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Sorry if this shows up more than once. I posted it before, but it never showed up.
I’ve wanted to try out some of Cheap Joe’s American Journey brand of watercolors for a while. I saw their All Terrain Set and thought it was an interesting mix of colors – different from what I already have, so I bought it.
The set includes a 5 ml. tube each of Blue Stone-PB36/PY42, Coastal Fog-PBr7/PW6, Pat’s Coastal Blue-PBr7/PB36, Quinacridone Gold Deep-PY150/PR206, Rainforest-PB17/PBr7 and Raw Umber Violet-PBr7/PV19.
Six of the colors have PRr7 in them. Pat’s Coastal Blue and Bluestone both have PB36. I wondered if it would be easier to avoid mud with this set because of this. After playing around with the colors, I found that ‘yes’, you can get mud, but more from bad technique than from bad mixing.
The colors make me think of coastal fogs and salt spray, or misty farmland mornings. So, contrary soul that I am, I decided to do a desert scene for my first painting with the set. I’ve been playing around with an idea using one of the critturs from my Fun and Easy Landscape series. When I’m painting something from my head, I usually have to paint it before I know how to paint it – this seemed like a good time to give it my first try.
The Quinacridone Gold Deep is semi-transparent and the Raw Umber Violet is tranparent. All the other colors are opaque or semi-opaque.
The Bluestone is a weaker color than I expected. The Quinacridone Gold Deep dries paler than I’m used with other brands I’ve had. My favorite color of the bunch is the Raw Umber Violet, but then I like maroons.
I didn’t like the effects I got with wet-into-wet, mostly because of the opacity.
Despite all this, I like the set. I feel it has a limited scope, but is very good for what it’s good for. I wouldn’t recommend it to a beginner because of that limited use, and because I think this set requires some knowledge of color mixing.
Love that little painting! AJ is an interesting brand. Their Raw Umber Violet is now a permanent part of my palette, and the 37ml tubes in basic colors (Phthalo Green, Pyrrol Red, etc) are great values.
They don’t have as much flow/movement as I prefer, but they tend to be very bold and have little drying shift, which I love. If anyone is interested, I’ve got a full review of AJ over at my blog. I’ll be happy to post a link here. Glad to see someone else featuring them!
I’ll add the link to Tonya’s Review of American Journey watercolors. You should read it if you have any interest in the brand!
I have a thing for red earths. If I purchase one more PR101, please shoot me. Oh wait, have you seen Da Vinci’s Violet Iron Oxide??? Headed to the store… 😀
Lol! You sound like me. What’s the meme? “Buying art supplies and actually using art supplies are two different hobbies!”
Well that’s true! Though I paint every day and feel like I blow through supplies. Except for el cheapo #2 pencils. That’s what I use to sketch with and unless I lose one, they seem to last forever. Why can all art tools do that?! 🙂
1. I am in love with your style, lady.
2. I’m now also kind of in love with this set.
3. This club is going to be bad for my wallet.
4. I’m okay with that.
Thank you for the review!
Elizabeth,
1. Thank you!
2. It’s an interesting set. I’m glad I gave it a try.
3. My wallet too. Getting way to flat.
4. I can live with it, lol!
My pleasure!
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