Winsor & Newton Artists' Water Colours — the true professional watercolor!

For over 175 years, Winsor & Newton have been creating some of the world's finest art materials! One of their most popular and well-beloved lines is the classic Artists' Water Colour range. Made with the finest ingredients and meticulous, time-honored processes, Winsor & Newton Artists' Water Colours are some of the finest watercolor paints on the planet today. Let's learn a little about them, shall we?

Primary Color Palettes for Winsor & Newton Artists' Water Colours

• The three Primary Colors in the range are Winsor Lemon, Winsor Blue (Red Shade) and Permanent Rose.
• When using a 6-color palette, we recommend using Winsor Lemon, Winsor Yellow, French Ultramarine, Winsor Blue (Green Shade), Permanent Rose and Scarlet Lake.

Transparency and Opacity
The varying transparency and opacity of a pigment will affect the optical character of the individual color as well as how the color mixes with other colors. The most transparent colors will enable you to create a pure glazing effect by applying a number of washes on top of one another. The more opaque colours give flatter washes and greater covering over previous washes. Opaque colors are also useful for toning down color mixtures.

On the Winsor & Newton Artists' Water Colour chart, the transparent colors are marked with □ or T, the semi-transparent colors are marked or ST. The relatively semi-opaque colors are marked with ◩ or SO and the opaque colours are marked with ■ or O.

Pigment Choice
Watercolor more than any other medium relies upon the variable characteristics of the pigments used. As it is essentially a staining technique, everything rests on the handling properties of the pigments; whether they can produce a smooth wash or a textured wash; how opaque or transparent they are; the brilliance and strength of their color; and so on.

With this in mind, it has always been — and will continue to be — Winsor & Newton's aim to provide artists with the widest possible range of pigments to give them the greatest choice and flexibility. It takes a total of 87 different pigments to produce the 96 Artists' Water Colours.

Today, our Artists' Water Colours contain an ever-widening range of high performance pigments, which ensure strength of color and excellent brilliance combined with extremely high permanence ratings.

Single Pigments in the Range
Just like people, each and every pigment differs in shape, size, color, and "personality." Pigments, especially in watercolor, serve as a set of tools or vocabulary to help artists manipulate their work and alter their expression.

Wherever possible, single pigments have been used in Artists' Water Colour to ensure that we offer the widest choice of colors and pigment characteristics or positions, such as hue, particle size, transparency, tinting strength, etc. This helps broaden the artist's creative expression.

We use single pigments wherever possible. Single pigment formulations are purer in hue and cleaner in color than mixtures of pigments, providing a larger number of color mixes before resulting in muddy effects. Within the new Artists' Water Colour range there are 75 single pigments amounting to 78% of the range.

To learn more about Winsor & Newton's special milling processes and why they're so important, please watch the video below!

Are you a watercolor artist? Have you ever used (or do you swear by) Winsor & Newton Artists' Water Colours? Tell us your experiences in the comments below!

Customer service expands with a new online live chat module!

At JerrysArtarama.com, our customers' satisfaction is our ultimate goal! We work hard to ensure that you can find all your favorite art supplies quickly and easily, knowing that you're getting the best everyday low prices on oil colors, canvas, paintbrushes, acrylics, watercolors, easels, studio furniture, DVDs, drawing materials, pastels, kids' art supplies and more. We also strive to be your #1 artists' resource, offering hundreds of free video art lessons, art tips and techniques, product reviews, blog, Twitter and Facebook pages, multiple art contests and more, all designed to foster and enhance the art community.

With all this in mind, it's a pretty big site to navigate! There's so much for visitors to see and do and read and learn about, it's natural for folks to have questions. We've always been available by phone and via email to answer any questions, but now we're happy to expand our customer service offerings with the addition of a live online chat module!

We at Jerry's Artarama recognize today's need for quick and easy access to necessary information: customers who have their questions answered quickly and efficiently are more likely to be pleased with their experience and to remain loyal. In the search for how best to provide this access, we discovered LiveChat Inc. , one of the foremost live chat software developers dedicated to providing fast and simple communication between e-commerce websites and their customer base. LiveChat Inc. specializes in state-of-the-art online sales tools designed to enhance and improve the connection between businesses and their customers, through innovative developments utilizing chat platforms on websites, mobile devices, social media networks and more. Plus, it's fast and easy to use!

How it Works

• Click on "LIVE CHAT" at the top right corner of the JerrysArtarama.com website
• Enter your contact information and a brief description of your issue or question
• Chat with one of our trained specialists
• Get your answers quickly and effectively!

As you can see, we're very pleased with our new LiveChat option, and hope you will be too! It's just the latest in our many advances to provide our customers with the best service possible. From the minute you open our catalog or webpage, to the minute you unpack your newly-delivered art supplies, we want you to be happy with every step along the way. Check out all the many ways we at Jerry's Artarama strive to ensure that when you shop with us, you'll get the best customer service available!

• Specialists available via phone, email, and new LiveChat!
• Every order packed carefully and accurately
• Fast and free shipping offers
• Large and custom orders welcome
• Pioneers of everyday low prices!

Order Efficiency and Accuracy
Curious about what happens after you click that "place order" button? Get a peek behind the scenes at our warehouse in this informational video!

So what are your thoughts? Have you had a chance to try our LiveChat option, and if so, how did you like it? Are there any more aspects you'd like to see us add to our customer service process? Visit our newly designed customer service center (click here) and please let us know about it in the comments below!

Prove It!

