A Gallo Italian Watercolor Paints Review
A Gallo Italian Watercolor Paints Review
I have wanted to get a set of the A Gallo watercolors for the longest time, this Christmas, I was the luckiest Dad in the world as my three kids all clubbed together and purchased the 24 half pan signature set of the A Gallo Watercolors. The set was in the house, hidden in my youngest dauhters’s room from mid November and was driving my nuts. Knowing that these gorgeous A Gallo watercolor paints were right under my nose and I couldn’t get hold of them until Christmas morning; it was torture.
A Gallo Characteristics
As soon as I opened the A Gallo Watercolor box, every single thing about the package and contents screamed the highest quality, not a single aspect of the A Gallo Watercolors has been left to low standards. Years back, packaging was never really a big deal, you would unwrap and use the product, simple as that. Then came along Apple and Steve Jobs and showed us that if you are going to do a job right, do it all the way right; well, A Gallo Colors have definitely incorporated this philosophy throughout their business model.
The outer box is made from quality materials, solid cardboard with the companies logo emblazoned upon the top. On removing the lid, you are presented with another A Gallo logo, a metallic gold sticker, holding together a thin layer of tissue paper, wrapped around a further layer of decadence.
When you remove the tissue paper layer, the last layer is a beautifully decorated marble effect, watercolor paper, wrapped around the tin, that the watercolors are contained in. Although this decorated layer is made from watercolor paper, it has somehow been hardened to create a further layer of protection for the tin. After this, you finally reach a black tin, with the A Gallo logo printed on it, which holds the pans.
I also received in the package, a swatch dot card with three of A Gallo’s newest colors, just to provide you with a taster of other colors introduced into their already extensive color list. There are also two credit card size cards, explaining a bit about the company and their products, just a little bit of further advertising.
On opening the black tin, there is a slip of high quality watercolor paper for you to swatch, it fits perfectly inside the tin and is for you to complete and have a full reference of the colors when you are out and about. All the color names are pre-printed on the swatch and as I mentioned, this simple slip of watercolor paper for you to swatch is of the highest quality watercolor paper. Absolutely nothing about the A Gallo products is even so much as standard quality, never mind low quality.
On opening the tin, you are presented with a glorious array of color from the individual pans. there is four generous mixing wells, which are part of the lid and on the opposite side, there are eight smaller wells for mixing your paints. All in all, there is a generous amount of mixing space.
Each pan is attached to a central rail in the centre of the tin and each pan can be removed. Once again the level of quality and detail A Gallo Colors have incorporated into their products is staggering, each pan is wrapped in high quality watercolor paper, similar to the marble decorated layer protecting the tin.
Each covering on the pans has been painted using the pigment in the pan, because this has all been painting on watercolor paper, the representation of color identity is perfect. When colors are swatched on other packaging types, most of the time, they are laser printed on and therefore only provide a lose representation of the colors, but with the A Gallo watercolors the identification is accurate.
On the top of each pan covering is printed “Honey Watercolors, Acquerelli Al Miels, A Gallo”. On the underside of each pan, the number referencing the color along with the series that color belongs to is printed, followed by “agallocolors.com Handmade in Italy”. On one side of the pan is printed the name of the color in both English and Italian and on the opposite side is printed the pigments used along with “Gum Arabic Binder”
On removing each pan wrapping, the color name has also been written onto the plastic pan, normally this is something the artist has to do when buying a set of watercolor pans, but A Gallo Colors have done all of this for you. you will also notice that every single pan is filled to the brim with paint, they are all filled by hand.
Finally, inside the tin, there is a 0 Mop brush, absolutely beautiful quality, the brush itself is a synthetic Kazan Squirrel and all 100% cruelty free. Obviously real animal hair brushes are not only incredibly expensive, but are also quite frowned upon within many of the art community. Many artists will say that brushes made from real animal hair such as sable, badger, ox, goat or squirrel, will provide a better experience in so many different aspects, however, it is also true that synthetic brushes are getting better and better every day, but they are already at a very high level. I have never before purchased a set of watercolor pans and received such a high quality brush inside the set.
As A Gallo Colors state on their website, their watercolor paints are made by hand and from the finest pigments. The binding agent used is lumps of Kordafan Gum Arabic from the Acacia tree, incidentally, part of the A Gallo logo is the Acacia tree.
Along with the gum arabic, locally sourced honey is also added, this helps the paints to retain moisture, helping to ensure that the pans don’t dry out, cracking and chipping. Rosemary essential oil is also added and this is for its anti-fungal properties. All of the ingredients, along with the pure pigments used, help to ensure the highest quality watercolors are delivered to you.
