Hi friends! I had a few readers ask me to review Sonnet watercolors. I had never heard of them so I did some research and found a seller on ETSY who had the Sonnet set of 24 full pans for $20 as well as metallic individual pans for $3.45 as well as White Knight watercolors for the same price. I was intrigued. I have some Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and really like them and I heard-tell that the Yarka is the same as the White Knights watercolors (different names for European and American markets) and those are made from the same company (Nevskaya Palitra)Â as the Sonnets so I decided to give them a whirl.
See how the perform in my demo and review, please don’t judge the paints by the scary rose I painted at the end LOL!
Video!
First impressions:
- Rich, vivid color, released immediately upon wetting, good flow
- Great price $20 for 24 full pans
- Most colors had high lightfast ratings
They held up well to my Yarka St. Petersburg colors (also Russian and I reckon from the same company as Sonnet and White Knits because “St Petersburg” is embossed on the bottom of the pans of both.)
I wonder if the Sonnet might be the student grade of the Yarka or White nights as they are much cheaper. Actually I am pretty sure this is true. 🙂 The texture of the paint is very uniform in the Sonnet where the Yarka paints had a bit more “character” between colors, some granulate and have unique qualities where as the Sonnets are more uniform. I really think the Sonnet paints are the student line of Yarka/White Knights but they are a darn good student line!
Really, for $20 you can’t beat it. They also have the individual full pans of White Knights (professional) for $3.45 which is less than the price half pans of western watercolors. I have not used the White Knights but supposedly they are the same as Yarka St. Petersburg. I found these paints from Etsy seller Pro Art Supplies and was not compensated for my review. I believe they are the American distributor of White Knights and Sonnet watercolors.
What do you think of these budget paints? Was the review helpful? Let me know in the comments below and if there is a product you would like to see me review let me know and I will try to make it happen. Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!
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