New artist grade WS oils from Talens

Has anyone tried the tagging contest to win a set of Cobra paints. I am on facebook, but didn't have any luck the last two times.

Just had a look - Good luck with that! Maybe you'll have a shot at the grand prize
I just came back from Dick Blick. I was hoping they would have the Cobra paints in the store, but no such luck. They don't even have any of the gift or starter sets. So, online only.

Callie,

I have found a few of my Artisan paints are stiffer than others, even if I have the same color for both. The cooler temps may be why one is stiff and the other one isn't, I also need to use a ringer with them.

This mystery maybe solved....I was thinking maybe one was older or from a different batch, and they didn't add enough of something, which would help to make the paint easier to get out of the tubes and be more fluid ---?!?

The paint tubes just may have been exposed to warehouse/cooler temps….very interesting, and thought provoking?

Callie -- I will check out the Seattle "Dick Blick" Store for the new Cobra wso, which just opened here within the last 3-6months. Maybe I will call ahead of time and not waist the gas, if you didn't have any luck in your store finding?

Dale -- I tried once with that Tagging Game, but didn't have any luck either. I didn't see another one yet -- may have just missed it? Oh well -- never been very good at those type of games, besides working I am only able to get on line once a day if I can even do that, although Fridays and the weekends are more open for me. Hope someone from this forum wins! That would be great if they did!

If the stiffness is due to old paint for certain pigments, there's no way to tell that with what you're buying. It could be sitting on the shelf for years before you get it, unless, as in this case, it's a new release. Duos recently changed their labels for new names on some paints, so that's a clue there. The Artisan labels look the same today as when they first came out. I doubt it has anything to do with temperature.

Jim,
I moved your questions about Duo to its own topic in the Water soluble Oils section. It deserves its own discussion and more people will find it for comments. It is really off topic for Talen discussion, also. Good questions, though.
Judy

I won a set of the Cobra through the contest on facebook! I'm looking forward to testing them out.

They have two more regular contests for the starter sets and the big draw for the full line of 70 colors. Just bookmark their page and check back daily. For the last contest they actually stated that the chart would be posted the next day. So on that day I just kept that page up and hit refresh every hour. Ya I really wanted to win a set because after buying a truck load of the Holbein I just couldn't bring myself to purchase more art supplies just yet.

Congratulations Janet!! Way to go.
Dayle

Nice going. I never knew someone who won any thing in those contests. I'm impressed.
Judy

That's great, Janet!

YEAH - Janet....I am so glad you won!!!! I work such long days, but I was hoping someone from here would win!!!! Congratulations!

Congratulations Janet! what a great way to get to try out the new line of paints!

Thanks girls! So anyone else going to try for the next one?

Well, I found some time to paint with the Cobras today, and thought I had at least 2 hours. The painting started out well, with me marveling at how well the paint flowed on to the canvas with nice control. I was painting outdoors and within 1/2 hour the paint on the palette was too dry to use. I tried a little distilled water mixed in and was disappointed with the dry acrylic looking paint. So then I mixed a little water and walnut oil together and mixed it with the paint. By then, the original paint that I started with was starting to tack up on the canvas. I have heard from others that they have had trouble with the Cobras drying to fast. I have all the Cobra mediums, but I didn't want to use them because Cobra says that they don't slow the drying time and that is what I think I need it to do--keep it wet. After about an hour, I quit. However, I'm still very hopeful and will start again tomorrow with mixing the paints with water and walnut oil at the very beginning. Just thought I'd let you know what happened.
Dayle

Good luck Dayle...and lots of patience

Even alkyds don't set up that quickly, I can't imagine an artist-quality oil paint behaving like that. Maybe you should email the company about that, see what they have to say. But now I'm really curious to try them because I'd like to have paints that set up fast when working outdoors (I use an alkyd medium to speed the drying), these might just be perfect for me!

Thanks for your support, Dale, Dana, and Callie. I was telling my husband last night that this may be ideal for winter paintings, when it takes so long for them to dry. It was probably about 95 degrees Farenheit yesterday while I was painting, with a warm breeze. I might try painting indoors today or tomorrow. I think trying different mediums will help.

Dayle

Dayle,

It will be very interesting to me to know how they paint in doors, how they set up and work for you. Thank you for keeping us informed.



