You are my new obsession. I’m 75 and hadnt painted for thirty years and if you don’t think you can forget , you can . I appreciate artists like yourself, if it weren’t for you I wouldn’t be making any progress . Thank you for your smiley lovely generosity

Started taking a watercolor class to help grieve for my brother who just passed away in January (2022)....he taught art for 40 years. I've had nightmares, I've smiled, and after watching this tutorial I'm breathing a bit easier. I'm a quilter so it's difficult to let go of being very precise. Thank you for your videos and your talent. I look forward to watching you again!

I love you! I'm an absolute beginner! Just did your beginner tutorial with my 11 yr old today. When you called your viewers friend, my daughter was like, "why does she keep calling us friends?" I said she's MY new best friend! So happy to find you and find a relaxing, enjoyable way to begin watercolors.

Paul Ruben watercolours rule. They're lightfast, have pigment information and the 24 pan set is just a perfect selection of colours for a beginner. I've spent a year with them and love them, I'm only upgrading to Daniel Smith to get better at colour mixing, but I will and do recommend this set to anyone who wants to start out with watercolour. Plus the Payne's grey is just gorgeous.

I took art classes in the late 80s. The instructor only allowed us to use yellow, red, blue and black. I learned a lot about color that way, but I really just wanted to paint. Not spend the time creating a particular color. I'm starting again. I wish I'd never stopped! Life happens, but it could've helped me get through some hard life experiences. I enjoy your videos SO SO MUCH!!

I speak some Japanese but I admit I didn't know what 'komorebi' meant. I looked it up and it means "sunlight filtering through trees". How poetic :) That's what I love about Japanese, they have words for things that we just don't have in English. I'm really enjoying the tone of your videos and it's a firm fixture in my watercolour channel subs!

Mozart Komorebi was my first set and it does everything you need as a beginner. Even after leveling up I used to find myself going a lot more for the Mozart than my newer sets.

I didn’t know if you knew, but the Mei Leng/Pretty Excellent popped out and into half pans OVERFLOWED the pans (!) in seven of the colors. Then, I put them beside a Paul Ruben set (please note: I got these for review/gifts)…and hm. That’s all I’ll say is, “Hm.” Same for the tube Paul Rubens. The Paul Rubens line is quite nice. The 24 set used to run around $49.99 and the Mei Leng/Pretty Excellent was on sale not long ago for $17.99 . I love the Paul Rubens presentation but you get 24 vs 36 half pans. I did a literal blind comparison - husband swatched - and I couldn’t pick one from the other and surprise! Lightfastness tests between the two showed the same results. Hm? If you’ve not popped out the Mei Leng and put them squished HARD down into a half pan, try it! Paul Rubens half pans are thicker than say Winsor & Newton, Schminke and Sennielier (even Daniel Smith) pans, but I normally buy tubes. The Kuretake Gansai set has more paint (about 4ml per pan), so cost wise? Winner. And they’ve stated they’ve moved away from using animal products (but they still must use a lot of glycerin or some such binder), and if you have to spend $49.99 for the Paul Rubens, go for St. Petersburg White Knights 24 set full pan set and use a white dish from the dollar store (better than plastic palettes) or follow Kristy and mix on the page! Deep, artists grade pigments. Best transparency, and they’re real…artist grade paints. Do I own every one of these palettes? Yes. Do I love all of them in some way? Yes. Kristy has hit upon something here…but remember St. Petersburg White Nights. Artist grade for pennies compared to other artist quality paints and since honey is the binder, think M. Graham. Additionally, Rosa, out of Ukraine…wow. It was formerly a White Nights production facility supposedly, but someone from there would need to confirm. Ending with, “I love Cotman/Winsor &Newton and think they are awesome . The 12 set isn’t a true split primary set, so think bigger). Kuretake applied thickly does leave a sheen. Just build up layer-by-layer. Now that I’ve agreed with everything Kristy has said, I’m surprised St. Petersburg White Nights full pan, 24 set, didn’t make this review when Art Philosophy’s 12 pans are $20 or more for just 12 non-primary colors. Again, ArtPhilCo are great paints for what they are but be wary of some non-artist grade pigments used in them. It’s been said their “artist grade”tubes are better. I’ve not tried them yet. But…I will, I hope to someday.

