Testing Kuretake GANSAI TAMBI Watercolors & Failing my Painting 

I really really loved the first painting actually! It may not have been what you had in your head but it was beautiful 😊 (so was the second one too btw)

I am so happy I searched up Kuretake Watercolor. I found your wonderful channel!

Congratulations on two beautiful pieces. I'm a bold oil pastel kind of person and I love using these paints with minimal water. Put the colour down once. But also enjoy some highlights with the golds. I was really disappointed because they didn't behave like the paints in a RU-vid teacher's class. But now I know they are different... I'm really loving them. Great video. Thank you so much.

I like the first one too. I use these paints all the time. And i mix the colors too.

wow, beautiful work, i wish you hadn’t covered up the ‘mushroom’ paint effects in the background! they gave the piece an interesting look, more so than the dark paint, though I get that the darkness adds contrast. I think playing around more and not sticking to predetermined plans makes a work more interesting, though…😅

I gave myself a set of 48 colors Kuretake for my birthday a month ago $48 euros on Amazon. I was not fan of the chalky look similar to gouache, I may use it for journals and cards. But you were able to paint a couple of stunning large pieces and it inspired me to give Kuretake a new try.

I wouldn’t call the paper a waste because you learned a lot and at some point you have to jump into the deep end and learn by doing. You might want to try white watercolor ground to paint over areas you want to white out and paint over instead of gouache. It is meant to have watercolor on top without muddying the color 😊

Love this, it's beautiful.

What impresses me most about your channel is the fact that you share your mistakes with your audience. Some artists seem to portray an air of elitism that is not conducive to the novice artist. Lovely paintings by the way😀. BH, UK

How could you hate the first one?!?! I love it!! 😱💙🦋

Thank you for this. I love the comparison between watercolor and a kid in the playground. Classic!

The flowers at the end were the cherry on top! Also, I am in love with how you play with the colors and the flow! I never have that courage...

I love the way both paintings worked out. The kimono on the second one is so dreamy! 💕🎨

Jani was thinking about these but after your review I don't think they are for me :) beautiful paintings as always 🥰

Nothing has to be wasted. You can make cards out of the leftover watercolor paper. You can get colored pencils and put a design over it pretty much nothing is ever wasted or Hass to be wasted. God bless you.

Awesome and inspiring. Good recovery!!!! Marjorie from Georgia US. Nice to show ,we all have to make the best of some disappointments. Second one lovely as well.

I have the 18 colour set for about 3 years now! I actually have discovered the rose madder colour thanks to it 😆 it is my absolute favourite and I use it all the time - I am about to get a new tube for my “classic” watercolours. I usually used them thinned down, also mix them with no problem and they lift great (never tried on Arches though! I guess that paper is not my thing). I have recently purchased rice paper and would like to get some washi to try these paints on.

"they are far from traditional watercolour".. actually... They are TRADITIONAL JAPANESE watercolour.. which calls for more opaque watercolour. they just aren't western traditional. :) I actually really liked the first painting. Think you were to hard on yourself it had a flow. They were both beautiful

Just gorgeous. 😱💕 I am in awe. I love the colors and how you laid the paint down. I am currently waiting at the dentist but am eagerly wanting to go home and paint 🥰💕 Thanks for the inspiration Thanks for sharing.

Beatiful job

Yet another technique I've learned from you. Using the sponge with white looks amazing. I love both paintings, and learned so much from you on each. I rarely ever do thumbnails. But I do generally have a picture in my mind of what I want the painting to look like. I do need to, however, do more swatches of colors to get an idea of what colors match the image in my brain. Absolutely lovely, Jane!!!

Beautiful. I really love the colorscheme😊👍🏼🤗

I think the first failed piece was beautiful still, i liked some parts of it, like the hair and the flowiness of it, therefore in my opinion at least, you didn't completely ruin it. I do prefer the second one to some extent, I just love the color choices much more and the patterns are very whimsical.

