Kuretake ZIG GANSAI TAMBI watercolor set (36 Colour Set)

Product Information

akane-iro - Madder rose - madder is one of the earliest pigments, traditionally derived from madder root and first used by the ancient Egyptians.

I began by swatching the watercolours and I was immediately struck by how easily my brushes could pick up this gel-like pigment. Your review helped me understand the comments I’ve read and I am now going to be happily playing with these. Kuretake and other reviewers claim that they are something between watercolour and gouache due to the binders that are used, in other word some kind of semi opaque watercolours. Nihonga, literally Japanese painting or picture, is an art form rooted in centuries of Japanese cultures. Whether you already paint with traditional watercolours or not, we are sure that you will love using Akashiya Gansai.Established in Kyoto in 1970, KISSHO produces specialist art materials with the focus on creating products that are easy to use yet retain the highest level of quality, making it accessible for both beginners and experts to create nihonga. Another distinctive feature of gansai is its ability to be easily blended and layered, allowing artists to achieve smooth transitions and create delicate washes. These watercolours are amazing, don’t get me wrong, but the Kissho paints take gansai to a whole new level. Before receiving the Kissho Gansi Watercolours as a gift, the only gansi I had ever tried was brand-leader Kuretake Gansai Tambi.

I’m not sure how useful the metallics would be for everyday use and would probably recommend they were taken out of this kit and replace with some useful matte colours like a rose pink, a limey ‘spring’ green and a scarlet. The colors included in the 48-color set are Rose Madder Deep, Carmine, Rose Madder, Red, Cadmium Red, Cadmium Scarlet, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, Aureolin, Lemon Yellow, Greenish Yellow, Olive Green, Lime Green, Sap Green Light, Sap Green, Hooker’s Green, Sap Green Deep, Forest Green, Turquoise Green Deep, Viridian, Malachite, Horizon Blue, Ultramarine Pale, Turquoise Blue, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine, Prussian Blue, Indigo, Blue Gray Deep, Imperial Violet, Cobalt Violet, Purple, Lilac, Cherry Blossom Pink, Rose Beige, Natural Beige, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Maroon, Indian Red, Raw Umber Deep, Black, Gray, White, White Gold, Bluish Gold, and Gold.

These paints work well with waterbrushes as they can be used to easily wet the paint pans, allowing you to work from them directly. Gansai Tambi paints are high-quality Japanese handmade, solid watercolours that behave in a similar way to gouache. I split these further into ‘wet mixes’ and ‘wet on dry base’ to see if the colours behaved differently and if so, how. Discover a range of thoughtfully selected art supplies and curated books featuring the works of illustrators and artists presented in the exhibition. Originally used with large Japanese brushes on rice paper for quick and efficient paintings or underpaintings, they perform better when used wet on dry paper.