A Gallo Performance
When I start reviewing a product, one of the first things I do is to create a swatch, if at all possible, I will create that swatch on the paper I am most likely to create the art demonstration on. I do this because different paper qualities and surface types can make the colors look different, so the swatch will provide me with an accurate representation of the art I am going to create.
For this swatch, I created it on St Cuthberts Mill, Saunders Waterford, Cold Press ( Not ), 140lb, 100% cotton watercolor paper. St Cuthberts Mill is a fantastic paper company here in the gorgeous countryside of England. You will also notice that I added a thick black marker line in the middle of the swatch, this is to help demonstrate the translucency or opaqueness of each color.
The set I have is the 24 half pan signature set from A Gallo Watercolors and one of the reasons I was really turned on to this particular set, was for the YinMn Blue, which you will see in the images provided. Along the top of the swatch provided, A Gallo supplied a legend helping to define opacity levels in certain colors, if the colors are granulating or staining and their lightfast rating.
I have also included the name of each color along the top of the swatch and beside that, the alphanumeric code representing the various pigments mixed to create said color. However, for the sake of this written review I have listed the information below. The number at the end of each color is the lightfast rating, but I will talk more about this in the lightfast section.
1. Lemon Yellow - PY184 - Non Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Transparent - 7
2. Azo Yellow Gold - PY151 / PY43 - Medium Staining - Yes Granulating - Semi Opaque - 8
3. Arancione - PY83 / PV19 / PR101 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Opaque - 8
4 Hokkaido Orange - PY216 - Medium Staining - Yes Granulating - Semi Opaque - 8
5. Medici Red - PR168 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Transparent - 7-8
6. Alizarin Crimson - PR177 / PR144 / PV19 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Transparent - 8
7. Ruby Red - PR264 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Transparent - 8
8. Quinacridone Magenta - PR202 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Transparent - 8
9. Quinacridone Violet - PV55 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Transparent - 8
10. Tyrian Purple - PV15 / PV16 — Non Staining - Yes Granulating - Semi Transparent - 8
11. Notturno - PB29 / PR101 / PV19 - Staining - Yes Granulating - Semi Transparent - 8
12. Indanthrone Blue - PB60 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Opaque - 8
13. Periwinkle - PB15:1 / PW6 / PB29 / PR122 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Opaque - 8
14. YinMn Blue - PB86 - Medium Staining - Yes Granulating - Semi Transparent - 8
15. Azzurro - PB29 / PB15:3 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Transparent - 8
16. Aquamarine - PB15:4 / PG7 / PB29 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Transparent - 8
17. Harbour Blue - PB15:3 / PBr8 - Medium Staining - Yes Granulating - Semi Opaque - 8
18. Olive Deep Green - PY154 / PY110 / PB29 - Medium Staining - Yes Granulating - Semi Opaque - 8
19. Forrest Green - PG7 / PBk7 / PY43 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Opaque - 8
20. Deep Sea Green - PG18 / PB29 - Non Staining - Yes Granulating - Semi Transparent - 8
21. Fig Green - PY151 / PG17 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Opaque - 8
22. Quinacridone Gold - PY150 / PR101 / PV19 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Transparent - 8
23. Transparent Red Oxide - PR101 - Medium Staining - Not Granulating - Semi Transparent - 8
24. Chromite Brown - FeCr204 / PBr8 - Medium Staining - Yes Granulating - Semi Opaque - 8
After conducting my swatch, I decided that I would try a complete a botanical piece, I was in love with the greens in this set and so really wanted to showcase them. I completed a small study of some lemons on Baohong watercolor block a gorgeous watercolor paper for a reasonable price. I was happy with the small study and so I decided to create a larger version.
For the larger version I used the St Cuthberts Mill Saunders Waterford, 100% cotton, watercolor paper, I was really happy with the final outcome, however after looking at the final piece, I realised there was so many colors in the set that I did not use and I needed to change this. I needed to complete a painting that was going to help showcase more of the colors, the aquamarines, blues, reds etc.
For this I completed a seascape piece with a sunset sky, whether it was mixing or just using the color straight from the pan, I used almost every color in the set and was relatively happy with the final outcome. I am no watercolor artist by any stretch of the imagination, but both paintings I hope helped to demonstrate the A Gallo watercolors well.
No matter what technique I tried with the A Gallo Watercolors, wet on wet, wet on dry etc, the A Gallo watercolor paints were a dream. The pigment levels are sublime, it is clear to see that incredibly high quality pigments have been used, but it is not just the colors in the signature set that I reviewed, you need to check out the A Gallo website and take a look for yourself at the colors available.
