It’s far too early to know whether it’s going to work out or not so I’m quite reluctant to share it at this point.

Alongside this, I was about to order to some new paints. One of the suppliers I usually buy from had a sale on and I thought it would be a good opportunity to stock up. My daughter, however, in a display of far greater wisdom and maturity than I’m capable of, suggested that I should see what paints I already had before ordering any more.

I have various stashes of paints squirrelled away around the place, but by far the biggest is a large tupperware cake container that’s full of paints acquired over the years.

Most of my paints I’ve collected second hand on eBay, often as bulk purchases where I’ve bought 5 or 6 tubes of paint, of which three or four are what I want, but two or three are randoms. Most of my paints end up in this tupperware tub even though I hardly ever look in it!

I was grateful then that my daughter had far more patience than I do and was willing to help me out – not least because it saved me a small fortune!

It turns out I’ve got enough paints to open up a small shop! I think my daughter also enjoyed ridiculing me “oh come on Dad! Who needs 12 tubes of yellow ochre!?”

Once we’d done the stocktake and established that I don’t actually need any paints… I still found myself ordering a few more, just in case!

I’ve recently shared this story elsewhere and one bright spark came up with a great suggestion: wouldn’t it be great if there was some kind of ‘paint-swap’ system! I really love this idea and I don’t know why but I would far rather swap any paints that I’m unlikely to use than I am to sell them!

So, while I’m working out some kind of paint swapping process – do let know if you have any paints you’d like to consider swapping for any that I have!

The post Watercolour stocktake appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

As many of you will know from recent posts, after much deliberation, I finally succumbed to temptation and ordered myself some new watercolour paints from Michael Harding. These arrived a short while ago but I didn’t want to start to use them until I’d run down the existing paints that I already had in my palette.

While I’d been waiting for this to happen, I was pleased to receive my regular newsletter from Jackson’s Art Supplies (where I’d ordered my paints from) that featured this video of Michael Harding talking about and demonstrating some of his new range of colours.

After watching this video, I was excited to try out them out for myself!

I’d ordered the colours that form the core of my palette: French ultramarine; cobalt blue; cerulean blue; yellow ochre; alizarin crimson; burnt sienna and neutral tint:

Here’s a quick video of how I got on with them:

As much as I enjoyed experimenting with some little colour swatches – it still felt all felt quite abstract and I was really keen to get stuck into a painting to see how I fared! Here’s how I got on:

I can’t deny that I really enjoyed painting this and am pleased with the results. Some of the figures still leave a little to be desired, but they’re ok. What I really liked was how the central area of the two statues on either side of the sunlit steps turned out. So much so, I thought it merited a little close-up, partly so there’s a little more detail on the colours too.

In Summary

These are undoubtedly high-quality paints. The intensity of colour and saturation of pigment is wonderfully rich. I also really like the consistency of the pigments straight from the tube. The colours seem very pure and mix really well together on the paper and in the palette.

Does it mean I’ll be throwing away or selling all of my other paints? I think it’s too early to get carried away! They are great paints and so far I’m really enjoying using them. If I were more patient, I really ought to do some side-by-side colour tests with these paints and my usual Winsor and Newton range to see if I can more specifically isolate any differences between them. Maybe this could be something for next week!?

On the one hand, I’m relieved that I haven’t wasted my money on paints that I just don’t like or don’t feel confident using, while on other hand, I would have liked to have experienced a more radical form of epiphany – but perhaps this was expecting far too much!

Ultimately I do know that new paints are unlikely to transform my paintings but I’m already looking forward to using these colours a lot more over the coming weeks when my experiences and opinions may change. If you’re already delighted with the brand of paint that you already use, then I wouldn’t suggest you change for the sake of change. If however, like me, you’re feeling a little curious to see what other brands might offer – then I’d certainly recommend giving these a try.

The post My first try out with Michael Harding Watercolour paints appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

I don’t know if it’s the time of year, or the time in my life or I’m just feeling a little restless but, after being steadfastly loyal (on the whole!) to the Winsor and Newton Professional range of watercolour pigments, I’m considering a change!