The Pretty Excellent palette (Mei Liang) are the student level range by the same manufacturer as Paul Rubens paints. Most of the colors are surprisingly lightfast in both Pretty Excellent and Paul Rubens. Paul Rubens is more pigmented and little smoother flowing. Both are a really good value for the price.

WOW, and I don't mean wet on wet. I loved this video. I intended to buy a couple of the sets described in your Amazon - middle of the price road - video of 2023, then I saw this one, and love these too. So, I may soon rival yours truly for the number of water color sets. No, I won't allow myself to do that. Two or three, and some metallics for panache, will be quite enough. So thanks, again Kristy. I feel very joyous and grateful to have come across your channel. Hugs from Texas.

Well… I’ve been binge watching your videos since I found you yesterday and I’ve already learned so much from you that I don’t know how I ever managed to have the courage to paint before knowing all of this! You take the “ scare” right out of the processes and replace it with fun and confidence! I’m just enjoying each video so much…learning so much….having…yes…FUN!! Thank you Kristy for sharing your considerable knowledge and talent with all of us. You are a newfound treasure!💖👍👍

WOW - you not only think "OUTSIDE'' the Box, you STEP out of it and do a glorious dance with COLOR!! This was Fabulous to watch. I learned so much about techniques in painting, matching colors, textures of paints, pigments.....OMG and so much more. I don't know if I can go to sleep now, I'm so excited!! Thank you Kristy, for all that you teach us.

This is my first time on your channel and I'm blown away by your content. The depth of your insights and the infectiousness of your passion truly set you apart on here. Subscribed!

I love the idea of making the swatch session fun. I’ve just been doing boring squares. Excited to try this new technique. Thanks for the tip! 😁

Wow... that's a lot of swatches! Regarding the lifting. As you noted, for purposes of "learning" a person may want to attempt a lift of each color for any given set because not all pigments will lift the same. i/e red may not lift the same as blue or green.

This older video popped into my feed today and I'm so glad. There was so much useful information beyond how each palette performed. I love the idea of artful swatching. I'm a pretty new viewer but have come to really appreciate all I learn from you.

So happy to hear you say that ur not a mixer. As a beginner I thought I HAD to learn to mix colors when all I wanna do is paint! I just wanna paint right from my palettes for pure pleasure! ❤️❤️❤️ I just put ur brushes in my Amazon Cart! They are sooooo cute, don’t need them at all but I’m getting them! Addicted to buying supplies! 🤷🏽‍♀️

That Gen crafts palette was what I picked up last year when I started watercoloring!! I ended up picking my most used 24 and a dot card from Winsor and Newton and made myself a custom palette with all my most used in pro paints. My treat to myself

I just found your channel today. I am very new to Watercolours - traditionally I have been a Folk Art painter since 1996. But about a year ago I was turned onto watercolours and now I find myself torn between watercolours and acrylics because I love them both. I have had the Meiliang palette for a while - but I also use individual tube paints as well. I am a big fan of Derwent Inktense watercolours - pans, pencils and blocks - as I love the "ink" qualities. I will say that I am very happy to have found your channel - I have watched 6 of your videos today so far & am blown away by what I have learned. I absolutely love your passion for the Arts and your encouragement of others. Thank you

I love watching this to know what watercolors to get for my birthday❤

Thanks for doing swatches differently. It’s a lot more fun that way!! It feels more free!! And thanks for suggestions on paint sets. As a beginner it was hard to decide which set to buy! Thanks!!😜👍🏻

That was the funnest watercolor video I've ever watched and I've watched alot! You make it so fun and that laugh! Lol! Thank you! I'm ordering a few of these right now.

I adore you! Still pretty scared when I paint...I had a bad teacher....told me I was not doing it correctly. But when I found you...I found joy! I have 2 of you books waiting for my third! Thank you so very much!

