American Journey Watercolor Review Cheap Joe's Unique Mixtures Da Vinci Paint Co + Kilimanjaro Paper
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- Swatch & paint with 6 unusual convenience mixtures by American Journey watercolors. Cheap Joe's store brand is made in the USA by Da Vinci Paint Co. Thoughts on Kilimanjaro 100% cotton paper with plant-based vegan sizing. show more for links
Da Vinci watercolor paints are available at Blick - shareasale.com...
Da Vinci direct - www.davincipai...
Cheap Joe's has American Journey - www.cheapjoes.com
Tombo Mono waterproof drawing pens - amzn.to/3zci2nw
My website's art supply reviews by brand, lightfast and fugitive lists here - www.kimcrick.c...
List of all my favorite brushes, mixing palettes, papers, pens etc. can be found on my watercolor supplies list at - www.kimcrick.c...
Most used brushes:
Neptune to hold a lot of water amzn.to/2Af92Fg
Heritage to hold a good point amzn.to/32hBUbz
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Recorded with my IPhone. Music - Verified Picasso Tea for Tat - in the CZcams free audio library. Editing program = VSDC. #watercolor #AmericanJourney #WatercolorReview
Love your informational videos and the painting demos at the end are excellent.
I have a 20 color set of American Journey along with many other supplies which was a grand prize that I won from Doodlewash for World Watercolor Month in 2019. I haven't used them much for more than the swatch chart I made. They are lovely colors I just have larger sets that are my go to paints.
I'm wondering if you by chance have a list of the colors that are Cheap Joe's own mixes that you mentioned? I would love to experiment to see if I could make my own from other brands. I do have the Raw Umber Violet and Quin Gold Deep. Both gorgeous colors. I just feel I need to add a few colors to round out the palette.
There are many custom convenience colors (uncommon multi-pigment mixtures) in American Journey including: Andrew's Turquoise, Apricot, Blue Stone, Brown Madder Quinacridone, Carr Yellow, Chromium Oxide Green, Janet's Violet Rose, Mint Julep, Orchid, Pat's Coastal Blue, Peachy Keen, Quin Gold (an unusual PY42 version instead of PY150), Skip's Green, Shadow and Taylor's Flamingo Pink. There are also three very similar PBr7/PW6 mixtures that look like Buff Titanium PW6:1 (single pigment option available from DSmith or RSzmal) which American Journey calls: "Buff Titanium" (a hue), "French Gray" and "Coastal Fog". There's probably a couple more unique mixtures that I didn't immediately notice nestled in their 100+ color options. There are additional common mixtures like Periwinkle (Lavender), Passionate Purple (Thioindigo), Getz (Davy's), Junebug (Prussian Green) and Moonglow (Artemis) which can be found in other brands (like DVinci or DSmith). It is definitely fun to browse their catalog for mixing inspiration. Check out the "more info" tabs for pigment ingredients at www.cheapjoes.com/american-journey-artists-watercolor.html
@@KimberlyCrick Oh my goodness, thank you so much for taking the time to answer in so much detail. This is very helpful. You are so talented. I love your channel and the wonderful information that you share with us.
@@KimberlyCrick I took a look at the formulation of other AJ colors vs DV and unless I missed some, the following ones would seem to be unique too to AJ: sour lemon, fire engine red, quin burnt scarlet, transp red oxide, quin red rose deep, goethite, hematite burnt scarlet, peacock blue, sky blue, quin burnt orange, coral red quin, royal amethyst, cobalt green gen, earthen green, spring green, mummy, raw umber violet, transparent oxide brown, transparent oxide yellow, french gray, magnetite
You bring a HUGE service to all who love this medium ! Very grateful, Thank you!
Janet's Violet Rose is amazing, especially for faces.
Yes, that’s another beautiful unique color exclusive to American Journey. I don’t think anyone else has thought to offer a PR202/PV14/PW6 combo and it seems nice for florals too. Go them for creative mixtures!
Omg I’m so in love with your channel! Please continue making your beautiful, detailed, delicate paintings!
That Blue Stone is so beautiful 😍 I have these pigments in other brands, will have to try mixing my own.
