Is This Watercolor Set Worth the Splurge? Swatching Paul Wang's Set

Here we are for another fun swatching video! This week I'm taking you through the Daniel Smith Paul Wang Color Play Lab Set, a vivid, saturated collection of yummy colors that will make your heart sing. We're test driving all of these colors as I prepare my paint swatch cards. I'll be comparing them to Winsor and Newton and other Daniel Smith colors in my collection so you can get a good idea of whether or not this is a set you're interested in trying out :)
So sit back, grab a cup of coffee (or tea) and let's get this swatching party started!
Xo
Margot
___________________________
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:48 Swatch Cards
01:54 Sap Green
03:20 Alizarin Crimson
04:19 Lunar Black
05:55 Indigo
07:32 Hansa
08:53 Ultramarine
11:14 Violet
12:28 Cerulean
15:00 Transparent Brown Oxide
16:22 Orange
17:31 Recap
18:32 Outro
___________________________
MATERIALS
Daniel Smith Paul Wang Set : bit.ly/3lsf5dH
___________________________
PLACES TO FIND ME
Instagram : / pointebrush
Website : pointebrushnyc.com/
Subscribe to this Channel : bit.ly/3r6t765
Facebook : / pointebrushnyc
Pinterest : / _shop
Contact me : pointebrushnyc.com/pages/contact
___________________________
ABOUT ME
Hi! My name is Margot and I am a professional artist and graphic designer. My parents like to joke that I was born with a paintbrush in hand. I started my career after graduating from the renown Parsons School of Design in New York City and spent over 15 years creating and designing for many of the world's top Fortune 500 brands and companies. My painting journey started as a side project and a creative outlet for me to step away from the computer, go back to my "roots" in fine art and to hone my skills as an illustrator and painter. I started posting some of my work on instagram and the rest is history. My work is inspired by all the things that I am passionate about. Ballet, travel, graphic design, color and finding a world of beauty in all facets of everyday life. I hope you’ll join me in this KZbin journey as I take you through all the tips, tricks and trade secrets I’ve gathered throughout the years. I hope I can teach you some of what I know, help you discover your creative voice and I hope you enjoy this Channel!
___________________________
*Disclaimer: Pointebrush is a participant in the Blick Art Materials affiliate program. An affiliate advertising program is designed to provide a means for creators to earn fees by linking to products they recommend on Blick.com. The cost to you for these products is the same, but Pointebrush earns a small commission which helps support the creation of these videos and content.

[@KathyS-ko6so]

Dr Wang would only support a beautiful group of watercolor paints 😊. Wonderful doctor and artist!

[@elisiataylor]

Thank you for swatching this set; I really appreciate when artists invest in these various materials and give us detailed reviews and comparisons. It has been a great help when learning about new sets of colors, or wondering how specific pigments perform across brands. 💛

[@winniewu8581]

I like how you also compare with other brands! very helpful!thank you!

[@jharp2002]

Excellent review! Thanks:)❤

[@deeanncross7674]

I too prefer WN's Indigo. I love the Hansa Yellow Deep. I recently purchased DS Sap Green Deep and I love it for landscapes. Thanks for sharing your beautiful swatches with us.

[@Pointebrush]

You’re so welcome and so glad you enjoyed it! 💕

[@patriciatolliver4057]

Patty- I love these colors. Definitely, seeing some new ballerina skirts in the future .

[@sallyreff2574]

Great descriptions! Thanks for sharing all the comparison colors.❤

[@anab3325]

You bought a granulating set and then don't like it because it granulates 😂😂😂 thank you for sharing! All colors look beautiful.

[@thegremlyn343]

I was similarly surprised at how grey the DS indigo was. I had first used the WN Cotman pans and tubes. I understood indigo to be a little moody and blue leaning. So it was a shock when I moved to DS that it was so grey. Left me a touch frustrated as it was just so close to Payne's Grey.

[@pereiraillustration]

Beautiful colors. I think it's a very nice set.

[@thatswhatshesaid.literally737]

😍 Lovely colors!! I may have commented about this on another of your videos but I have watched so many watercolorist KZbinrs lately that I can't recall... But anywho, Alvaro Castagnet uses Lunar Black a lot in his paintings to achieve a textured moody effect, and I've used it to mix my own "dusk" type of moody shades by adding some Lunar Black to colors like Bordeaux, Undersea Green, Gamboge, or Indanthrone Blue. Doing an entire painting using a color palette of solely dusky colors finishes out with a dark and sultry type of vibe that is contrary to my usual bright and cheery palette but I totally dig it! 🙏☺️ Thank you for sharing your great new paints with us!