I just bought and tried the Gen Craft pallet, and I love it (not as much as your 'Joy's sake' pallet) ❤

I picked up the GenCrafts 48 and Mei Liang 36 around the beginning of 2020. I liked the Mei Liang paint texture and behavior better, but wanted to be able to rearrange the pans (this was back when they had all the paints glued into a thin plastic thing in the tin-I think they make it with individual pans now). I ended up reaching for the GenCrafts palette most of the time because it had more colors and I could rearrange the pans. Today I finally took apart the two palettes and put together a custom combination of their colors in the GenCrafts palette. More than half of the GC paints went into a palette I’m making for my boyfriend’s daughter, but I kept a lot of the more unique teals and things like that which I liked. Some of the GC colors were fine, but too close to another color in the ML palette or even another paint pan in the same palette. I think the new assortment will be a more joyful painting experience for me and I can pass the rest on to my boyfriend’s daughter who wants to try watercolor 😊

I’ve used the Mei Ling set for about 2+ years and have used up some colors. I have Schminke, Sennelier, etc., but this is my daily practice set. I love it.

Thank you!!! I was searching Amazon for a beginner set and was totally overwhelmed until I came across your much needed video!! Think I’m going to go with the Gencraft. Love the colors for card making and overall loved how I saw them perform and the end result. Saved me so much time!!

Kristi your videos are the bed and I never feel pressured only well informed. I always “boop” and of course am subscribed and can’t wait till you perfect your watercolor palette so I can buy it!

After purchasing a new palette or setting up a new palette I swatch them in an order to remember which pan has what color - like a map. That's because some paints look dark/black-ish when they are dry and it's hard to tell what exactly the color is. Otherwise these are cool ways to swatch, go outside the box and play with your new paints ☺

Deep pinks, violets, sea greens and blues just blow me away. I agree that some would have you mix your colors, wasting time and not being able to duplicate it quickly again! There are no rules in watercolouring, one artist said... sure good to know as a beginner gramma! ... Thank you for sharing your gift with all of us! You're awesome and subscribed... bless you in the the New Year! A California gramma 💕❄☃

Kristy Kristy Kristy Kristy!! YOU are definitely my new paint crush. So inspiring! I’ve subscribed! Don’t want to miss a single episode! Thank you so much for all you do! 🥰🙏🏼

I’m OBSESSED with your color swatches! I love how you take plain swatches for a more artistic ride. Wonderful!

I love the leaf swatches on the round paper. So so cool! Thank you for a very fun video.

I have to say, I love your videos! They are so welcoming! Thank you

I have the Mei Liang palette and it may be my fave, even compared to much higher quality palettes (like even a 12 color sennelier I have, I hardly ever use that one!) I will say that I think the paints look less bold once they've dried, but I do love how pigmented and bold the colors are overall. And I think they mix a lot better than most palettes!

This was a terrific palette of information, ideas, colours, suggestions & fun! I did the first set of leaves with my paints. Thank you for making this a "time well spent" event. Jalayne🥰

Just got the gencrafts palette for 24 bucks- down from 40! So excited to start my journey!

Love your free aproach - you enjoying painting gets all the way to mee

I love the mei liang palette! My first palette and still use it. I have the WN landscape travel palette as well but I still go back to ML for colors

Brand new to watercolor and really painting of all kinds. I was super frustrated and getting down on myself and then picked up your channel. I’m sticking with it! Thank you!

Sooooo that Mozart palette created such excitement for me to witness, I *had* to go ahead and grab it.🤩 I have *you* to thank for making my next selection process SO much easier, providing a *great* variety of colors, and budget-friendly to boot! I can't wait to paint a million things with it-thank you Kristy!!🎨🖼✨

I just ordered the Gen Crafts 48 palette from Amazon for $29.72 regularly $49.99! All those beautiful colors. I, too, have just started painting again at 73. And having all those colors is so inspiring. Thank you for this video. Actually just discovered your site this morning 💕Cathy

Found your channel searching watercolor. Enjoyed your reviews! i'm fairly new to watercolor and am learning all the time. thank you for sharing your talents and knowledge!

Gencraft, MeiLiang, and Mozart Komorebi were my favorite to watch you use. The vibrant colors spilling into one another was so lovely to see. I'm a control freak when it comes to art so it felt nice to be inspired to let pigment go where I didn't put it myself :) This makes me want to use my guache and watercolor soon :)

I continue to learn something new every time I watch you! Thank you! 💖

I love your method of swatching! So much fun!

