I have used almost every brand of professional watercolors and many brands of professional gouache. In my experience the Rosa Gallery paints are firmly in the professional watercolors category. I just painted them out next to some different brands of gouache on black watercolor paper and it’s obvious they are transparent and not gouache. Not even close. For their price and performance, I can confidently say the Rosa Gallery watercolors are by far the best value in watercolor paints available today. All brands have their own take on what “good” paint is, but hey, some people feel Cotman is great paint. Regardless, it is watercolor paint though!

Maybe the streakiness is with the Hahnemühle paper. I am from Germany and I sometimes visit a youtube channel from an over 80 year old austrian watercolor artist, who mainly uses Schmincke Horadam paints his whole life long, and he said, he just cant get away with Hahnemühle paper. Even not with Schmincke paints. 🙂

You definitely chose a challenging pigment with the Chromoxide Green. I struggle with it with the Schmincke, White nights version as well, as it is very opaque and granulating, It might difficult to infer conclusions on overall transparency based one that colour. I bought all the single pigment Rosa Gallery tube paints a couple of years ago and I am delighted. They flow very well, are super super pigmented. I need to use much less water than I am used to. My choices have very few opaque colours and most are quite transparent - except some of the cadmiums and that Chromoxide green. I would not equate them to gouache, though. I have a very different pai ting sensation in my brush with gouache. I don't tend to go over my painted surface so much, and e joy when colours mix on the paper, so these colours go well with my painting style. Thanks for this review, Leslie. I will now pY more attention to the glazing opportunities, as I havent explored that so much with these colours. As always, lovely painting!

I have several tubes from Rosa Gallery and I LOVE them. This from someone that has many Daniel Smith, Schmincke, Sennelier, Winsor and Newton, Rembrandt etc. watercolours. There's no way they remind me of gouache. My favorites are Cobalt Turquoise and Aureoline Green.

This is the first time I see someone make this gouache comparison. Interesting. Maybe a factor for the colours looking streaky is the paper quality of the swatchcard?

I love this watercolor set so much, I've been using it since 2022 ❤ the colors are so bright and mix well, totally worth it

looks like what happens with cellulose paper...all paints lift...so layering/glazing...is VERY HARD...unless you have a squirrel or sable brush...nothing synthetic...as it is too hard and will most certainly lift paint on cellulose paper when trying to glaze.

I have noticed that paper quality is so important when using water colou, I have a set of these and they flowed well on 100% cotton paper cold press

stunning swatches, I love it 😊😊😊

@23:08....softening the edge of the winsor and newton...the paper does not look the same as the paper you painted the rosa gallery paints on. Can you please mention the paper that you used for both tests...as using the same paper would be crucial. thanks

Thank you. I have some I haven't used much yet so this was a great lesson on what and why! Much appreciated!

Has anyone tried the Rosa 24 Gouache set? I have been looking for a good review and safety information but haven't had any luck.

I got a set of Rosa Gallery paints after seeing lots of positive reviews. Unfortunately, I was disappointed when I tried them because I ran into the same issues with glazing as you did. None of the reviews I saw mentioned how easily the paints lift when you try glazing so I thought it was just me, that I was doing something wrong. But it kept happening no matter which paper I tried or how long I let them dry. It's reassuring to see that other people actually do have that problem too, it's not just me.

Rosa do have some mono-pigmented sets of 12 and 21 pans in their range. For the most part, the pigments used as similar to those you'll find in other brands - the exceptions being 711 Green (PG8) and 708 Carmine (PR170:1) which Handprint recommends against due to questionable lightfastness. I replaced these in my 21 set with 726 Madder Rose (PV19/PR254) and a W&N Hooker's Green (PG36/PY110), and added 727 Quinacridone Lilac (PV19), 752 Cerulean Blue (PB36), 718 Blue (PB15), 738 Blue Indanthrene (PB60), 717 Indigo (PB15:1/PV19/PBk7), 751 Aureoline (PY150), 758 Caput Mortuum (PR101), and 753 Royal Brown (PBr25). I also added some spare W&N half pans I already had, including their yellow ochre and Payne's gray. I find the pigment load to be very high compared with W&N pans, which makes it easy to pick up too much paint - perhaps this is the cause of you finding them to be more similar to gouache? I do my watercolour swatch charts using wet into wet techniques, so I did not notice this. A quick swipe of the brush across the pan picks up enough paint for a swatch lozenge. I hear they are similar to Golden's QoR range of watercolours, and they seem very similar to Russian St Petersburg paints - perhaps unsurprisingly!

I can see the issues with the glazing. It has to be noted though that they are half the price of what Schmincke asks. And for that price - which compares to the student grade line of other manufacturers - I find they perform pretty well. I actually have come to enjoy the ability to remove much of the first layer, and also the effect it does with the spritzing thing. ( I don't know why I defend them so much - I guess it has to with reasons that have nothing to do with their paint properties...)

I purchased the monopigment palette and it should arrive any day. I’m so excited!

I like this take on them! I snagged a set in the overstock sale and I do find myself liking gouache more than watercolor so now I’m extra excited.

Thank you for this very informative review! You have saved me money and that's a good think😉.