I know, I am absolutely in love with Blue Stone. It makes me want to try mixing every PB36 I have with all my ochres and earth browns. Maybe find the most intensely granulating version I can DIY mix too! Happy painting :)
"Blue stone" is beautiful! Especially the mixes with it that you show later. Da Vinci is one of my favorite brands.
Yeah blue stone was so much more versatile than I initially expected. The color separating greens I got combining it with quin gold deep and other colors in my palette were stunning. I feel like I need to do a mixing play time video just for that color and recreating it with other brands too :)
@@KimberlyCrick Yes please!
Another stellar review. I've read that da vinci watercolors don't include ox gall, which may contribute to the colors the colors staying in place.
Very Nice video! A lot of other content creators recommend your channel. I hope your doing well and that you might still be reading comments made me leave this one. Wonderful watercolor painting videos, Thank You.
I’ve been expanding my Da Vinci palette for a while now! That Blue Stone is lovely, will have to try mixing that. It looks like they started with their Cobalt Turquoise Deep for that one? I also like that Cheap Joe’s really doesn’t mean cheap materials. They have really good stuff. I love their Kilimanjaro watercolor black sketchbooks. Thanks for the review!
Yes i think cobalt turq deep and a yellow ochre. It makes me want to play with all my similar blues/cerulean/cobalt chrome combined with all sorts of earth browns/goethite/umbers. Such an unexpectedly awesome combo!
Thanks for the great review! I haven't tried the American Journey paints, but the 140lb Kilimanjaro paper is one of my favorites. I really like their spiral-bound Kilimanjaro paintbooks. I haven't tried the 300lb Kilimanjaro paper yet, so good to know about the fibrous bits and fineliner bleeding.
I’m in love with this channel. I wish there was a channel like this but for oil paintings (I use oils. Just recently I decided to learn to paint with watercolors) 👍👍
Thank you... I'm terrible with oil paints and the clean-up frustrates me compared to watercolors so I'm afraid I won't be much help there. On the bright side a lot of the pigments used are the same throughout all paints, so some of the color and lightfast info applies to watercolor, oil and acrylic. Happy painting :)
I see more shopping in my future. Those special colors are gorgeous! Update: I was very bad at Cheap Joe's. I can now complete your current favorite single pigment palette. Even got the Rembrandt Spinel. Birthday's next month-happy birthday to me. Hoping you can figure out how to recreate the slate blue.
I love this so much, many watercolor review . Thank you for sharing
Love you’re Chanel! 💗💐💗💐💗💐💗💐💗💐💗
Da Vinci does seem to make such nice quality paints. I wish they were a bit more granulating / special, but I had no idea about American Journey! Some of these mixes are supremely awesome (yes, I'm looking at you, Blue Stone!). You put it well: they really go against the stereotype of store brands. Gorgeous artwork as always, I particularly love how the salt interacted with the background in the Tiger portrait. Thanks for sharing!
Da Vinci watercolors are my favorite.
I love convenience and specialty mixtures and have just recently also fallen head over heels for Da Vinci's branded watercolors, so this video is catnip to me. Your tests with Blue Stone and Coastal Fog were so beautiful, especially the one on the right reminds me of opening your eyes underwater at the beach and seeing the wave patterns in the sand at the bottom.
Thank you, I gotta say I might borrow using catnip in sentences like that lol. My cats go bonkers for it, one just resigns to drool on a scratcher for an hour afterwards. I pretty much drool over these beautiful mixtures, Blue Stone made my night! Happy painting :)
I love DaVinci and am considering adding a few American journey
I need a tube of that "Shadow"; looks like a decent sub for Moonglow without granulation...
I appreciate this review extra much because few have been done on AJ - or DaVinci - and your reviews are always so practical and focused on weighing artists' preferences against the performance of a product. In 12 minutes, I've learned not just how AJ paints perform but how to make my buying decisions. Thank you so much!
I have a Davinci sampler and really like it. The colors are very clean, no surprises. The dots are big enough that you can do more than a swatch. It's been a year and I have plenty left. I'll have to mix those coastal colors and blue stone over the weekend.