I have such a fondness for the kuretake gansai tambi. Not my go to for "serious" pieces, but I think using them is such a fun enjoyable painting experience. Thank you for sharing your experience! The set really seems to fluctuate in price too and seems a lot more expensive now. I'm sure I didn't pay more than €30 for the 36 colour set when I got it several years ago. Edit: instead of saying "serious" pieces, it would probably be more accurate for me to say "pieces where I want to achieve a particular look".

It was so lovely to watch you paint. I enjoyed both paintings, though I agree that in the second one the different elements look more integrated. I also loved the gold and white accents you added at the end. I'm just getting into watercolor, so I've been seeking out a lot of different channels to see how people use them, and how the different paint brands behave (and what I prefer visually).

I honestly loved both. :)

I enjoy watching you paint as much as I enjoy painting myself. There is something about your techniques that are hypnotizing and so relaxing. I still liked how your first painting ended. And remember that you did not wasted supplies, because you learned by using them. But I can understand the joy of a planned painting. I have a couple of small sets of kuretake and enjoy using them to play and experiment. Their opaque abilities are so fun. But I don't use them for my serious painting. Still, I should try planning a painting with them, specially after seeing the amazing result from your second painting. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

I like both paintings, and I especially love the second one!

Thank you for sharing your honest process, mistakes and all. I also love the first painting 😊

Beautiful

Completely enjoyed this video, thank you, Jane! I was looking to understand about the Gansai Tambi paints, and it was very helpful to hear your views and see your experiments. The way you play with colours is a treat to watch! This is the first video of yours I'm seeing. all the best to you!

i also really like the first one ^_^

Amazing 😊

They are both so lovely in their own way. Well done.

I think it is beautiful, and I understand why you wanted to do it again. I know how it is when your vision doesn’t match the result.

Thank you so much for your awesome videos! They really inspires me and motivates me to work harder myself :)

I just got my first set of Kuretake Gansai Tambi and found your video and your paintings very interesting. I can't wait to see how I get on, they certainly seem very different to other watercolors, so it will be a learning experience for me too. Your paintings are both very lovely.

If you like that blue-gray color you will adore M Graham's Payne's Gray. It's very similar in hue and value but it's watercolor not gansai which is better in my book.

Your paintings were both lovely, xxxx ❤

Thank you for the break down I find it incredibly difficult to judge whether to invest in paints with so many mixed reviews

It’s so beautiful I love your art work.

Beautiful paintings! I really enjoyed your process.

I had to learn to accept failures in watercolor. I originally painted in acrylic, and I can fix anything in acrylic. Watercolor is simply not the same. I got really discouraged at first, and then realized it's just part of the medium. Now if I have to toss something I make notes, experiment with it, and use it to learn how to do better next time instead of seeing it as a failure. I average one out of five paintings or so that I really like and would frame.. probably two are just ok, they get pinned up in the studio until I replace them with something else.. and the other two are trash.

I have the same colour as you. I find it to be a very versatile paint. Love the colours and use it with normal watercolours too. I am looking for the art deco set now…

Thank u for sharing the process. It turned out beautiful.❤❤ I ended up buying the starry metallic water color set to try it out.😍❤ loved the gold flowers u painted on ur Instagram version.

Hi from South Africa. I too have been wanting to purchase this set or even the new release of the 100 Color’s but it’s super expensive in SA so I’ll have to wait a while. In the meantime I enjoy watching the searching n paintings created by other artists. Lovely video❤

I think was a very informative and lovely video. I loved both of your paintings, such beautiful work even if the first did not turn out the way you wanted ❀ I really like this Kuretake set, I do mostly abstract work, so I like how they flow with unpredictability. I am also a big fan of granulation though, and these paints do not have that quality so I don't find myself turning to use them much. Thank you for sharing your experiences, I always learn something new and exciting from your process videos 💕

Stunning

Thank you for this First impressions video! I have the 36 palette I bought around seven (!!) years ago from Amazon, back when the paints were starting to be immensely popular on RU-vid. I've always had a fear of "ruining good art supplies" with my stuff so I barely used mine, but nowadays I have so many paints from other brands, i haven't revisited this box. I'll try to use it with cotton paper like arches or canson heritage to avoid excessive lifting, I'll just keep in mind how much it loses saturation and that the darker colors looks a little flat, chalky-looking when dry.