[@ninner196]

I prefer W&N indigo also and for a granulating dark color I love Sodalite genuine, it is a blue color but I add an umber for darks instead of grabbing a black. I do like Sennelier’s PV19 Rose Madder Lake which is the match for DS quinacridone rose. After comparing them I was very surprised by the Sennelier’s version. There was no dry shift and the brightness was great. It was a shock for me. Oh I love the Cerulean blue chromite oh great skies mixed with cobalt blue and mixed with indigo -I don’t like a high granulation cerulean.😊

[@priscillawarren9979]

Like you, I find the French ultramarine to be difficult. I thought it might be my technique. I love the orange!

[@Pointebrush]

It’s definitely not just you. Granulating watercolors like this tend to be quite tricky to work with. I think it’s an acquired taste, I’m just starting to get a handle of this one now and it can create some great effects (as long as they’re desired)

[@haniazd]

Schmincke’s ultramarine finest and Roman Szmal’s ultramarine intense are supposed to be smoother and less granulating. Might be worth giving it a try

[@awatercolourist]

Toasted dessert 🍮 🤤🤤🤤

[@awatercolourist]

I’d love to try a PBk11 (Lunar Black) one day. I’d like to mix it with other paints to see what I would get.

[@Pointebrush]

That's the beauty of some of these interesting DS paints. It's just fun experimenting and seeing what you come up with!

[@awatercolourist]

@@Pointebrush I know! I love experimenting and playing with pigments. But, actually - sharpen your spears everyone - I am not interested at all in DS. I was thinking maybe Roman Szmal or Schmincke. I’d love to mix their Mars blacks with the phthalos to see what I would get. I’m inspired by Daniel Smith’s Lunar Blue paint.

[@Flampivia]

Take a look at DS lamp black, that's my favorite black to use (:

[@awatercolourist]

@@Flampivia Thanks for the advice :)

[@kkdaquarell]

Have you tried Schminke's Ultramarine finest? The pigment in it is milled very fine which makes it non granulating and very smooth. I think it could be a good alternative if you want a non- granulating Ultramarine.

[@Pointebrush]

I have not! But I love your description of it! Something tells me I’m going to enjoy it! Thanks for the recommendation! ❤️

[@parleymanderson7490]

An alternative to Schmincke’s Ultramarine finest can be M Graham ‘s ultramarine ( I haven’t tried it but it seems really smooth in online swatches) and Roman Szmal’s ultramarine intense. I always have mixed feeling about the Schmincke ‘ Ultramarine finest , I love its smoothness but it seems a bit too cold and not as intense as others.

[@wendychampness1901]

I would love to see you do some more ballerina-flower KZbin videos, please🙏

[@Pointebrush]

I’m recording a beautiful one with ranunculus right now which I think you’ll love ❤️ Stay tuned!

[@MelissaMizzesC]

What Ultramarine do you have from Sennelier? Deep or Light? I like the way you do your swatches and keep them. Comparing the different versions of Ultramarine was helpful to see why you love the Sennelier version best. I have watched your palette set up video and appreciate you explaining why you chose the colors and brands. I love that dish you use in this video also. I have old wedding gifts that I have never used. You may have just given them a purpose, after almost 30 years. 🙂

[@Pointebrush]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment! ❤️ I have French ultramarine from Sennelier which is the one in this video. I will say that, having used the DS ultramarine for a year, there are some great uses for it if granulation is something you’re looking for. It can have some pretty amazing effects but you have to be prepared for them and it should be a desired effect, not an unexpected surprise mid-painting 😜 The great thing about dishes is that paint grips it beautifully and you get no beading whatsoever (but remember never to use them again for food once you’ve painted on them because dinnerware is porous)

[@MelissaMizzesC]

@@Pointebrush I am just now preparing a palette or two fir myself, so I don’t really know what I will like yet. I do enjoy hearing/seeing what others like and how they use the watercolors. I am fairly certain I have French Ultramarine by Daniel Smith already. I just thought it couldn’t hurt to try the Sennelier version too. I cannot believe I forgot the French part. You said it several times and it just went out of my brain. Thank you for your response. Thank you for the tip about not using the dish for food again. I don’t think I would have done that, but now I know I will not do that.

