The SAA is proud to introduce the Rosa Gallery Fine Art professional watercolours. These beautiful paints are designed and produced in Ukraine in collaboration with Ukrainian artists. Founded in 1996, Rosa started with hand-primed canvasses and, over the following years, has built up its range of products. In 2004, Rosa introduced Artist brushes to its collection of materials, followed in 2015 by Artist Acrylics, and Artist Oil colours in 2016. In 2018, the Rosa Artist Watercolour range was introduced.
Rosa prides itself on its state of-the-art laboratory and the use of specialised equipment. It continuously quality-controls products and paints, from mixing colours together, to seeing how they react with other mediums and solvents, ensuring it only supplies the best quality. I love my job! Whenever new products arrive, I have the pleasure of trying them out first-hand to see the quality of each paint and then help you create your own artwork. I have had the pleasure of testing and trying the Rosa Gallery Watercolours, which are now available at the SAA in whole pan sets of 14 and 21, as well as a 10ml tube set of 14.
It is always satisfying to unwrap the pan sets and remove the labels from the pans. Each label has been cleverly designed and thought-out. If you carefully remove them from the wrappers, you can leave the colour name and pigment information on the edges of the pans. This is useful when you need to restock a colour or want to know what colour you are using. There is also a handy, easy-peel sticker on the back of the label so you can easily use the label for future reference. As well as a handy colour chart on the sleeve of the box listing all the colour pigments and information, each set contains a blank swatch card so you can create your own swatch of colours. I always create a swatch card for any new paint I am using, especially a pan set, and will have it close by to reference the colours and placement in the tray easily. Creating a swatch card will also help you familiarise yourself with how the colours react and their intensity.
Rosa Watercolours are clear, vibrant colours made using organic gum Arabic and finely ground organic and inorganic pigments. They offer high lightfastness and have been tested with both traditional methods and UV
chambers. I used the Rosa Classic Watercolour pan set of 21 colours to create a painting of a bowl of radishes. One of the first things I noticed was how rich and easy the colours were to load onto my brush straight from the pan. Due to how the pans are manufactured and poured into the pans, the paint may feel a little sticky, but with just a little water, you can immediately pick up lots of colour. The pans are whole pans, meaning you have plenty of space to load the whole of your brush.
The colours are rich and intense, with 13 in the set being single pigments. A true test of a paint is to paint with it, using the techniques you usually use and get a feel for it and the colours. I absolutely loved creating with these. Throughout my radish tutorial, you’ll see how nice they are to use and how easily they slide across the paper. Go to saa.co.uk/rosademo to see me use them.
Available from the SAA in:
● Rosa Watercolour Set of 14 x 10ml tubes in a Wooden Box
● Rosa Classic Watercolour Set of 14 Full Pans in a Indigo Metal Case
● Rosa Classic Watercolour Set of 21 Full Pans in a Turquoise Metal Case