Lol love your 'watercolour is like a small kid in the playground' analogy! 😅 Thank you for sharing both your 'mistakes' and your finished work with us, that was brave of you. I really like the color of her skin in the first picture! Maybe a pale blue wash over the rest of her skin, and then your other skin coloured washes over the blue? Also the kimono had draping under her arm, but it didn't seem like you took that draping into account when you painted the pattern on. Note: Wood pulp paper contains lignin and is acidic, buffered or not. The problem with 'Acid Free' paper is that no one knows when that buffering will stop working and the paper will become acidic again. If you can afford it, choose a paper that does not contain acids, (100% cotton rag, rice, or Japanese specialty papers). Thank you for sharing, I love your first painting, and I like the second as well! 😍

The first painting is still beautiful in many areas. I learn a lot from you about having to prepare better. That’s probably why 9/10 of my paintings fail 😅. Have you tried Millford paper? I used one from a sample pack and to me it felt like arches but the lifting-oh my. I was lifting staining paints back to near white. It’s based on an old paper called Whatman. Sadly not vegan though like moulin du Roy (my favourite paper).

Thank you for sharing. I’m a beginner to watercolour and I own a W&N Cotman travels set so far. Recently I got the kuretake as a gift from my husband because I love Japan and this palette just looks amazing with all the different colours:) It did kind of scare me in the beginning because it was acting different than the W&N one. I used it on a Clairfontaine Mixed Media 250g paper and unfortunately it would be quite difficult to lift. I also find that if you use it on dry paper, the paint itself when it dries becomes somehow shinny, so if you are using dark shades you wil see all the places that are not “covered” properly, I hope this makes sense. Other than that I really like the palette and definitely gonna keep practising with it.

If you can get Daniel Smith watercolor ground in white it will cover the oops. You just let it dry for 24 hrs and slightly sand and you are good to go. I like the gold also using it just as a bright gold but since it is a ground it would blend beautifully as an under shawl or garment. I really enjoy your style. Is the indigo in the set real indigo by chance?😊

Oooh, I loved that first one too! Why do we have to be so harsh on ourselves?

ive never bought the exspensive arches paper i paint every day so it wouldnt make sense for me ,im very experienced in painting and at times feel like a beginner and thats ok ,if i were to bsell my art i would pay the higher price ,my canson xl works very well .

You are being too hard on yourself. Both the paintings came out beautifully. ❤

so nice + 1 subscriber ❤️❤️❤️

I’m fairly new to watercolor. And I use both Daniel Smith and Kuretake paints. Can you please tell me why you put red and green for the first background layer, then made it dark? Did you change your mind from a light to dark background or was there a reason for the first layer? Thank you.

RIP beautiful sheet of Arches. 😢 May you serve as a learning experience and grant me knowledge I hadn't before. Long live the Arches!

Hi! Boy was this the video I needed to see. I just messed up 4 large paintings in a row. I never had this bad of a run. I did have some really nice ones before this happened and they sold well, and perhaps the pressure of wanting to sell more made this happen. Finally, though I have decided to spend some time watching tutorials for a while. I can't believe I ruined so much good paper. I can use the backs for things, but I have far too many paintings that I can use the backs of! Anyway, I love your honesty and humility. Your paintings are still so beautiful. Can you tell me where you got the idea for the ornaments? they are so beautiful. Although I could probably find something similar like from mucha? But I got the Gansai Tambi when I started doing watercolor a few years back. I don't know why I stopped using them, perhaps because I heard about them not being artist grade. I love the big pans though and only get full pans now of regular watercolors, I never buy half pans, although I mostly try to get tubes as well. I found honey-based watercolors to be my favorites, although I am enjoying experimenting with granulating paints right now. I have now heard from two artisti that I like using the schmincke masking pen and plan to get some.

I loved this video! I have to ask - the 'brush' you used with your masking fluid, was it just dedicated brush or is it a special-brush for masking fluid? Masking fluid has ruined quite a few of my brushes! I always think that "it will be ok, I will be quick and only use a little bit" but nope, my (fortunately cheap) brushes does not approve haha.