Great review 😊. Thanks Leslie.... Beautiful colors but i don't think this would be a watercolor that i would like. Looking forward to the next. 💛

Thank you for your review! I think I liked these more than you do but I really enjoyed your thorough approach and willingness to try them in a different way. I love the idea of gouacheing them up and will give it a shot myself. I am always interested in portable gouache options.

I loved the review! I got the monopigment set and while yes there is transparency like watercolor, the reactivating when trying to glaze also felt like it gave them some similarities to gouache and hearing you say that too, I was like YES! It’s not just me. I don’t think these qualities make them good or bad it’s just important to know that if I am planning a painting I will want to layer up, these probably won’t be my paints of choice. That said, I’m not disappointed they are in my collection. Thanks for sharing!

I leave the end stickers on so that I know the color and pigment information.

I barely know how to paint, but I really enjoyed this detailed review, and I feel like it was kind of a painting lesson at the same time. I’ll be subscribing! (Haha I’m already a subscriber…)

Amazing review..and your mini white, brush holder with a flower is so beautiful. I actually love it so much. I want to know more about it...so, please make a shorts on it.

I got the botanical set for Christmas. I was surprised how vibrant the colors were. They just felt brighter than my DS for some reason.

This a video I really sat through. I liked the honest, detailed review. I think I'd panic or get frustrated if I had to keep fixing my painting with various combinations (I've had this in the past and I'm a very amateur "artist"). If you could make a video on different pigments and the chart, I would be interested. I saw someone making their own colours with natural materials and how they end up being sustainable and I'd like to do that in the future but I don't know anything about pigments. Also, the Cobalt Turquoise colour is to die for! My brain kept splitting between both colours so it's been aptly named!

I would love for you to do a video about pigment classifications. I, too, lean toward single pigment colors, they definitley play better with others. There are only a handful of useful sites/people out there who provide much info on the subject (Kim Crick is wonderful) and I feel it is incredibly important for artisits to learn (I find their history fascinating too). 🤞

Best review I’ve seen of these paints. I have a set, explains so much !

I love this video. I saw them in the local store and was wondering how similar they are with White Nights watercolor. Wishing you a wonderful day!

I got the mono pigment set for Christmas but I haven’t played with them much. This is interesting because I do like glazing.

I love my Rosa gallery 28 set. I prefer them to my bigger name brands. I think you need to us more water.

Thanks Leslie, I didn’t know about the Cadmium colours or I guessing never thought about it.

I bought a few Rosa pans just to give them a try. They are a decent price in Canada if you can find them. My experience is that they seem similar to my Kuretake Gansai Tambi paints. Like you said….kind of gouachey.

Wow! This is so nice. Could you make a review on the new Windsor and newton cotman sketchers pocket set? It would be great (also your voice is so soothing)

This was really interesting, thank you :) I got a set of these for Christmas and have swatched but not had a chance to properly play with them yet (it seems like I might be trying to learn a few gouache techniques!). It looks like you've run into the same unexpected results as Becca Hillburn did when she field-tested this range, and I like how you approached finding a solution to it. Great review! :)

After seeing the long video I will use my watercolor paint before I buy a extra color pallette that is in a drawer . Thank you for your presentation.😊😊

That was a wonderful review! Thank you! I bought a set, when they had the sales in autumn, and waiting for my son bring them to Austria soon. I am starting Art-Therapy sessions and I was looking for watercolors that have high pigmentation but have a good price point, because I will offer the material in theses sessions. I hope they will work. I will take into account your findings and take out certain colors, because it is a lot about letting colors mix with themselves. Obviously, I will give it a go myself as well 😊. Also M.Graham has a wonderful PB60, they just call it a bit differently.😍 And if you are interested in lightfastness, Qor offers a chart with all of the results of their testing for each color. I don’t have the link quite hear, but I remember I had to search a little bit on their website in order to find it..

Lovely, Leslie. I can feel my bank account immediately diminishing. 😅

Hello from Beautiful British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦 That limited movement reminds me of the derwent graphtint...i wasn't very happy that they didn't move... did you try them?

❤🎉

That looks extremely painful. Reminds me of the time i tried painting with cellulose paper. I need to pull out my rosa to see.

It’s nothing like gouache. Use more water and the paint with flow better.

I think your paper is not that great. Ans you use very little water. I found them to be nothing like gouache.

Don’t take the whole wrap out!

Hi Leslie. Paul Rubens wants to work with you but didn't receive your response. Are u interested in working with us?😁

Thank you so much for doing an HONEST review about this paint brand. Since a certain event, I have seen so many artists online praise these watercolors and mention no issues or cons with these, but instead claim these are "professional" paints that are just as good as more expensive professional brands. I am not saying they are garbage. These are more student grade than professional artist grade. "Professional" typically means that it is a quality that can be used to create art to sell, but I wouldn't even give away art for free created with this paints. And I don't see any "professional" artists who sell their work using Rosa Gallery to create their paintings they sell. There are so many people in the comments defending the paint, saying you didn't use enough water and other excuses for the streakiness and student looking quality of these paints. To me, it looked like you used plenty of water. A professional grade watercolor does not require more water than normal or a lot of effort to lay down smooth.