Thank you for posting this excellent and informative session. I am an older, uber older beginner, so I need all the encouragement. I’m learning that I have to erase all the old tapes about art that I grew up with generations ago. I’ve always loved art, drawing, painting, yet was never encouraged to “just draw”. (I majored in Language Arts, tho’ 😊). Gosh, I can just image where I would be in my interest in art if I was encouraged to learn the skills. So, here I am, listening to all you youngsters for guidance. 😊 The approach nowadays is so refreshing; didn’t know that art was supposed to be fun. That’s the academics speaking to me; do for a grade; stressful, not fun. Anyway, I appreciate your presentation and have subscribed/liked. So much to learn. 😮 Best to you.

Thank you! I just found you today and it's changed my whole outlook and brought me out of a winter blues slump. I absolutely adore your style, I've been painting on and off for just 10 years and feeling more confident with your help. Going to order new brushes and paints today! Thank you friend

You are a lot of fun to watch and listen to!

I really appreciated the massive effort you invested for us in swatching all of these paints. I really did miss you reviewing the transparency of each pallet. Whilst many looked highly pigmented, many looked a tad chalky. I understand that you mentioned the opacity of some, and that one was more like gouache, based on the overall reviews ( even though you did such a lot), I would never be able to consider purchasing any based on theses reviews because I was unable to tell the transparency of some. When doing reviews in future, maybe you could consider doing a transparency test on each so your exciting and interesting reviews will be more valuable for most.

I LOVE your approach to swatching! Thank you so much Kristy! I feel so inspired to keep up with watercolour

It is 1:45 am and I just now found you and this video and OMG I am so excited. I have been struggling trying to figure out what paints on Amazon are not going to end up in my drawer of BAD BUYS and here you are! My question s are … 1. Pallets or Tubes and why? 2. Gouache or traditional paints and why? 3. What’s the best Amazon option for each? 4. Favorite must have brushes on Amazon? I am for sure a new FAN!

I haven’t found anyone yet who reviewed all these cheaper, smaller brands (instead of just seeing the Koi watercolors again and again, or Arteeza or whatever else well-known), so I was really excited to see this video! I’m only ten minutes in but I’m really enjoying all the different swatch types.

Hi Kristy. :) Good demonstration. I've been doing a lot of research on paints and papers in order to make the best choices when ordering supplies. As a beginner I need to balance "the best I can afford" with "how far will these supplies go?" I can't watch your videos fast enough, lol. There are a lot of helpful, talented people on YT- and they are all appreciated-but your personality just pulls me in. You do make everything a joy. Right now I'm doing your basic watercolor techniques and practicing strokes. There are improvements every day, and that's exciting and encouraging. I don't care if I go slowly, as long as I'm going! Thank you very much. (Hi Adam-you're appreciatedtoo.)

I have so many pages of laboriously swatched rectangles. This is so much better! I can actually practice painting and also swatch. Thanks.

I recently got the Mei Liang set for my kids. I swatched it for my son, because I wanted to see the colours, he's not interested in swatching. I loved it so much I bought myself a set too ! And I swatched all my palletes in circles. One turned out so well I'm turning it into a birthday card for my sister. To spruce it up I splattered some gold on top. :-)

Just discovered watercolors and YOU. OMG we are kindred spirits, I do believe.

Swatching is great when you want to paint but have art block!

You are absolutely delightful…I am so excited to be learning from you. I am an old dog about to learn lots of new tricks!!! I just turned 71❤

BEGINNERS: The words "pigment" and "paint" are not synonyms. These pallets have paint in them. Paint is made by mixing pigments or dyes with a binding agent. When using watercolors, you are using a medium called paint.

I have laughed out loud with your joyful presentation of color and shapes and the art of water color. Thank you for so many great tips and ideas!!!!

Just love watching you demonstrate and switching! Thanks for posting!!!

