Oh, it was a long title. I should start upfront by saying that I was not impressed at all by the paints though I had ordered it with amazing anticipation after all the reviews i’ve read.

But let’s start with the basics. I bought “Tundra” set by Schminke for several reasons:

– I was born in a tundra region so everything that holds its name is my go to choice;

–  Amazing gave extra 15% discount;

– I was thrilled by the idea of granulation;

– I still had my faith in Schminke;

So let’s agree that I was nowhere close to being a wise buyer. Noup! Instead I followed my unreasonable need to buy. Well, it could happen, no shame there at all. The Tundra set has the following five colours in the set: tundra orange, tundra rosa, tundra violet, tundra green, tundra blue. None of them are single pigmented and its ‘feature not a bug’: both pigments (or more) are balanced in a way that they all will be visible after the appliance. At the same time not every colour shows this ability; tundra orange (PR233, PBr7, PY43) ended quite pale. Tundra rose has almost faded away, even when I took the paint directly out of the tube. Tundra green was typical warm sap green. The most interesting ones were tundra violet(PB29, PBr6)  and tundra blue(PB29, PBr7). The first one has a very cool ‘second’ layer if it is clean and not in mixes with other colours. The mix of black and brown pigment gave an interesting warm effect. The blue colour is highly granulated [] to me. I should say that with potters pink (especially with very characteristic granulations as Michael Harping’s paint has) this blue will pair perfectly for any sunset/sunrise landscapes.

The lightfastness is not a strong side of those colours. All of them are pretty weak and will lose themselves in mixes with something stronger and more pigmented. The violet will hold to the granulation, but because of the strong black pigment the mix may turn into some dirt. 

Overall the set didn't worth the money. Well, live and learn. At the same time I can imagine that together with other colours from supergranulation sets it may pair well and be quite complimentary. My disappointment was very much dictated by the palette: the colours I use on the daily basis are more intense on pigments therefor they ‘eat’ something less vivid.

Here I attach a photo of my first drawing test so you can see how all the colours work together.

NB: for testers I used Lana aquarelle paper, 300gr/rough.
 

How many times have I ordered several 15ml tubes of paint trusting the digital colour image?!?!? So many times. So many!!! Before writing this post I was thinking of calculating the ‘well-spent’ money. But when the number on screen turned over 300 euro, I stopped being scared.

Since each tube of paint 10-15 ml will cost you from 9 euro (Rembrandt by Royal Talens, I do not take into consideration the Jackson’s Art homebrand), buying blondly it the worst thing you can do to your wallet. The trouble is: not every brand really takes care about your wallet and considers the need of having a dors card. At the same time companies that invest in those cards automatically become my favourite ones. Even if I haven’t found everything for myself in their range, I will leave a positive feedback on them.

So far I’ve tried Schminke, Daniel Smith and Golden QOR. With the DS was a funny story: before I ordered the dots, I had already bought 6 watercolour tubes by them (15ml, for sure) and gave 5 of them away to a friend of mine, ukrainian-belgian artist. After this fiasco I was determined to be “smarter” and test things first. It worked well: I’d finally found the right cold red and warm yellow for my palette. At the same time it saved me from buying the genius line I was very interested in.

Not every brand, even big ones, has those precious cards. I spoke with a person in the Marketing department in Royal Talens and she said thought she pushed the need for those cards, it’s not a company’s priority and the sales wouldn’t increase a lot. For small handmade brands, like Michael Harding’s paint, this task is even harder, since they do not use/have big manufacturing equipment. So it’s up to a person to make those cards.

All those reasons are understandable. And even agreeable. But from the customer's perspective the lack of those cards puts a certain limitation on the ability to use the brand's product. It also affects the purchase process. With a dot card I have less doubts and do not need to go though YouTube research for an actual colour sample (it’s killing, believe me!). Not once did I remove paints from the cart just because I could not verify the final colour.

Every amateur comes to the point when he or she understands enough about art supplies to become more cautious in their choices. At the same time they are ready to try new material and mediums which makes a test run crucial for the final decision. And this is a moment for dot cards. I strongly believe that with current prices for a high quality material brands can do a little bit better in self-presentation to new customers.