A Gallo Lightfast Information
Due to the incredibly high quality of the ingredient s used in the A Gallo watercolors, the highest lightfast ratings are attributed to them. A Gallo use the Blue Wool lightfast scale, which means the colors are graded 1 to 8. For those of you new to art and in particular lightfast scales, 7 & 8 equal the highest lightfast rating meaning the colors will last 100 plus years, 6 is equal to Very Good Lightfast, meaning colors will last between 50 an 100 years. 4 and 5 are equal to Fair Lightfast rating 15 to 50 years of vibrancy, 2 and 3 is equal to Poor Lightfastness in other words 2 to 15 years of vibrancy or 1 which is very poor lightfastness, less than two years of vibrancy.
Of all 24 colors in the A Gallo Signature set, 23 colors are graded 8 and only one color is graded 7, meaning every single color in your set is perfect for completing your own artwork and selling it with confidence. Lightfast ratings can be tricky to understand and even more confusing to know whether or not you as an artist absolutely needs lightfast pigments or not. However, if you are an artist who sells their own original work or is available to complete commissions, you will be able to do so with absolute confidence with the A Gallo Watercolors.
A Gallo Pricing
There is no doubt about it, the A Gallo watercolors are expensive, but as you can see from this written review, my YouTube video review, speed paining videos and still images page displaying the paintings, you can see exactly what you are getting. Top quality, no matter what you are buying, is always going to come at a price, all you need to deduce, is whether or not watercolors of such high quality are beneficial to you as an artist.
If you are new to watercolors, you would like to give watercolors ago to see if you like them or not, obviously a set such as the A Gallo watercolors are perhaps not for you. I would advise buying a set of good quality watercolors, not too expensive, but quality enough to provide you with a decent experience. Buying a very cheap set of watercolors will only frustrate you and more than likely put you off the medium for good.
For this 24 set of Signature, A Gallo Watercolors, they will cost £171, you can of course purchase cheaper sets, but the YinMn Blue pushed this particular set up a bit. Now I know that throughout the review I spoke about the packaging and swatch paper being of high quality, but when money is tight for us all, none of that stuff really matters. so on the basis of just the 24 pans, tin and brush, I think £171 is a good price for such high quality paints.
There is a total of 110 colors available in the A Gallo watercolor range and every single one of them are lightfast ratings 7 or 8 with only a handful being 7. At A Gallo Watercolors, you can select pre-made half pan or full pan sets, you can create your own custom sets and now A Gallo have added Tubes to their range. Not all 110 colors are available in the tubes just yet, at the time of writing this review, there are 52 colors available in the tubes.
As well as this remarkable color range, you can purchase high quality brushes, watercolor paper, ceramic palettes, wooden gift box palettes, brush rolls and so much more. I have watch A Gallo grow over the years, salivating at the beautiful products they continually add to their store and to see where they are now is just amazing.
You can of course buy directly from the A Gallo website, or there are various stores around the world that stock their products, here in the UK Jacksons Art supply their products, I have added a link to their list of stores that you can check and see if there is a store near you.
A Gallo Conclusion
There is no two ways about it, the A Gallo Watercolors are absolutely first class. They are a luxury item, a product you are going to have to save for and even then, you will need to weigh up the pros and cons to spending so much money. If you are like me, an artist who just loves to use high quality products, then this is absolutely the set for you.
If you are the type of artist who likes to sell their own original work, then a set of watercolors such as the A Gallo watercolors will be an investment, not only will you make your money back two fold, but you will love using them. But as I mentioned, if you are new to the watercolor medium, there are lots of much cheaper but lower quality sets available. However, be careful and don’t buy the very cheapest set you can find, this will cloud your experience and perhaps push you away from an otherwise magical medium.
I have tried and tested quite a few watercolor brands, and for me personally, this set of A Gallo watercolors are the most impressive I have used. I will definitely be buying some of their tubes and reviewing those. I know they are the same paints, but I do find using tubes provides a little bit more freedom and flexibility.
If you would like to find out more about the A Gallo Watercolors, why not check out my YouTube video review or the two speed painting videos I have also uploaded to YouTube. As I created two paintings, I thought I would add two separate speed painting videos, one for each painting, to see the botanical piece click here and to see the seascape painting click here. If speed videos are not your thing, you can also check out the still images of the artwork I posted, this will allow you to inspect the artwork in your own time and in as much detail as you like, select whichever image you want and it will automatically enlarge, simply click here to see the images.
