Poppy in Pen & Ink! Sketch and Paint with Me! Da Vinci Watercolor Review Too!

Hi friends! I love the pen & ink technique and you don’t have to have expensive supplies to get good results! I am using a $1 ultra fine tip sharpie to do my penwork and Da Vinci Watercolor to paint (A viewer asked for a review & demo with them and since I had them I said sure!) but because of the solid foundation the pen lines give you could paint on top with kids watercolor paints and still have lovely results. We will also break down the drawing of the poppy and I know you can do it because a 5 year old fan shared her version of this tutorial on the Facebook Page and she did a great job! You can too!

*Quick announcement: I also wanted to let you know that the 50% off coupon for Angela Fehr’s Creative Watercolor Course (which I filmed a lesson for!) is only good through 11/17/16 so you have a couple of days to get it before the price doubles. If the discount does not appear after clicking on my special discount link you can add the coupon code FIRSTDIBS to get the deal:)

Now, on to today’s video!

I had a request to review/use Da Vinci Watercolors by a couple of viewers recently and since I have about 9 colors I thought I would.

I bought HUGE 37ml tubes of Da Vinci watercolor when they first came out for about $6-$8 a tube. They were perfect because I was teaching watercolor. The price has gone up a lot since then but they still cost much less per ml then other artist grade watercolors. I think I got super deals because they were new to the market.

I recommend their mixing set which gives you 2 (a warm and cool) 15ml tubes of each primaries, Jerry’s Artarama has that set for just under $40 and it is 3x the amount of paint than in the Daniel smith introductory set for about the same price. I bought the into set a few times back in the day when I was teaching a lot but it came with 37ml tubes for the same price LOL! It pays to jump on some of those intro deals as long as you are willing to take a chance on the company! I shopped around and Jerry’s seems to have the best price on individual tubes too.

*Both 15 and 37ml tubes are available, 37ml is a LOT of paint so it was good as a teacher but might be overkill for most colors. I will say that I had no trouble getting the caps off my paint and it stayed fresh in the tubes for a decade.

Bottom line, these paints are probably one of the best values in watercolors right now, they use top of the line, customary pigments and they are made in the USA.

You can see their full line of colors on their website and read more about their paints, they even have a sample set of 3 5ml tube for $9.99 if you want to try them out. Da Vinci also private labels paint for other stores and companies (like American Journey) making them a unique company.

I really can’t find a negative with these paints, they have served me well over the years and since I had bought 37ml tubes they will last a while. They are my go-to paints for refilling my teaching palette and I never feel like I am sacrificing quality when I use them.

They are probably the best value for quality. I rate them just below M Graham and Daniel Smith but as good as other professional brands. Keep in mind that personal preference plays a big part in the paint you prefer.

Bottom line, I think I want to try their Sap Green and Burnt Sienna because I go through those two colors a lot and the 37ml tubes would be useful!

Disclaimer, this is NOT a sponsored video, and I purchased these paints. I linked to Jerry’s Artarama because their price is 50% off retail and I think that is where I bought mine all those years ago.

Happy crafting!