There's a lot to be said for reliability, no surprises. Definitely a pleasure to paint with these or DaVinci. Enjoy your mixing play time, I'm going to do the same - these coastal colors are super inspiring! Happy painting :)
Thank you for this review! I didn't know that Da Vinci made AJ watercolors. I have Denise's Earth Friendly Palette, that my hubby got for my birthday two years ago. It was my first professional set! Cheap Joe's is my favorite online store, due to it having Kilimanjaro paper and excellent prices on Silver Black Velvet brushes. Nice to know I can take advantage of the AJ watercolors now, for refilling her palette!
What a gorgeous seagull. I love them so much.
I have their trans red oxide, cerulean hue, and benzimida yellow. They are really lovely, and stay very moist!
They're on backorder right now and I can't wait to get them! Thank You Kim for all that you share!
They all look so good. Especially the Blue Stone. Thanks for sharing with us 🙏
the coastal fog reminds me of an own-brand colour called cotswald stone from a place called ken bromley in the UK- i'd love to try it, I'll have to mix it up myself. The blue stone is so gorgeous, the mixes it makes look beautiful.
I have the "Mother" palettes from Da Vinci and enjoy using them. I have not tried AJ because they seemed expensive for a house brand. I may have to give that blue stone a try, it looks beautiful!
I love Cheap Joe's getting love! I live super close to their original location, and the staff is very friendly! One thing is, with the AJ paints, they actually have a unique single pigment color which is transparent brown oxide (pr101), that Da Vinci doesn't carry.
There's more than that, a magnetite pbk11, goethite brown ochre and likely a couple more they had made just for them and DV didn't decide to use in their own catalog. Though to be honest these offerings are not overwhelmingly unique in comparison to other brands, particularly considering the unusual convenience mixtures they have.
DaVinci is great! I am currently using their French Ultramarine, Quinacridone Red, Pthalo Green, and DaVinci Red.
I love Da Vinci paints! I think they are underrated. I have one of their palettes and some of my favorite colors come from them. I am very interested in trying the American Journey brand knowing they are from the same makers as Da Vinci. Thank you so much for your content, is it very helpful and informative
The vibrancy of their Ultramarine blows Daniel Smith out of the water 😍
The Blue Stone color and both greys are so pretty!! I'm bummed it's no fun to order them from Canada, huhu ToT
I agree with Eve Bolt. 🇨🇦 I purchased my Da Vinci paints while in Florida.
I love davinci paints! Thankyou for your video!
Kilimanjaro is my favorite paper aside from Arches.
Brazilian here so I can't buy neither davinci or American Journey paints, but I think Van Gogh, for a student brand, has a nice buff titanium dupe for AJ's coastal fog, being also PBr7 and PW6, it just needs a tad bit of green paint to match the greenish hue. Also!!! I was in a Green Earth frenzy before and white nights has an "accidental" separating paint which is their green earth hue, it's a mix of a green pigment (I don't think it's PG17 chromium oxide, but it's a muted yellowish green) and a PBr7, and the paint slightly separates in the edge of a wash creating a brown halo! I highly recommend you buy a pan to experiment :D
The American Journey quality is similar to Rembrandt, but Van Gogh is definitely a nice close matching option in student grade! I owned an old pan of Green Earth from White Nights and it wouldn't re-wet. I wonder if it's better now after all the improvements they've done the past few years. I'll take another look at it!
Great video! Thanks for sharing!
Kim, you have taught me more than I could learn anywhere else about granulation. Thank you! I had a question for you about the Da Vinci Cobalt Turquoise (PB36). Do you know how it compares to the White Nights Cobalt Turquoise (PB28) and/or the Rosa Gallery Cobalt Turquoise (PB28)? Are the hue and granulation different from each other or are they good substitutes for each other?
Did you notice that both DaVinci and AJ have several colors in their lines with a lightfast rating of II, whereas the same pigments in other brands would assign a lightfast rating of I? Phthalo blue is one that comes to mind (rated as II in DaVinci and AJ, but as I in M Graham, White Nights, Daniel Smith, etc). Does this mean that for all such pigments, DaVinci/AJ are less lightfast than their counterparts in other lines? Thank you so much...I have learned a TREMENDOUS amount about pigments from your wonderful work.