My current palette mainly consists of the same 18 or so pigments, on top of which I have a couple of other tubes such as titanium white that I might use on occasion. I’ve used the Winsor and Newton Professional range pretty much exclusively since I started painting. My reasoning was that if it was good enough for the likes of Edward Wesson and Edward Seago, then it was good enough for me.

I was also of the belief that at the stage I was at as a painter, the difference between say Winsor and Newton and Daniel Smith pigments probably wouldn’t make or break any of my work and that my main focus should be on learning how to paint with what I’ve got!

More recently, there have been some economic reasons too. I tend to buy all of my paints second-hand on eBay, which saves me a small fortune in paints! It also means that I’ve amassed quite a large stock of paints, many of which are ones that I know I will use, some of which are colours that I’m unlikely to venture near but which came as part of a job lot of paints. Any move towards a different range of paints will most likely mean me having to spend more money than I currently do!

I have dallied with other brands, mainly Daniel Smith, but I’ve never quite come to terms with extravagant naming conventions, so am never quite sure what colour is being described.

Recently, however, I’ve had my head turned by a relatively new range of watercolour pigments made by Michael Harding. He’s far better known for his oil paints, which have been in production for many years now, but his range of watercolours is relatively new to the market. I’ve seen that they’re available at both Ken Bromley Art Supplies and Jackson’s Art Supplies, where you can also see a review of these new pigments.

For anyone that might be interested, here’s a colour chart that I downloaded from Ken Bromely Art supplies:

I think part of what’s driving my dilemma is pure restlessness, a desire to try something different. I’m also wondering however if a different brand may well have different qualities about it that might make a difference to my paintings.

After initially thinking that the only way to find out would be to buy a complete set of colours to replace my existing pallette, the realisation that this approach would cost me in the region of £150 made me think twice! What if I really don’t get along with them, that’d be a terrible waste of money!

Where I’m currently at is:

• Sharing my dilemma with everyone here is case anyone has an opinion or any insights to offer about Michael Harding watercolour paints or other manufacturers that you think I should definitely be considering
• Choosing a small selection of my most used colours from my palette to test and compare (here I’m thinking Yellow Ochre, Cobalt Blue, French Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna and maybe Alizarin Crimson
• Not doing anything at all and seeing if this restlessness passes of its own accord!

I’d really welcome any advice, opinions or experiences that others might have before I splash out on what may well turn out to be a fruitless exercise!

In other news

Following last week’s post I’ve been keeping up with some more of my figure work, this time returning to a view that I first painted back in 2016 after a trip to Paris. Sadly this photograph doesn’t do this image much justice but the light was going and I had to get this photographed in time to post it!

What’s interesting is that I didn’t refer back to my first effort until I came to write this post, and suddenly seeing the two efforts side by side is quite illuminating – and not necessarily all in a good way! Here they are side by side:

I’ll leave it to others to judge but I think I was perhaps hoping for something a little more startling! I’m not going to stew on it for too long for fear that I decide never to pick up a brush again!

Before I get too despondent! Here’s something much more cheerful that is also quite seasonal!

I was delighted to sell this painting, ‘From the edge of the pumpkin patch, Poynings’ on Sunday 30th October!

It was purchased from my website, almost a year to the day after I’d painted it, and obviously just before Halloween! At the time of writing this it’s still in transit to the buyer so, as ever, my fingers are firmly crossed that it’s well received!

The post Michael Harding watercolours – a big decision that I’d like your help with! appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

So. Any ideas on my spot the difference challenge? Well, here’s what my Frazer Price used to look like:

Note the three welled plastic palette that I’d cut to size and inserted into the palette. While this was okay, and did allow me to mix up some larger quantities of paint than was possible on the flat surfaces, I never really enjoyed painting from these. Maybe I’ve been spoiled over the past few years by only mixing my paint on enamalled surfaces!

