Windsor and Newton are a leader in the watercolour world, and their Cotman series of student paints are touted as being a great beginner set. I got my hands on the 12 half pan Sketcher’s Pocket Box to test them out.
Most reviews rave about this as being a very well priced set for some decent beginner paints. However, these seems to be a huge markup in Australia on the entire Windsor and Newton brand. I purchased my set from Amazon for approximately $35 AUD, but the same set appears to retail for more than double the price in most Australian art stores!
The twelve half pans come in a cute, compact white palette and a small brush (with bristle cover!) is included. It’s the perfect size and weight to slip into a pocket for travel or on-the-go painting trips. All the pans are individually wrapped, with pigment information included. Annoyingly, they’ve elected to include a Chinese White (WHHHYYYYYYY WOULD YOU INCLUDED WHITE IN A 12 PAN SET??) which I immediately removed and refilled the pan with my own tube of indigo, which I will actually use. The pigments included are very heavy on ‘hues’, which is to be expected in a student set. Colours included are Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Cadmium Red Pale Hue, Alizarin Crimson Hue, Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue Hue, Sap Green, Viridian Hue, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber and Chinese White. I’ve swatched them out below for you.
I tested these out to paint a pretty standart rainbow heart on my usual watercolour paper (Art Spectrum 60% cotton, 300GSM). The paint pans reactivate nicely and the paint loads up well onto the brush. It flows nicely enough, though I do feel it does supper from the problem many ‘student grade’ paints do, and has a bit of a chalky feel. The colors mixwell and blend nicely on the page. I really struggle to mix a good range of purples from the include colours, but that may well be more related to me than the paints. On the plus side, a nice Payne’s grey colour can be mixed from the shades included in the set (using Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna) .
Pros:
Reputable brand
Comes with a cute brush
Compact and portable
Paints interact nicely for watercolour effects
Cons:
Generally overpriced in Australia
No included purple shades
White is included, essentially making it an 11 shade set
My final thoughts are that this is a solid beginner set from a reputable brand, but there is no way I would pay the Australian in store retail price for this. For $35 you’re onto a winner, for $80 or more, your money is better spent elsewhere.