My main palette for PleinAirpril 2024 has consisted of watercolours and three of the new Horadam Natural paints, recently released by Schmincke. These paints are a new type of watercolour that Schmincke describes as having properties of both watercolour and gouache. They're vegan and contain heritage and plant or earth derived pigments, so are a really interesting new range of paint. I've had a good few weeks to test a few of them out and thought I'd share my thoughts on them here.
I only bought three of the 16 available colours from the Horadam Naturals range, mainly because I was intrigued by them, but wary due to some mixed reviews on YouTube. I chose the Rügen Chalk as I'd recently written a blog post about the colour 'Greenish White' where the mineral reference for the colour was calcite, the main component of chalk. The Madder Lake was chosen as I loved the colour and was interested in the pigment. I was also intrigued to try the Lalvarit Violet and thought it may work well with the other colours I'd chosen and would also possibly work alone in monochrome studies.
The full range of Horadam Naturals can be viewed on the Schmincke website and is available to buy on various online art supply shops. I bought mine from Jackson's Art, where sets are also available. See the colours in the full range below:
One of the amazing things about these paints is that the lightfast ratings are so good. Heritage pigments often have poor lightfastness, whereas all but the Stil de Grain paint have a lightfastness of good or better. According to a blog post on Bromley's Art Supplies, this is due to the way Schmincke have formulated these paints. Personally, I'll be doing some lightfast testing of my own before I use them in artwork to sell, and I'll be very interested to see how others find they hold up.
The Schmincke website has information about each pigment used in these paints. I've given a little of the information below:
Rügen Chalk - PW18 - Highest lightfastness - Genuine chalk pigment, derived from fossilized calcium carbonate.
Kamala - NO2 - Very good lightfastness - Extracted from the glands and tufted hairs of the monkey face tree.
Curcuma - NY3 - Good lightfastness - Made from the roots of the curcuma (turmeric) plant.
Dragon's Blood - NR31 - Very good lightfastness - Obtained from the resin of the dragon's blood tree.
Madder Lake - NR9 - Very good lightfastness - Made from the madder root. This colour is also known as Alizarin red.
Indigofera - NB1 - Very good lightfastness - Natural indigo, obtained from the Indigofera plant.
Dyers' Green - NY3 NB1 - Good lightfastness - A combination of Curcuma and Indigo.
Celadonite - PG23 - Very good lightfastness - No information given about what it's made from but this is the same pigment that is called Terre Verte or Green Earth in other brands.
Stil de Grain - NY13 - Satisfactory lightfastness - Obtained by lacquering buckthorn berries.
Yellow Ochre - NY43 - Good lightfastness - Made from natural iron oxide.
Red Bolas - PR102 - Good lightfastness - The pigment comes from deposits in the Upper Franconia (Bavaria).
Lalvarit Violet - No pigment number - Very good lightfastness - Made from Andesite rock originating from lava flows.
Caucasus Earth - PG23 - Very good lightfastness - Made from a green pigment from the Caucasus region.
Green Slate - PBk19 - Good lightfastness - Made from genuine ground slate.
Graphite Black - PBk10 - Very good lightfastness - Made from ground natural graphite.
Vine Black - PBk8 - Highest lightfastness - No information given about what this is made from but PBk8 is traditionally made from charcoal.
The colours in the palette that I made up for PleinAirpril 2024 are shown below, including the three Horadam Naturals. I wanted to give myself a challenge and force myself to use paint that I otherwise wouldn't, so this is not your usual mixing palette!
On creating the picture on the swatch sheet, I was particularly pleased with the very delicate pinks I could get by mixing the Madder Lake and Rügen Chalk, as seen in the sky and trees. I could actually taste strawberries as I painted the sky because it reminded me of the strawberries and cream sweets we could get when I was a child!
During the less than brilliant weather this month I've painted some items indoors, such as the apple below. I used Madder Lake for the red colour in the skin and combined this with some Azomethine Green Yellow and Goethite, with a little Iron Chrome Brown, to achieve the green, brown and yellow tones in the apple.
The Madder Lake, like all the Horadam Naturals I tried, is a bit gloopy, but it mixed with the other watercolours just fine and I love the way this paint is very controllable and lifts well. I think this may be why I love these paints in contrast to some YouTube reviewers who weren't so happy with them. As a relative novice to watercolours, I sometimes find them difficult to control and often make mistakes that I want to correct. The Horadam Naturals allow me more control, whereas I imagine that if you're very used to paints that travel and enjoy this, these paints may be a little frustrating. Some reviewers weren't happy with the gloopiness of the paints, but I actually love this and enjoyed the fact they were a little creamy in texture.
The paints can lay down in a streaky manner though, particularly when used in mass tone. I think the degree they do this may vary with the colour.
In the street sketch at the top of the page, I used the Lalvarit Violet on the roofs of the houses and was very glad of it here, as it was a perfect match when mixed with varying amounts of Payne's Grey Bluish.
In the sketch of the Manx hills as viewed from Chibbanagh Plantation, below, I used Rügen Chalk in the sky to suggest clouds. I've found this colour very useful to mix with other colours to provide more subtle shades.
Like the street sketch. 😁