Can following along with the World of Art Instructional DVDs really help when trying your hand at painting? On this episode of Prove It!, Mikey G sets out to test his own skills at recreating a Tom Jones watercolor painting. He'll begin by using nothing but the required supplies and a photograph of the completed painting, and then try a second time while following along with the video. Which turns out better? Watch until the end, and you be the judge!

Please enjoy this Prove It! video and let us know what you think in the comments below!

What do you think? Did following along with the World of Art DVD really improve Mikey's painting techniques? How about you; have you tried any art instructional DVDs for learning art at home? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Ampersand Panels: Painting on Rigid Supports

Ampersand panels have been around since 1994, gaining popularity with artists over the years as a trusted archival surface for their art.

Since Ampersand began, the company's mission has been to create the best painting surfaces on the market and to share its panel expertise with the artist community. Since each panel from Ampersand has unique characteristics and uses, we'll go through them one by one so you can see the differences and understand what mediums work best with each.

The Museum Series panels from Ampersand are all fully made in the USA from US-grown renewable wood sources and sealed with Archiva-Seal™ barrier technology to protect against support-induced discoloration. In addition, all of the grounds used on the panels are archival, pH neutral and non-yellowing, so your work will be around for years to come. Only Ampersand uses top quality birch plywood for the cradled profiles that can be painted, stained or waxed for a frame-free presentation. The panels are available in a wide variety of sizes and profiles; one will certainly suit your artistic preference!

Besides all the known advantages of painting on wood panels, Ampersand panels are easy to frame and hang just like any stretched canvas or paper substrate. What make Ampersand panels distinctly different are their extraordinary painting surfaces unavailable from any other source.

Ampersand Gessobord is the perfectly-sanded finish for oils and acrylics, casein or alkyds.

The rigid support is durable enough for heavy layering or palette knife work without paint cracking, peeling or support-induced discoloration. The acrylic gesso finish has a titanium white ground designed to enhance your paint colors. Gessobord is available in 1/8" flat, 3/4" cradle, new 1.5" cradle and 2" deep cradle.

Ampersand Pastelbord is the only pastel surface ideally suited for working wet or dry when layering pastels. The boards are coated with a clay and gesso ground with a granular marble finish, available in Sand, Grey, Green and White colors. Pastelbord also makes a unique surface for acrylics, as the paint stays wet longer than on a gesso ground and the colored tones create a ready-made under-painting surface. With colored pencil, you can endlessly apply layer after layer to get high definition detail. Available in a 1/8" flat profile.

Ampersand Aquabord (or Claybord Textured) is comparable to cold press watercolor paper in absorbency and texture, but colors come out richer and more vibrant. The surface is naturally more forgiving than paper as it can be reworked and re-wetted, allowing for the lifting of color even when dry. Available in 1/8" flat and 2" deep cradle profiles. Learn some helpful tips on using Aquabord here.

Ampersand Encausticbord has a specific ground formulated for the distinctive traits of encaustic, highly porous and more textured than traditional acrylic gesso. It is heat resistant and holds well to encaustic wax without cracking and is compatible not only with mixed media and image transfer, but also oils and water miscible paints. Available in 1/8" and ¼" flat profiles, 7/8" traditional, 1.5" gallery and 2" deep cradled profiles. 

Top five reasons to use Encausticbord featuring Lisa Pressman:

• 1. Convenience
• 2. Unique surface
• 3. Multimedia compatible
• 4. Absorbent, durable, and tested
• 5. Great for teaching, demos, workshops

The Natural Wood Panels are new members to the Ampersand line, ideal for those interested in using their own priming and sealing methods. The plywood surface is sanded perfectly smooth so you won't experience fiber raising or excessive wood grain when applying gesso. The panels are tested for durability and warp-resistance, and accept all types of painting grounds. They are great for encaustic, collage, mixed media, heavy paint and palette knife work or to mount canvas, paper, photos and prints. All unprimed wood panels should be sealed first with Golden® GAC100 before applying the painting grounds or mounting prints. Encaustic acts as its own wood sealer, therefore the wood does not require priming beforehand. Available in 7/8" traditional and 1.5" profiles. Instructions for sealing and priming wood panels can be found here.

Ampersand's Value Series Artist Panels in both Smooth and Canvas versions are ideal for those who want all the benefits of painting on panel without a big price tag. The panels are ready to paint and feature an acrylic gesso finish, either sanded perfectly smooth or with a raised fabric texture for the sense of painting on canvas. The panels work well for oils, acrylics and mixed media with both fine and heavy paint applications and also palette knife work. The canvas texture version is available in 3/8" flat panel with hanging slots, 3/4" traditional cradle profile and 1.5" gallery profile. Smooth texture is available in 1/8" flat profile.

For more information on Ampersand panels, as well as projects and technical articles, refer to Ampersand's blog and website.

Have you used Ampersand panels? What are your thoughts and comments. Please let us know below in the comments!

Prove It!

Different shades of white are all around us in the paint world, but do we really need that much variety? Find out in this monochromatic episode of Prove It!, where Mikey G. will try to answer the question, "Is white really just one color?" Come along with Mikey on a visit to his local Jerry's Artarama art supply store as he searches to see how much white is available, then rejoin him in the studio as he mixes colors to determine firsthand the features and benefits of each different hue!

Please enjoy this Prove It! video and let us know what you think in the comments below!

What do you think? Is the color white really as multi-faceted as Mikey thinks? Mike used four different whites from the Charvin Extra Fine Oil Colors line; have you had any experiences with other lines of paint? Tell us about it in the comments below!