Anyway, it’s long been on my mind to come up with something better and, while I had the idea for this some time ago, its only in the past few weeks of using this palette that I’ve been spurred into action!

From pie dish to watercolour palette

My idea was to create a single large mixing well out of a small enamelled pie dish. I had already bought one of these some time ago so all I needed was some time and a bit of consideration as to how to do it! I had intended to document this process more thoroughly but, as it was, I got a bit carried away and only thought about photographing it when I was pretty much done and dusted with it.

Here are a few images however that I hope will make it clear! I first secured the pie dish to a piece of wood that I could in turn secure onto a workbench. I then took my trusty angle grinder armed with a fine cutting disk and set to work.

I’d already marked out the pie dish by sitting it into the palette, drawing a line around the palette and then using masking tape to mark the line that I needed to cut along. The main challenge was that I was trying to cut a straight line when the pie dish was curved in three directions!

After much cutting, re-cutting, grinding and finally a bit of filing to smooth off the rough edges, I eventually had a dish that fitted into the palette. It wasn’t perfect, but I figured that with the amount of thought and time I’d put into this so far, I had to see it through!

As you can see from these images, there was a little bit of a gap here and there, the some of the enamel has been chipped in the cutting process but I thought that I could patch up all of this with some carefully applied silicone:

I’ve only been able to use this a few times since completing it and so far, it’s great! It feels wonderful to mix paints on this surface and it’s big enough to cope with larger brushes and significanlty more water that anything I’d been able to do previously.

Naturally this little project – and using this palette so much of late – has only deepened my affection for the wonderful Frazer Price Palette and I look forward to using it for many years to come!

In other news…

I’m pleased to report that my back continues to recover and is feeling better by the day! I’m doing stretches daily and, in the past week I’ve been on my bike for the first time in ages, been swimming in the sea and have even started skipping again! My back still protests at quite a few things, especially sitting for prolonged periods of time but it feels like a world of difference from this time last month ago, which is when it really started to deteriorate.

I suppose that with all of this activity, plus my watercolour DIY tinkering and being back at work again, start of the new school term etc – there hasn’t really been that much time left for any painting! Hopefully things will balance out a little more in favour of painting in the weeks ahead!

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A short while ago I dusted off my Ken Bromley Perfect Paper stretcher. I first purchased one of these years ago but had found it a bit of a faff. Well, how this worm has turned! I’ve more recently found that the benefits of painting on stretched paper far outweighed the level of faff!  So much so in fact that I’m now the proud/mildly compulsive owner of four quarter sheet stretchers and one half sheet stretcher.

Once I’d overcome the faff of stretching the paper, I became a bit frustrated that if I finished one painting, I had to stretch another piece of paper and wait for it to dry before I could embark on another. By having a few of them, it means I can have a couple of paintings on the go, as well as having paper stretched ready and waiting. 

All of this coincided nicely with another small investment I made some time ago in a Manfrotto pixi mini tripod (pre-loved of course!) in the vague hope that I might start to do a few more videos. Along with another attachment, the tripod makes a stable grip for filming with your phone. I used this for all of the filming that I did for my Frazer Price Palette video:

What I didn’t realise at the time is what a great little tripod this makes for quarter and even half sheet boards once you’ve added on a Ken Bromley tripod adaptor to the boards.  As at home I paint standing up, this tripod is a nice height for putting on a tabletop or kitchen work surface etc. They’re nicely adjustable so you can tilt and secure the board at a wide range of angles depending on what you require or prefer.

Here’s a quick selection of images that I hope go some way to showing off how well suited to the task this is:

Most of the boards that I have been paired with the Ken Bromley tripod adaptor but, if you have the inclination, a drill, an 8mm drill bit and a very wide flat head screwdriver, you can save yourself quite a bit of money by purchasing a small ¼ inch to 3/8 screw adaptor. You can find these sold both individually or in packs for only a few pounds – which is quite a saving on single Ken Bromley adaptor. All you do is drill out the pre-drilled hole in the board with your 8mm drill bit and then carefully screw in the adaptor. Here’s what it looks like when it’s done:

A couple of sketches

I didn’t want anyone to think that I was spending my time resting on my laurels, so here are few recent sketches.