No, it doesn't mean that DV/AJ colors are less lightfast, but rather these brands are quoting a different test sources of rating data. The surprising thing in the paint making world that always bums me out a bit, is it's actually really rare for a paint company to do their own testing. More brands than not rely on previously published ASTM records for that particular pigment. Sometimes a company realizes the ASTM data is outdated and supplies their own study instead (sometimes getting really confusing when someone supplies both at once, like Sennelier's color chart says PR122 magenta is both 3of3 stars self rated, yet also LFIII ASTM due to an outdated test result from the 1990s where a poor quality sample failed).
It's supppperrrr rare that a specific pigment varies between brands (the rare exceptions to this include PR177 and PV23, due to the chemical manufacturing differences of the pigment powder suppliers worldwide that actually vary in quality enough to impact uv stability). In the case of Phthalo Blues the past ASTM rating for watercolor was LFII and a low LFI for acrylic/oil, however most modern blue wool scale results from pigment powder chemical supplier average BW7-8 (LFI equivalent). In general both LFI and LFII is considered lightfast for art, as it will take many months of direct sunlight to see any subtle changes in these colors - sometimes the difference between the low end of scoring LFI and high end of LFII is very little on a blue wool scale, which may have aided in some of the differences in ratings between sources. Hope that helps :)
@@KimberlyCrick I am so humbled and floored by the amount of time and detail you gave to answering my question. Thank you so, so much for this! I'm greatly encouraged by this absolution to explore these lines more. I continue to learn so much here. Also, my little girl adores your various animal paintings :) Thanks again!
Ooh, you said "smooth" colors. I am honestly not a fan of a lot of granulation unless I am painting natural stuff...
I love your swatch card design. Do you use a stamp/template for them? So far I haven't found a design & method that is manageable and gives me everything I want on a swatch? Thanks!
Neither Da Vinci or Cheap Joe are available (well.... it would be very difficult) in Europe. But with the pigment codes we can always try with our other paints to mimic the Blue Stone and the Fog :)
These paints are definitely great to know about even if hard to get, purely for the mixing inspiration. I am excited to start playing with all my cerulean/cobalt turq/chrome colors paired with ochres and pale earth browns after being inspired by Blue Stone :D
@11:15 nice hook line! I'll bite!
Do you have a list of the unique colors of American Jouney that are not available through Da Vinci
Hi Kimberly!!! Do you recommend the neon paul rubens to begginers? DO you still enjoy them?
I wish a happy new year and happy christmas a lot of prosperity and happiness to you and your family!!!!
If you're able to find the paul rubens opera neon colors for about $20 there is no better set for these type of bright colors out there. The only bad thing was the lack of a UV black light glow on the blue. Keep in mind that all fluorescent/neon colors are fugitive, so they will fade away on long term wall display, but they are the most vibrant awesomely bright colors you can get for personal work and sketchbooks as a beginner or advanced painter. There's very little competition in higher grade paints since most pro paints only offer opera pink, not the orange/yellow/green range. Happy holidays :)
I find their watercolor price too close to Daniel Smith to be worth it.
Supposedly Arches was said to be the maker of Kilimanjaro. Any idea if that's still the case?
Joe's won't tell anyone who manufacturers the paper, but most good cotton papers are made in old European mills and it could be a Canson product. Unlike Arches who uses animal gelatin, Kilimanjaro uses a plant based sizing. The paper quality is really good though, so I were looking for a vegan alternative to Arches, this is a really good option.
@@KimberlyCrick Thanks, Kimberly. Fabriano Artistico now has a vegan sizing, so they're another possibility.
How does the blue stone shade compare to Mayan blue? I'm looking for a replacement after reading your lightfast test on it.
Blue Stone is a bit darker and more green, similar to cobalt green deep in masstone. I'll have to do some mixing to see what is the best Mayan Blue alternative. It is a bummer how badly Mayan Blue fades.
@@KimberlyCrick Thank you! You're amazing!