Artisan's Student Grade Not Arist Grade???

I'm reading over on the Cobra discussion board on FB https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=112194922127281&topic=28 and a poster there claims that Winsor and Newton's Artisans are Student Grade paints NOT artist grade? I know they are not pro-grade but last I checked when I was at the local art store and now at Michaels even they are listed as artist grade.

Anyone know or is the person over on the other discussion board all wet?

Kimberly

Hi Kimberly! I do believe that they're technically promoted as student grade paints by Winsor & Newton. The pigment load isn't as high as their artists grade traditional paints but also isn't as low as their student grade traditional oil paints. From what I've seen of the paintings done with Artisan and from making paint swatches I really don't see a difference between my Holbein and Artisan paints in color. I actually pay more attention to lightfastness. I don't really use the Artisan because the way they behave with water but that is the only reason.

Most of my paintings were done with WN and they have held up very well. I stopped using water with them early on and just used walnut oil with very satisfactory results.

Many dedicated oil people tend to put them down as student grade since they aren't tradition oils, so maybe that might be why this poster referred to them as such. Who cares. If you're satisfied with them, that is all that matters.

As far as I know, there is no magic dividing line between student grade and artist grade. Student grade paints are usually characterized by very low prices due to less actual pigment in the tube - and substituting the higher priced pigments - like cadmiums and cobalts - with cheaper alternatives (usually labeled as hues). As Janet has mentioned, the pigment load reportedly falls between their traditional artist and student grade lines. The Artisans do have real cadmiums and cobalts (and cerulean, too)! In my mind, this makes them artist grade with no reason not to use them.

Don