I still need to do more of these, but what’s great is that I really enjoy doing them and I actually feel like I’m gradually developing something that’s distinctively ‘me’ with this way of working.

Sadly, even though I should be back home soon, I fear that my watercolour painting activities are still going to be limited. I’m going to have to swap my usual brushes for some more traditional painting and decorating brushes as I have an entire flat’s worth of skirting boards that I need to paint once the new floor is finished!

The post Watercolour easel set up appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

First though, a quick reminder. All contributors are asked to submit work that is A5 in size. Heart Research UK send out cards on which to create your work that also have on the reverse the details for you to complete about the title and your name etc.

I painted all of my submissions while on holiday this summer. I’d taken with me a block of Arches rough that I’d been keeping aside for something special:

This project seemed like as good a reason as any to break into it! Also, as some of you may recall, I wasn’t on top form during our holiday this year, neither how I felt physically, nor about my painting. I was taking comfort, and great enjoyment from studying the sketchbook work in particular of the great Rowland Hilder, and this is clearly evident in the works that I submitted.

Here are the seven paintings, all trimmed down to A5 in size and ready to send off:

Last year I submitted three paintings that raised a total of £358.66. I was completely bowled over by this and this year, I wanted to see if I could do even better.

Here’s how the bidding ended:

And the grand total, I hear you ask!? The seven paintings raised a total £431.99.

This comfortably surpasses the total of £358.66 that my contributions raised last year, albeit from more than double the number of submissions.

All in all, the entire enterprise epitomised a win win situation. I got to do what I love, hopefully some people get some paintings that they will enjoy and, most importantly, Heart Research UK get some money to help them continue their vital work.

Well before the end of the auction, I had a look at what I’d submitted so that I could choose my favourite without being influenced by whatever they did (or didn’t) raise during the auction.

I found it difficult to single out just one, so selected two instead:

Although my £431.99 won’t go far, it’s much more than I could ever afford to donate out of my own pocket.

Should by any fluke of google/twitter /Facebook etc any of the purchasers find their way to this site – then I’d just like to say a huge ‘thank you’, firstly on behalf of Heart Research UK for supporting their amazing work, and on my own behalf. I’m sorry that I’m probably not the famous person/artist that you may have imagined me to be, but I hope that you may also have been prepared to bid so generously because you also liked the paintings!

I’d love to hear from anyone did ‘win’ one of my paintings this year and, in the meantime, I can only hope that this little collection of paintings are off to happy homes.

The post Win win watercolour paintings appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

The only exception to this rule, is my packing of my art kit, which I absolutely love. I certainly spend far much more time thinking about my art kit than I do what clothes to take!

By the time you read this, we’ll all hopefully be settling into a familiar camping lifestyle – so it’s far too late start making any new suggestions for what I should have taken with me- for this year at least!

Here’s what I eventually settled on to take with me this year:

All pretty straightforward stuff really but my hope is to keep it relatively minimal and streamlined, with my main aim being to just ‘lighten up’ – in terms of mood, spirit and approach – and to have a little bit of fun!

I’m sure I’m not alone in also seeing a holiday as a time to catch up on a little reading! Here’s what I’ve pulled out of the library to keep me company this year!

Hopefully there’ll be enough here to keep me occupied (and relaxed!), not to mention inspired! I’ll also be travelling with my camera to capture as much reference material as possible to bring home with me.

I’ll only have limited access to the internet where I am so may not be as prompt at replying as I’d like, but I’ll do my best!

In the meantime, I’d love to hear about what books (as long as they’re watercolour or art related!) that you’d choose to take on your holiday, as well as your essential art materials – let’s face it, I’ll need to start thinking about what to pack for next year pretty soon!

