Review: Schmincke Horadam Aquarell (Artist Grade Watercolour)

Schmincke is a company from Germany that makes art supplies. For watercolour, they have the professional Horadam Aquarell and student grade Akademie Aquarell.

Their watercolour is available in 5 and 15ml tubes, half and full pans, sold individually as well as in sets. Price is on the higher side but price really depends on where and who you buy it from.

Schmincke has a nice selection of blues. They offer PB29 in three variants, French Ultramarine, Ultramarine Blue and Ultramarine Finest. And they have Cobalt Blue Deep (PB74) which is one of my favourite pigments.

Names of their blues can be different from other brands so it's best to choose your colour based on the pigment number. For example, PB15:3 is called Helio Cerulean but other brands call it Phthalo Blue.

Information you can find on the tube includes lightfast quality (out of 5 stars), transparency and staining quality. Schmincke has two variation for the common earth colours Ochre, Sienna and Umber, namely Burnt Sienna ((PR101 + PBk 9), Burnt Umber (PBr7), Yellow Raw Ochre (PY42 and PY43), Transparent Sienna (PR101), Transparent Umber (PR101) and Transparent Ochre (PY42).

Schmincke offers 139 colours in their Horadam Aquarell range.

Here's a sketch I painted with Pure Yellow (PY154), Permanent Carmine (PV19) and Cobalt Blue Deep (PB74)

I just love the granulation of Cobalt Blue Deep (PB74).

This was with Transparent Yellow (PY150), Magenta (PV42) and Cobalt Blue Deep (PB74)

I can't remember the colours I've used here.

Conclusion

Overall quality of the paint is excellent. You can't go wrong with Schmincke Horadam Aquarell. The paint mixes easily and colours are vibrant.

Tube paint flows really well out of the tube. Schmincke tube paint is one of the best for squeezing into plastic pans. They dry very well and are easy to rewet and reactivate. They dry even better compared to Daniel Smith. There's no honey content so tube paint dries matte you're in a really humid place).

For lightfast quality, they do have several colours with 3 out of 5 lightfast rating. So it's best to test these colours under exposed sunlight if you do want to use them for your professional art.

Only downside is the design of the tube. The cap doesn't have deep grooves so it's not easy to open, especially if it's stuck with dry paint. The opening of the tube is small so it's difficult to get the last drop of paint out. And if you roll up the tube, you won't be able to see the name of the colour.

5 out of 5 stars

Availability

Find more reviews at Dick Blick Art Materials (US) | Jackson's Art (UK)