On first look, the Holbein Artists Gouache Irodori (Starter) Sets are well curated and beautifully presented. Splitting these sets into seasons, reflecting the seasonal nature of Japan, is a lovely way to get a taste for the new colours. If you’re partial to dark and cool colours, warmer tones or pastel colours, you might choose the winter, autumn or spring sets respectively. However, if you’re confident in colour, and want a relatively well rounded palette, the Summer palette is a very good choice. In this article, I will be looking at the colours of the Summer Set, the blending potential, layering, and overall performance of these paints. I tested these swatches on the Jackson’s Hot Press Paper Block, using a Da Vinci Colineo Brush.
The Contents of the Holbein Artists Gouache Paint – Irodori (Starter) Summer Set
Holbein Gouache is made up of finely ground pigments, with little to no opaquing agents added to the pigment. I have previously found them to be a consistent and enjoyable gouache to use, and the new Irodori (Starter) Set colours did not disappoint. The Summer palette includes twelve 15 ml tubes of Holbein Artists Gouache, in the shades Scarlet, Orange Yellow, Canola Yellow, Taisha Brown, Spring Green, Evergreen, Bamboo Green, Ultramarine, Oriental Blue and Edo Violet. The set also includes White (Gohun) and Black (Sumi). These are two valuable additions to the palette that is designed with the bright pops of colour and lush greens that summer offers a landscape painter.
Colour Mixing
This palette covers most bases for what would be considered a traditional mixing palette. For my own palette, if I had the choice, I might consider adding a cool lemon yellow instead of Spring Green, and a cooler red, such as a Quinacridone or Carmine, instead of Edo Violet, to have a full range of colours that I enjoy mixing. I might have swapped Taisha Brown for an Ochre or an Umber too, but this is a very personal preference, and certainly doesn’t impact the performance of what these twelve tubes of paint can do. If you definitely prefer a more traditional palette, you could try the Holbein Gouache Set of 12, which covers warm and cool primaries; however, if you like to try something a little different that still covers all the bases for colour mixing, the Irodori Summer Palette could work well for you.
Firstly, I looked at the closest colours to true primary colours in the palette – Scarlet, Canola Yellow and Ultramarine. Both Scarlet and Canola Yellow lean towards the warm side of the spectrum, which meant the greens and aubergine colours I mixed all felt warm – however, perhaps this is exactly what I should have expected from a Summer themed palette! I could definitely see how these colours could help create the feeling of the end of a late summer day, basking in the warmth of the dappled light coming through the trees at the edge of a cool lake…. Now can I be transported there?
I imagine that the addition of one or two of the colours in this palette might be a little unexpected, too. For me, the bamboo green is a truly beautiful colour, but in its undiluted form is not often found in the natural environment. However, when I mixed Bamboo Green with other colours in limited palettes, I was able to get some surprising and really pleasing colours going. I experimented by putting Bamboo Green with Edo Violet and Orange Yellow, which are two colours I wouldn’t usually gravitate towards in my own practice. Mixing these enabled me to get some lovely warm and cooler browns, adding the colours in different quantities, as well as some soft olive greens – which are definitely colours I love to use. When layering these colours over the top of each other, both in their straight-out-the-tube form, and as washed out mixes – the pop of colour from the bamboo green was both enhanced and softened somehow, allowing for its brightness to feel more approachable.
Gohun and Sumi – White and Black
The additions of black and white are perhaps the reason that any painter might choose the Summer Palette over any of the other Holbein Irodori Sets, if they have not tried this range before. White is essential to almost every artist, regardless of their discipline, and can help create such a huge range of value without having to rely on the lightness of the paper to add layers of value. The black is, in my opinion, less essential, but can allow a quick route into changing the value of your colours. To demonstrate this I used Orange Yellow and Oriental Blue, mixing them with both black and white to show the range of value, and created a very tiny painting to show the range of tones and values you can get from just these colours.
The black and white are opaque, strong pigments, with a velvety finish. Sumi appears to me a neutral black, leaning neither blue or yellow. They are both ideal for adding those tiny details towards the end of a painting: so long as your underneath layers are completely dry, and your brush is not wet, in my tests there was very minimal pick up of the underlying pigment. The density of the pigments of the Holbein Gouache is most obvious here.