The post Watercolour sketching kit appeared first on John Haywood Watercolours.

As I expect it will take me a while to settle in and track down some wi-fi, I thought I’d post something that I’ve been working on for a short while. Over the year’s I’ve received quite a few enquiries about what paints, brushes or paper I use and I usually end up responding to such enquiries individually.

I thought it might be helpful to have a page on my site where I describe what materials I usually use so that’s what I’ve been tinkering away at. Here then is a link to my painting equipment which I will keep up to date with changes (I’m hoping, for instance, that there’ll be a major announcement coming in the autumn in relation to my palette of choice!)

And for anyone that can’t bear to click away from this post, below is what visitors to the new page will find. Should you wish to leave a comment about any of this information, it would be great if you could comment on the page, rather than on this post, so that visitors to the page will be able to follow everything more easily.

Sketching and Drawing

I always use a classic metal bodied Caran D’Ache 2mm clutch pencil for all of my sketching out and use a relatively soft 3b lead. I watched video a long time ago of an extra-ordinarily skilled artist that worked mainly in pencil. He advocated these pencils for their flexibility, ie you can use the lead long or short to suit your requirements and, the weight of the pencil remains consistent so you really get used to it. I don’t know why but this recommendation really stuck with me. I also like that the sharpener is inside the cap so I never have to worry about keeping a pencil sharpener with me! For the inevitable errors, I’m rarely far away from a kneadable putty rubber of some description.

Paper

Over a number of years I’ve tried a number of different papers, each of which I’ve been happy with until I move on to the next paper! One constant however, is that I always paint on rough paper, which I find most sympathetic to my style of painting and the range of marks and textures that I try to employ in painting, from smooth graduated washes to broken dry brush marks. So far my paper journey has taken in Bockingford, Saunders Waterford and, currently Arches. For size, I mainly paint on half imperial (dimensions) or quarter imperial (dimensions) sheets of paper.

Paints

I know from my own experience that there are many different brands of watercolour to choose from, each offering such a bewildering array of enticing colours that it can be hard to know where to start. Some early advice that I received was to start with a relatively modest choice of colours and, years on, that’s pretty much where I still am today.

My earliest mentors, the likes of Edward Seago and Edward Wesson both used a similar range of colours so that to me seemed like as good a starting point as any. I understand that both also favoured Winsor and Newton paints, and who am I to argue with such wonderful exponents of the art of watercolour painting. Based on this foundation then, my current palette features the following colours from the Winsor and Newton Professional Range

• Winsor Yellow
• Raw Sienna
• Burnt Sienna
• Light Red
• Alizarin Crimson
• Burnt Umber
• Cobalt Blue
• French Ultramarine Blue
• Winsor Blue

I’ve found this to be a great palette of colours – (and one that I think is especially suited to the more muted colours of the english landscape!). You can make just about everything that most people are ever likely to need from this palette. Another advantage is that because you have to do so much mixing – to get all your greens for instance – you get to know your palette and what it can do really well.

As I’ve developed, and moved on to some more urban scenes too, I’ve added the following colours to this basic palette:

• Cerrulean Blue (don’t know why but, mixed with neutral tint, I find it great for tarmac!)
• Neutral tint (for a while I played around a lot with Payne’s grey but now I much prefer Neutral tint)
• Winsor Red (traffic lights etc!)
• White gouache (only ever used sparingly for the odd sunlit highlight)

Oh, and lamp black. I hardly ever use this but carry it partly because of Rowland Hilder’s influence. It’s especially handy in a reduced sketching palette to get a dark tone in quickly and for some dry brush work. It also produces a great green when mixed with yellow!

I do try out the odd other colour – I recently bought a Winsor Violet to play with – but the ones listed above are my staples.

Even though I’ve been painting for a good many years now, I still feel like I’m getting to know my palette, what the colours can do, how they work together, their individual and combined characteristics. So, I don’t suggest that this selection is in any way a definitive. It’s just the selection of paints that I currently use, and which may be helpful to be aware of when looking at any of my paintings.

