Painting with Qor Watercolors

I recently posted about the Qor Watercolors samples compared to other brands like M. Graham paints or Winsor Newton but I ended up buying the Introductory 12 set to play with. I had a 40% off coupon for Blick and couldn't resist.

Painting fruits always makes me crave some...delicious!

I love the intensity that Qor watercolors delivers and how the Viridian Green is a granulating mixture which is perfect for this somewhat "looser" watercolor style that I'm trying out. The Qor Introductory set is also available online from Blick and includes a decent array of colors. I wish they had more than one blue because the French Ultramarine in this set is really more of a light violet in my eyes or a Ultramarine Violet.

I used the following colors in my WIP above: Viridian Green, Hansa Yellow Medium Deep, and the every so brilliant Pyrrole Red Light (my fav pigment from this set so far!) 

This isn't a complete walkthrough so I apologize if the tags on this post are slightly misleading.

• 1) I started with a rough sketch of the mangoes and then glazed the base with Hansa Yellow while omitting the highlights to save the white of the paper
• 2) While the yellow is still damp, drop in Pyrrole Red Light and allow for the colors to naturally mix on the paper to form the bright orange. Generally, I dislike pre-mixing on my palette because the wet-on-wet technique allows for a better effect on paper
• 3) Let dry so that when you dabble the Viridian Green - it won't mix with the lovely orange that you have created. When the paper is dry, go back in and drop in a very light wash of green on select areas of yellow to bring out the overall mango
• 4) Shadows: I never use black or gray for shadows because it dull's the intensity of the colors and tend to mix into mud. Always use complementary color for shadows! In this case, I used the Green for shadows on the Red portions and Red to create shadows on the Green areas. Knowing how to use colors correctly can save a lot of headaches in the long run and I urge everyone to study the color wheel or develop an understanding of color

I'll continue testing out these colors but M. Graham & co watercolors have spoiled me with their high pigment intensity and honey humectant so they still remain my favorites.

Do you have a favorite watercolor brand? Have you tried the Qor Watercolors? If you have, what are your thoughts on them?

Let me know in the comments below! I would love to hear about my fellow readers' experience with different brands of watercolors.