a painting, I’ll often use a self-mixed black or even Indian ink for my darkest areas in shadow. Rowland Hilder himself exploited this technique to great effect!
Neutral tint and Payne’s grey are two useful greys to have at your disposal, either used on their own or spiced up a touch with indigo. You can of course mix your own range of greys, a combination of the three primary colours (red, yellow and blue) is one way, but there are many more combinations. DON’T mix up white and black under any circumstance, or you’ll end up with a flat ‘dead’ tone.
Kentish Landscape with Oast Houses, W&N watercolour Field Box with some black pen work and painted in an A4 Two Rivers sketchbook. You can’t look at Oast houses without Rowland Hilder coming to mind, they are just so paintable and he was the master at painting these iconic structures.
Trees in a Landscape, Two Rivers Turner Blue handmade watercolour paper, (A4)
This was an exercise in simplicity of composition, and in mixing a variety of different shades of green.
An alternative option for the plein air watercolourist
It’s worth noting that you can also buy a W&N Cotman Watercolour Sketchers' Pocket Box with 12 half-pan colours, built-in mixing palette and brush, whilst it doesn't have all the functionality of the Professional Field Set and I haven't actually put this one to the test, it is considerably cheaper.
Cotman are classed as student quality watercolours but are excellent nonetheless, I’ve used them for years and the late Ron Ranson used nothing else, albeit in tube format!
The Cotman set can be purchased from Art Supplies with Painters Online for £20.76.
ORDER A COTMAN SKETCHERS' SET HERE
About Alan Bickley
Alan writes regularly for The Artist and you can enjoy a series of demonstrations in various mediums by
See more from Alan in the gallery by