If I do have a top tip, once you’ve settled on your essential list, buy the large 37ml tubes of paint when the major retailers are having their sales. Compared to buying smaller tubes they just represent much better value for money.

Brushes

Well, I certainly don’t have enough time to cover the full gamut of brushes that I’ve tried, but here’s a selection of my current favourites. I won’t list sizes as this is personal from one person to the next. My general rule of thumb however, which isn’t of my own making but one I’ve adopted along the way, is to try to paint with a slightly larger brush than seems appropriate for the job in hand!

• Da Vinci Casaneo synthetic mop brushes
• Escoda Ultimo synthetic mop brushes
• Escoda Aquario Mop brushes
• Escoda sable watercolour brushes
• Escoda Versatil synthetic rigger brushes
• Escoda Reservour rigger brush
• Escoda Round Toray synthetic brushes
• Ocean-I Squirrel mop brush and tulip sable brush
• Prolene synthetic swordliner

Palette

Again, I’ve tried lots of different palettes and my current favourites are from the Holbein range of enamelled palettes, the Holbein 1000 and the smaller Holbein 500 – both of which are simply laid out with ample space for being generous with mixes and washes.

For small sketches and for travelling with, my favourite palette is my beloved Frazer Price Palette Box. This isn’t the best palette in the world by any means, but I love the history and heritage of these palettes – plus I’ve been able to customise it to better suit my style painting – and I do like a bit of personalisation!

Easel

I prefer to paint standing up so I use an easel for all of my painting (with the exception of just sketching). I use a basic camera tripod and have my painting boards fitted with camera tripod adaptors such as this one from Ken Bromley art supplies.

For quarter sheets, I have a homemade board and paper carrier and there’s a brief slideshow of this set up below.

For half sheets, I have a plain piece of 6mm MDF that’s been cut to size and then sealed with Danish Oil, and mounted onto another tripod bracket.

Sundry items

• Bucket of water
• Water spray
• Kitchen towel
• Sponge
• Tool for scraping

I hope that this may be of some interest and maybe even of some assistance to others. Have I missed anything? What’s the one item of equipment, colour of paint or type of brush you simply couldn’t live without? Let me know in the comments section of my watercolour equipment page.

As I say, I expect this list to be constant ‘work in progress’ so I’m always on the lookout for anything that will contribute to me being a better – or even just a happier painter!

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I was delighted to be able to add to this collection in the form of a vintage Winsor and Newton aluminium artist’s case. I won this on e-bay back in early January – excusing it as a birthday treat to myself – but felt a little embarrassed about it. I have on occasion seen similar cases on ebay but this was the first time that I’ve actively bid on one. My embarrassment is, that as much as I like all this ‘stuff’, I don’t collect for the sake of collecting. I only buy something if I think I’m going to be able to make use of it. With this particular purchase, I only had the seed of an idea, but I needed to buy it first and spend some time germinating that seed of an idea. Only now do I feel sufficiently well advanced in my thinking to be able to share my plans.

For now though, back to the case. It measures 415mm x 315mm x 80mm, is made entirely out of aluminium and is in good used condition. I’ve had a flutter around the web to see if I can find out anything about these cases but haven’t found anything yet. If anyone out there does have information about it, I’d be really grateful if you could share it with me as, at the moment, I’m struggling to even hazard a guess at its age. What I do know is that it’s in the style of a pochade box and originally for oil painters. The grooves in the side and the hinged lid were to allow the painter to transport, in this particular case, up to three paintings with their freshly painted surfaces kept safe from contact.

Hopefully the pictures and captions below will give a good overall impression.

I photographed this on my workbench as, after much mulling over and deliberating, I’ve finally started work on my cunning plan.

