Artists’ quality Ken Bromley Watercolours are tried and tested by Linda Birch

If you’re on the look-out for Artists’ quality watercolours at a reasonable price then the new range from Ken Bromley Art Supplies is well worth a look.

Top features:

• 41 colours available in two price ranges
• The paints are moist and flow easily
• The colour is well saturated
• Colours behave well in washes
• Comprehensive information on the tubes with transparency level, permanence and pigment information are all present

Top tip

When buying burnt umber from the range be aware that the label colour looks too red in colour when the paint itself is a more chocolate brown.

Putting the paints to the test

Throughout the test I used different watercolour papers and different approaches to see how the paints behaved.

For my painting tests below, I worked with the 16 colours seen above.

Testing for vibrancy


Windmill, Ken Bromley watercolours on Rough watercolour paper, (18x26cm)

For Windmill, above, strong vibrant washes of colour were used wet-in-wet to build the subject. Ultramarine and Sevres blue created the sky.

I was impressed by the vibrancy of the colours.

I wanted to test the saturation of the colours so chose a hot-looking subject that needed plenty of strong colour (Windmill, see above).

1. After using masking fluid to protect the sail bars, I painted the sky French ultramarine with a little Sevres blue to create an intense deep opaque blue.
2. Payne’s grey was also added on top in the right corner.
3. The rest of the picture was wetted and received very strong cadmium yellow, cadmium red and raw sienna dropped in the appropriate areas.
4. Alizarin red and viridian green were also laid in on the mill’s side creating shadow.
5. The sails were mixes of red and yellow, and burnt umber was used for the roof detail and supporting pole.
6. The donkey was added with burnt umber with ultramarine and painted on top of the yellow base.

The paint settled very well on the paper and maintained its colour vibrancy.

Testing for colour transparency

Whitby, ink and Ken Bromley watercolours on NOT watercolour paper, (19.5x14cm)

To experiment with the transparency of the paints I chose a line and wash subject (Whitby, see above).

Top tip

When using line with watercolour, the paint doesn’t need to be thick or dark as the ink line helps increase the darks.

1. After drawing the motif I wetted the paper and dropped in colour in approximate areas: raw sienna, cadmium yellow, burnt sienna, alizarin and cobalt, all of which are transparent or nearly so (cadmium yellow is opaque, but will, if used in a wash, appear transparent).
2. The harbour and boat were cobalt blue dropped on top of a pale raw sienna wash, which created a soft grey, and while wet, a few reflections of burnt sienna were added.
3. The buildings and boat were drawn using technical drawing pens, Nos. .02 and .05.
4. Beautifully transparent yellows and burnt sienna were dropped onto wet paper, allowed to dry and the form and shadows added in ink.

Testing the Sevres blue

Canal Scene, Ken Bromley watercolours on NOT watercolour paper, (16x25.5cm)

I was eager to see how Sevres blue worked, as it is a very opaque colour and not normally available in transparent watercolour.

I used it in the sky of this painting of a canal scene (see above), dropping it into a wet surface so it spread slightly.

The water also received a pale wash of the colour and it was then used thinly with ultramarine and lemon to create the various greens of foliage. It was also used neat to create the line on the boat hull.

The rest of the painting was completed with light red (also opaque) on the bridge and building, and with alizarin to complete the boat.

Top tip

Sevres blue is a useful colour, but it does need some understanding if handled with other transparent colours, as it could overwhelm them.

Opaque Sevres blue created the summer sky and part of the boat, and washes of lemon and ultramarine with Sevres blue created the land and foliage. This colour is unusual in watercolour and well-worth experimenting with.

Final thoughts

I enjoyed the way these paints behaved. The paint handled well, and the price is reasonable for Artists’ colours.

Ken Bromley watercolours can more than hold their own in the thriving market for watercolour paints.

ORDER YOURS HERE

Please note that the video and product images are taken from the Ken Bromley website and Youtube channel.