[@shadowguard3578]

I have DS PBk11 and I really enjoy mixing it with other pigments to make my own DIY super granulating watercolors. Right now I don’t really have any idea how to use super granulating watercolors in my practice paintings and exercises, because right now I’m not painting natural scenes. I like to play around with PBk11 and mix. I also have DS permanent alizarin crimson. I purchased it as a newbie to watercolor because I liked the color, without understanding pigments or mixing. Well I tried to make purple mixing it with the blues I owned at that time, and it was a failure. The resulting color was murky and dull. I do wonder if the DS permanent alizarin crimson is meant for mixing or is it meant to be used diluted? Thanks.

[@Pointebrush]

What blues did you mix your A Crimson with out of curiosity? Sometimes it really depends on the pigments going on in the blue in question. Purples are generally tougher though for sure! I could see these hyper granulating colors working really well on accent areas of a painting (like a costume or darker value areas). Sometimes the less is more approach can really make everything come together elegantly without going overkill and I suspect the same is true in the case of these granulating colors as well 🤔

[@shadowguard3578]

@@Pointebrush I mixed DS permanent alizarin crimson with: (1) DS manganese blue hue; (2) Sennelier French ultramarine; (3) Sennelier cinerous blue; and (4) Sennelier phthalo blue. All four mixes were muddy. Then after watching a KZbin video on how to make purple I mixed Sennelier opera pink with the exact same four blues, and all four mixes produced a successful purple. Then I realized a bit of basic knowledge makes a world of difference 😆! You’re probably right that I could use granulating watercolors as accents, until I get to the stage (if ever) of painting moody landscapes where I can be more liberal with granulating watercolors. Thank you. ☺️

[@AFAskygoddess]

​@Shadow Guard , opera pink is a fugitive color. It's beautiful, but I only use it for fun, temporary art. In time, your painting will change color because you used it. The fluorescence fades.

[@shadowguard3578]

@@AFAskygoddess 👍

[@awatercolourist]

First!

[@pennycandyys]

I am just starting out, and was going to buy the Jean Haines set. Until I did some online searching and saw how fugitive Opera Pink is. I was really disappointed, and disappointed the artist chose to include that colour, either through her own lack of knowledge or she knew and chose to use it anyway. Such a shame, because they’re gorgeous colours, and make really lovely colours when mixed together.

[@Pointebrush]

Hi Penny! Welcome to the world of watercolors! So I have a complex relationship with opera pink and other fugitive colors. Here’s my 2 cents, I think it depends on what you decide to do with a final piece. If it’s going to be going into a sketchbook or if it’s going to be archived or displayed in a dimmer area of a house, opera pink is fair game and in fact, it’s impossible to recreate the vibrancy of that color. I draw the line if customers are paying for an original painting. The paint maker Michael Harding actually made some great points in an interview recently that unless you’re displaying a piece in direct sunlight (which is asking for trouble no matter what the pigment you’re using is), many people mischaracterize how much fade there will be, especially if used sensibly. Hope this helps and eliminates the cooties stigma of fugitive colors because in my opinion at least, it’s not all that bad. Jean Haines does a lot of botanical work and from my encounters, botanical painters love using this color for obvious reasons 😉 but as for me, I have paintings made with opera pink in my archives from ten years ago that are still as punchy as the day I painted them. Ps. If you’re looking for a really nice punchy and more lightfast pink, I would suggest Roman Szmal’s Quinacridone Magenta. It’s been a recent favorite of mine

[@pennycandyys]

Thanks for your input, and for the most part I agree with you. I do like the information to be easily accessible though, so that artists can make informed choices. I’m also glad to hear your stored paintings using Opera Pink are still just as vibrant!

[@pennycandyys]

Also I have an order almost ready to go at Jackson’s, I’ll try to remember to add quin magenta in. :)

[@thescribblequeen]

@pennycandyys If you're invested in lightfastness, I just wanted to let you know that it isn't just Opera Pink - Moonglow is also fugitive, which was found by a KZbinr who did lightfastness tests independently!

[@pennycandyys]

@@thescribblequeen Yes, thank you! :) Kim Crick has done many many tests of lightfastness, on several watercolor brands, including Schminke, DS, Winsor & Newton, and more. She is extremely thorough. If you search her website she gives you a few recipes to make your own version since one of the colors in the DS version is not lightfast. Your only decision is trying to decide which version you like! 😂 Oh--she's all over, she has a website, youtube, IG and more.

[@dorothyatchison1825]

Buy this set …. Buy that set … on and on she goes … do artists on KZbin actually pay for all these palettes? Are they free to you so you can promote these brands? What’s the scoop?

[@Pointebrush]

I paid for this set with my own money. I take integrity and transparency very seriously so anytime anything is gifted or promotional, I will disclose it.