Working more on location is probably the most obvious means to significantly improve my painting. With so many other commitments, however, this isn’t something that’s going to change rapidly. Even so, every year I aspire to paint a little more on location. A few years ago, I did fashion myself a set up that I’ve been working with that featured a homemade wooden case that could carry quarter sheets of paper and act as my painting board. I then supplemented this with a little shelf that could also easily be clipped onto my tripod. This has served me well but, in looking at other set ups on the market, I have become aware of certain drawbacks and limitations. The shelf is okay to put things on so they’re close-ish to hand, but nowhere near convenient or secure enough to be able to rest my palette on while I’m mixing and painting. I also still have to carry everything else (palette, tubes of paints, brushes etc) in another bag too. Here’s quick slideshow as a reminder:

(and, in case this slideshow doesn’t appear for you, here’s a link to the post about my plein-air set up)

All of these are relatively minor things but, if I could find a solution to them, well who knows what a difference it might make!?

Enter my new / old aluminium case.

My cunning plan, such as it is, is to convert this case into my new plain-air kit. My aim is to make some relatively minor modifications to this case so that I can:

• attach it to tripod
• attach a shelf that will allow me to have palette and water close to hand
• enable me to paint both landscape and portrait
• allow me to carry painting board, shelf, spare paper, brushes, paints and all other likely stuff (sponge, spray etc)

I’ll still need to carry a tripod separately (not to mention a bag for water, drinks and the all-important snacks and sandwiches!) but I’m still hoping it will be a significant improvement on my current set up.

I’m excited to have started tinkering on this project and hope to be able to share the fruits of my labour shortly.

If anyone else has a great plein-air set up, I’d love to hear about it – it’s still not too late for me to modify my plans!

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On leafing through this, what caught my eye was not the John Yardley feature, but some of the small ads.

Surprisingly, one of the most visited pages or posts on this site is from when I purchased my first  Frazer Price Palette Box. The reason I think it’s so well visited is that when someone uncovers or inherits one of these relative rarities, who may often have no interest in painting, they google the name to find out a little more and I think my blog post comes up on the search results. Or, if someone sees one advertised for sale, they do the same and end up finding my post. For as many queries that appear in the comments section, I’ve had just as many ‘private’ enquiries – more often than not seeking advice or thoughts on how much it might be worth!

There’s even one listed on ebay right now that actually quotes brushes with watercolour in the description! (please note that this link may cease to work after the auction has ended!)

So it was this original advert for the Frazer Price Palette Box in the Leisure Painter that particularly caught my eye:

I think I did mention this in my previous post but, as this is something I find quite fascinating, here it is again! This was originally sold for £35. Using the Bank of England online inflation calculator – the equivalent cost for this in 2016 would have been £60.29 (or approx $79). While I have seen these change hands on ebay for much more than this – I’ve also seen some snapped up for not much more than the price of 20 years of inflation!

In the same issue, there was another add for the much coveted Craig Young Paint Box.

As you can see, back in 1996 these were available for £150. In today’s currency, that now equates to £258.39. To buy a new one direct, based on current prices, would cost £280. While this is still a whole lot of money to spend on a watercolour palette, it’s only just above the inflation price of 20 years ago, which I think really puts it into perspective.

As for my Frazer Price Palette Box – it’s still much loved, but little used! I still tend to use my Holbein 500 palette for most of my painting. That’s not to say however that I haven’t used the Frazer Price Box at all! In fact, I’ve customised it a little just to suit my own personal preferences a little more!

Originally, in the main left hand compartment, there was a mini water container that had a couple of recesses on it for washes, and a couple of small wells for water for washing brushes in.

I found that both of these were a little too small for my needs, so I have removed these and replaced them with some more generous / deep compartments for mixing paint in, and I bought a water container (that came as part of a set of three from Jacksons Art Supplies) that hangs perfectly on the side of the palette box and enables me to work with much more water.

Even seeing this photo makes me want to use this more! Happily, I’ll be off on my summer vacation in the next few weeks and this will definitely be coming with me!

Are there any other Frazer Price devotees out there? What’s your palette of choice? Who knows, it’s never too late to add another one to my collection!

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