Callie,

That would be great for you -- I hope you are able to get the paints to do what you have been wanting, without have to add to them, not making them perform with additives --it would be great that they'll just do it on their own, this would be less for you to carry when your out and about - Plein Aire Painting.

Dayle,
Try just the walnut oil and leave out the water. That is what usually works well for me. I just put a small bit of oil on my palette and then dip the brush into it a little bit and add it to the paint until I get the consistency I want. I've only used the Cobra inside for a short period of time. I did find it skinning over on the palette, but I wasn't using that much that I had to add oil.

Judy

Thanks, Judy. I'll give that a try. There are other people having the same problems with the fast drying of the Cobra WMOs at WetCanvas, but I'm hoping that it'll be something easy to that'll make them work better. I can't imagine how anyone was able to paint with the Artisan's before they came up with the thinner.
Dayle

I just add small amounts of walnut oil to any brand that is too thick for what I'm trying to do and that solves the problem.
Judy

Dayle thank you for sharing your experience with the Cobras! I haven't received mine yet but I think it will be interesting to see how they compare to the Holbein.

Hi Folks;

After examining color chips for the paints in my palette and the apparent Cobra equivalents, I chose to substitute Cobra colors that closely matched the Artisan or Duos I normally use or those that had a slight color shift that I thought improved my palette. These included Cobra; Titanium White, Vermillion, Pyrrole Red, Lemon Yellow, and Yellow Ochre.

Just after I got set up to first try them in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, a sudden storm arrived. Hmmm, maybe Thor was sending me a message !?! A second try in Butte, Montana was more successful (I guess Thor didn't really have it in for Cobras ).

For me, substituting Cobra Pyrrole Red for Artisan Cadmium Red Medium (CadRM) worked well. The Cobra CadRM appears a little grayer than the Artisan (duller, not as much punch). In turn, the Artisan CadRM appears just a tad grayer than the Cobra Pyrrole Red. So the latter is likely permanent first string on my palette.

The Cobra Yellow Ochre was a disappointment. While it appeared very close in color to the Artisan, the Cobra had a lot of separated oil and it ran on the tilted palette. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has encountered this.

The Cobra Vermillion is oranger than the Duo Aqua Vermillion (with white added there is a bit too much of a blue cast in the Duo for me). I use this occasionally for adding interest to clouds -a leftover from my watercolor days. The Cobra handled well and it'll go head to head with the Duo in a few more pre-season games before the final lineup is chosen.

The Cobra Lemon Yellow (L-Y) was also disappointing. I had already given up on the Artisan L-Y because it gets so hard in the tube. The Duo Aqua L-Y is a bit too soft and creamy for me, but preferable to the Artisan. However, I found the Cobra to be even softer and creamier than the Duo, so after a bit I went back to the latter. Note that in a cooler studio environment, this may not be an issue.

The Titanium White didn't seem to give any different results than I had previously experienced with the Artisan brand and handled similarly. So for me the jury is still out on this one.

Painting was done in the shade and inside (but with the doors open) and the temp in the high 80's to low 90's or outdoors near sunset. Water was used to thin for the initial "drawing", but no medium was used after that. Most painting was done without over-painting, so fast/slow drying was not an issue. For the one done with a lot of over-painting, too fast drying was a problem in some parts. However, since the colors used were a mix of Artisan and Cobra no conclusions can be drawn as to brand involvement.

A few comments about Cobra colors not used in the above.

Cobra Cad.Yellow Med. is less orange than the Artisan which doesn't work as well for me. The Cobra Burnt Umber is warmer than the Artisan. Cobra Cad.Orange is less red than the Duo Aqua (if I used this color, I would prefer the Cobra).

As to the blues, Cobra Cobalt Blue Ultra(marine) and Artisan Cobalt Blue appeared very close when I added some white. The Cobra Cobalt Blue appears a bit warmer than the Artisan to me. Cobra Cerulean is a bit greener than the Duo Aqua (also the Duo Aqua handles as if it has more pigment). The Cobra Ultramarine maybe is a smidge warmer than the Artisan. I chose not to use Cobra blues this time because I was so satisfied with the blues already in my palette.

It'll be fun to see if studio use changes my perceptions and to hear others' experiences in comparing brands. I do want to learn more about drying characteristics -especially when mixing colors with different brands. I am glad that Cobra has arrived.

Wow! Great report there, Jim. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your observations with us.