Layering with Holbein Gouache
I regularly use gouache combined with other media in my own practice, and the Holbein Gouache’s consistent performance when using both as a wash, and in a more opaque form for layering, earn them a firm place amongst my favourites. The Summer Palette colours are no different. In my opinion they feel almost more pigmented than perhaps some of the others. Some of the colours are a little more unusual, too, and I enjoy the challenge of adding something slightly different to my work. The pigment blends make for some lovely, vibrant washes to use as a base for more opaque gouache, or a different media.
As the pigments in this gouache are very finely milled, there is little granulation in terms of pigment separation. Granulation isn’t usually expected from a gouache paint, as it is usually associated with creating flat areas of colour, but I have seen it occasionally in some other brands. However, across some of my more wet swatches of the Holbein Gouache, you can see how the pigment pools in some areas. I prefer to use a hot press paper, which doesn’t usually encourage this effect as a cold press might, so I was pleasantly surprised to see it as a lover of a soft texture!
When mixing two colours together, if you pool a small amount of the paint with a lot of water, you can see the pigments then separate, which can help to create a softer, or more ‘watercolour’ like look to your gouache paintings. I had a quick play with this technique, again returning to colours I might not ordinarily gravitate to; this time I used Taisha Brown, Canola Yellow, Spring Green, Edo Violet and White. I chose these colours to both push myself, and because I was influenced by the ‘summery’ nature of the palette.
I made this painting within half an hour – the gouache dries quickly, meaning that you can layer on top of it easily with thicker layers of paint. I worked largely from light to dark, as you might with watercolour. Working wet-on-wet for the first layers meant that the paints blended easily into each other, and the Holbein Gouache blended beautifully. I then added darker layers using less water, to intensify areas of darkness. Finally, for the darkest areas I used very little water. At each stage, the Holbein Gouache was easy to manipulate and work with.
The Properties of Holbein Artists Gouache
Holbein states that ‘as with their watercolours, Holbein have produced a gouache of exceptional quality. They grind their gouache more finely than others, adding little or no opaque agents to their colour. The pigments used have been chosen for exceptional saturation and the ability to mix freely without loss of brilliance, opacity or hue values. The colours will give consistent results without darkening or muddiness, they will not bleed or crack and offer complete opacity when layered.’ During my testing, I agree with all of this. The only case in which they crack on the paper are if they are laid extremely thickly (1 mm thick or more) and there is never a need to do this to gain opacity. Even in the most typically transparent colours, such as Canola Yellow or Oriental Blue, the pigment content is high, and although some body pigments are used (such as calcium carbonate or silica), I have not found this to be at detriment to the vibrancy at any point. The binders used are largely gum arabic, but it is worth noting that ox gall is used in some colours. As this is derived from ox bile, some colours are not vegan, so please check individual colours if this is important to you.
Lightfastness also needs to be taken into consideration on a paint by paint basis – as with all pigment based products, it very much depends on the pigment used as to whether the paint has good lightfastness or not. Holbein state that the whole range has ‘excellent lightfast ratings’, but according to their colour chart there are a few colours in the summer palette that have ‘moderately durable colours’, which generally equates to ‘good’ on the usual lightfastness scales. These colours are Bamboo Green, Evergreen, Spring Green, Canola Yellow and Orange Yellow. If this is something that concerns you, it is worth keeping an eye on each tube. However, I am reassured that none of the colours in the Summer Palette, or within the whole of the Irodori colour range, fall below this lightfastness rating, which for most of us is high enough!
For those of us who like to create our own palettes, these do perform well in a stay wet palette, but as with all gouache, they dry quickly. I would suggest adding additional binders or extenders if you want to keep using your paints for longer, (as I did here) as although the gouache is easily rewettable, after a couple of uses the creaminess that you get from it fresh from the tube is gone.
Overall, the Holbein Artists Gouache Paint 15 ml Irodori (Starter) Summer Set of 12 is a lovely starter set, for anyone new to gouache, the brand, or just looking to try something new. The colours lend themselves perfectly to lush green spaces and the bright blue skies of a temperate summer, but could be manipulated for less idealistic landscapes too, thanks to the additions of the white and black. The set was a joy to use, and a palette I could see myself playing with for many more summer days.
Further Reading
What is the Difference Between Watercolour and Gouache?
Holbein Acrylic – A Superb Acrylic Gouache Paint
Colour Mixing: the Versatility of a Six Colour Primary Palette
Review of ShinHan Professional Designers Gouache
Shop Holbein Artists Gouache Irodori (Starter) Summer Set on jacksonsart.com
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