1) I just purchased the Paul Rubens set on Amazon USA. Today is 8/1/2024. The plain pink (not the pink & gold tin) set is 20% off now in the US! It’s $33.59. The light blue tin of glitter watercolors is 20% off as well. It’s $29.59. Bc of this I bought both. Just received them, & haven’t swatched them yet. But I took the packaging off each individual color square, & they’re gorgeous! Some of the glitter/metallics plastic packaging on the individual watercolors do NOT match what’s in them. At least one doesn’t. My bf is a professional artist and he agreed with me. These sets do NOT come with a paint brush. The Paul Ruben’s paintbrush set isn’t on sale. It has 4 synthetic brushes. I read reviews about the Paul Rubens brushes with real hair, & they said they shed. I have a cornucopia of my late mother’s brushes in storage. It’s too hot to go in there now. Note: I bought a set of Golden Maple sable brushes, that are an Amazon Choice & they reek of TOXIC chemicals. It isn’t the packaging. It’s the entire set of brushes: brush tips and wooden handles. Do NOT purchase these. The $16.99 - 10% is too good to be true. I’m telling you this bc I don’t want you to have to return them. And God forbid you send them as a gift. I purchased them 1st, but then ended up spending an extra $10 on the Paul Rubens synthetic. I know we’re talking about watercolors, but the Caran D’Ache gauche is 14% off now. It’s a big pallet 14 pallet colors, a tube of white gauche, with a nice basic synthetic brush for $33.68. I’m a diehard Caran D’Ache fan. I was spoiled by my Nana & mother with great art supplies growing up. The tins make me 🙂. 2) I would swatch on a piece of rolled watercolor paper, & use it to wrap presents. I don’t have a roll of loose paper now. This would be perfect for you, bc you have invested in all things watercolor. I’m positive whoever receives your gift will be impressed. You can even swatch the person’s name on the paper! ? If I were to swatch this way, and don’t care about the watercolors showing on the other side, how low can I go on the weight of the paper? What kind of paper? Good sketch? Is there a light weight watercolor paper? 💡IDEA: maybe this is a great activity for children/teens who respect the medium and love watercolors. Their grandparents would really be impressed, and appreciate it. They could wrap a fruit cake as dense as a hockey puck & their grandparents will still be thrilled. They’ll just regift the fruitcake to an obnoxious neighbor, or use it as a door stop. Ty for such a fun entertaining video. 🎨

I agree about mixing the Japanese WCs. I find them very mixable, just takes patience. They’re lovely!

It’s amazing you see you doing so well! I am about to head back to college at 31 and it’s been so hard to find content geared toward adult students, so I’d love for you to do those videos!

OMG, I’m just learning watercoloring and I’m a very a-b-C-1-2-3 person. And you make me fall in love with wc. Thank you for your energy.

I've been kind of binging your videos the last few days after discovering a random watercolor painting tutorial. I really wanted to give it a try bc it looks super fun, low stress, and kind of hard to *actually* screw up! So I hemmed and hawed and literally just made the purchase of the last Mozart palette you showed (bc it looked nice, you recommended it especially for beginners and also it has good reviews and pictures/video from other customers). I also got the budget princeton brushes and (although you dislike it) the canson spiral book. They will be here in 2 days and I'm stoked to try my hand at watercolor! If you see another surge in your views this weekend it'll be me trying to paint along 😂 lol! Thanks for all of the inspiration and beautiful art you've created!

Wow, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE your approach to swatching I’m so glad I found you here! I’m new with watercolor so I’m sure I’ll learn alot here 👍🏾♥️

I was wowed by watching this!

Großartige Idee, den Swatch anders zu machen. Danke, für diese tolle Inspiration!! 🙏

Enjoyed seeing a new approach to experimenting with swatching a new palette.

I love my Daniel smith watercolors, but something made me get that GenCrafts set of 48…those swatches looked beautiful, lots of fun bright colors to just play with. Best part there was a $5 coupon AND a promotion where I got a set of 50, 12ml gencraft watercolor tube paints for free! I just checked out & the total was only like $31for all of it😊 i love a bargain! Thanks Kristy😘

I recently bought from Amazon Germany (I live in Austria) a new watercolor box: it's from Artina and after watching your video I now see what the job of a box is for me. And I can safely say I am quite happy with the Artina box. I ordered two of the ones you chose and they will be delivered soon. Thank you for your nice videos! You seem really lovely.

This last Mozart set was ok but to be honest I had a hard time as a beginner figure out how to use the metallic, neons and reg colors. I actually sent this one back! Not a fan. But some others may enjoy it. 😃 BTW IM A NEW SUBSCRIBER AND MUST SAY THAT YOUR A FANTASTIC TEACHER❣️❣️❣️ Ive learned so much from you❣️❣️ your my new fab friend!!

Thank you for letting me know that swatching is not only boring squares, I used to cringe when I see them, but now I know I can do anything.

I actually popped out my Pretty Excellent set into half pans and they are the perfect size to fit into them.

The first video that I stumble upon on your channel. At first, I was a little off-put by the swatches and kept saying, "But why this disorganized?" After watching the full video, I realize you gave me so many fun ways to mess around with my watercolor as a beginner without overthinking it! Thanks for those tips and the different typed of review you gave.

Just what I was looking for! Wanted an inexpensive non professional pan pallet to use for underpainting. Your video helped me make an informed decision. Look forward to receiving my Mozart Komorebi💜

Thank you, I enjoyed this so much!! I'm a very beginner watercolorist, and I love to swatch (true story, didn't even know it was a TikTok You Tube thing, lol!). Love having different ways to play with colors!!

Komorebi means - when the sun shines through the leaves. Beautiful 💗

I absolutely love your teaching enthusiasm! I just started looking into water painting to try something new. I purchased your brushes and have been using a total beginners paint set by Monday Llama so I am very excited to see your reviews of these paint sets. Time to upgrade and see what a difference I can make with my struggling new craft. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge, talents and expertise. 😍

I have the larger set of the Paul Rubens and I love them! I used an Amazon gift card, but so worth the splurge that I wouldn't have been mad to spend that money out of pocket lol

Love the idea of doing something other than a row of squares for swatching. That last one with the Mozarts Komorebi paints was so beautiful.

Love the energy , the enthusiasm , and most of all, the information!! Also very efficient to give pro tips along the way . ❤ enjoyed and found very valuable

This student is ready and you Appeared !!! Im a grateful watercolorest / multimedia 🎨 artist !!!

Currently painting with acrylic while learning about water color 🤭

Thank you Kristy 🙏 just to let you know that there is also a 48 pans set of this Paul Rubens set 😊

I’m so excited for your tutorial, I just bought the Mozart for my 5 year old budding artist grandson. Your swatching of it makes me realize that I made the right choice for him! He’ll love the bright colors! Thanks Kristy

Every time you say press, drag, lift- I'm taken back to "One Stroke Acrylics" - I remember when that was "New"..

when i got my stimulus checks i spent most of it on exspensive and cheap watercolors and acrylics a dream come true for this artist.thank you

I just found you. Where have you been all my YT life? 😀 Watercolor is completely new to me. I've always wanted to try but somehow felt discouraged and unsure. I've watched a few of your videos and feel ready to dive in. I just scored a 48 count Gen Craft palette set w/brush, pens and paper included for 14.00! I'm taking that as my cue to dive in. Can't wait until the set arrives. In the meantime, I'll be watching!

I got the Gencraft at the thrift store for a dollar and added them to my Hethrone and Misuntulip pans. Though I have tube watercolors I also love to use my now giant cheap pallet. Thanks for your input on them. I was not able to find much info.

I’m happy I found you!!! I’ve been digital painting for years and finally want to try to do traditional pieces again, starting with water colors. So thank you for this!!!

The way u swatch looks much more fun. I'm so OCD though & don't kno if I could break from adding the name under each color. I am going 2 try because I like the creative freedom there is swatching your way. Tks

Love all the different vibrant colors of Gen Craft on the round paper. The

I was extremely lucky! I went to an estate sale and bought Grumbacher paints! Estate sales are even better!!!! Love love love your channel 💕

Ok I admit I am new here! Wow thank you so much for this teaching video! Your voice is so soothing and not irritating at all! I had to subscribe, favorite, download!! Not only do you explain how to do different swatches but the size of your brush & hold your brush!! Thank you!!

I had the MeiLing for about 3 years now. Just last year I figured out that there is another paint mixing area under the paint tray. Also the brand has bigger pan where other colours are included and a metallic pan as well

I think im going to try the Cotman

Didn’t know the trick of spraying the palette! Thank you 💕Cathy