Art Nouveau Japanese Watercolor

While staying in bed last week with a summer head-cold, I was delighted to receive an unexpected gift from a dear friend; the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Japanese Watercolors 24 Color Set II - Art Nouveau. I have had my eye on this set for the past year, but it was a desire, not a need, so I resisted… THANK YOU to my amazing Art Friends!

Kuretake Gansai Tambi Art Nouveau Watercolors

Kuretake Gansai Tambi 24 Color Set II - Art Nouveau. Click on the photo to be taken to this item on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Even though I have hardly been able to hold my head up, I found the energy to dive into these luscious watercolor gems a little at a time and have some thoughts to share. 😀

Don’t worry, I’ll share about the Kristy Rice swatching rubber stamps with you later in the article!

Swatching the Art Nouveau Colors

You will notice as you look through my swatches that these Kuretake paints are more dense than a regular watercolor and they have varying degrees of granulation.

My swatches also contain a strip to the right which shows the opacity or translucency of the colors with a black stripe underneath. Notice that the majority of the colors in this set are either semi-opaque to opaque. This is a normal feature of Gansai watercolors.

Each color pan is easily removed from the package tray and lists on the back the Color Name and Number, making it easy to find and replace only the colors that you use the most from reputable stores on the internet or from your favorite local art store.

The paints are all made in Japan.

Art Nouveau Color Names, Numbers and Opacity

Here is a list of the 24 colors as they appear in the set from top to bottom and left to right, as well as my assessment as to the opacity or transparency of each color at full strength that you will see in the swatches below the color listings:

  • 404 - Saffron Yellow - Transparent/Semi-Transparent

  • 405 - Green Gold - Semi-Transparent

  • 401 - Flax Beige - Semi-Opaque

  • 16 - Ecru Beige - Semi-Transparent

  • 18 - Pale Pink - Semi-Transparent

  • 17 - Coral Pink - Opaque/Semi-Opaque

  • 19 - Potter’s Pink - Semi-Opaque

  • 302 - Vermillion - Semi-Transparent

  • 304 - Alizarin Crimson - Opaque

  • 303 - Mauve Taupe - Opaque

  • 301 - Old Mauve - Semi-Opaque

  • 601 - Grayish Blue - Opaque

  • 602 - Cobalt Turquoise Light - Opaque/Semi-Opaque

  • 15 - Pale Aqua - Semi-Opaque

  • 503 - Cobalt Green - Opaque

  • 502 - Billiard Green - Opaque

  • 506 - Shadow Green - Opaque

  • 501 - Pea Green - Semi-Opaque

  • 505 - Ivy Green - Opaque

  • 504 - Green Gray - Opaque

  • 406 - Beige Gray - Semi-Opaque

  • 49 - Yellow Brown - Semi-Opaque

  • 402 - Mars Yellow - Semi-Opaque

  • 403 - Venetian Red - Opaque

Kristy Rice Swatching Stamp Set

On a previous Swatching Video YouTube Live (you can find the video to play at the end of this article), I shared various ways I like to swatch my new paints and introduced the Kristy Rice Swatching Stamp Set.

This is how I put together the components to create my cute “notebook” swatches! Kristy provides soooo many excellent designs in her set for fun swatching…

Click on the above photo to go take a look at Kristy’s Swatching Stamp Set on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Here is the full set of the 24 Kuretake Gansai Tambi Art Nouveau colors swatched out!

Swatching Supplies List

Here is the supplies list for the swatching technique shown using the Art Nouveau Set of Japanese Watercolors and Kristy Rice Swatching Stamps. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Color Pull-Downs

After making the last set of color swatches on the bottom row of the Art Nouveau palette, I noticed the names of the last 3 colors implied there were Yellow and Red in the colors, yet they seemed so dense coming out of the pans (i.e. their mass tone) that I couldn’t easily see these undertones.

So, I decided to do what are called color “pull-downs” (also called “draw-downs”) with lots of water on my brush to see if I could get the undertone colors to percolate out of the mass tones from the color pans.

Overall, as was to be expected, all of the colors with lots of water added turned into semi-transparent to transparent colors.

Also, notice there is a lot of “blooming” and “skipping” going on from these drawn out watery marks, and I am living for all that pigment action!

Art Nouveau Color Discovery Notes

Here are my specific discoveries from doing the color pull-downs with lots of water:

403 - Venetian Red - The mass tone appears like a dark red/brown, but adding a lot of water makes it look like warm earthy-red brick.

402 - Mars Yellow - The mass tone looks like a warm quinacridone gold or rich raw sienna. The term “Mars” in the color name indicates a synthetic iron oxide, making this color likely a gorgeous synthetic Yellow Iron Oxide (PY 42 for pigment nerds 😂). Adding a lot of water makes this color look a little more orange like Daniel Smith’s Raw Sienna Light. It should mix well with blues to create some beautiful warm, although possibly muted, greens.

49 - Yellow Brown - This is quite a granulating color! I could easily see it used for animal fur the way the brown granulates out when applied thickly. The draw-down created a very yellow undertone with an olive-like upper tone, so using this color to create mid-tone shadows in greenery or landscape scenery could be a very nice touch.

More Notes coming soon!

Art Nouveau Set Removable Pans

3 Color Pans from the Kuretake Gansai Tambi 24 Set II - Art Nouveau Palette.

I appreciate the way the pans lift out of their presentation box so that I can use a limited palette of colors that I pre-select and move them away from the rest of the yummy colors in the entire palette before painting.

It’s a discipline and good way to challenge yourself by using the limited color palette concept. 😀

Storing the Color Swatches

I discovered from another watercolor artist that you can purchase clear trading card insert pages for notebooks that will hold pieces of paper cut to approx 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches for use in storing your color swatches!

This allows you to arrange and re-arrange your colors endlessly as you add to your color collection as well as allows you to pull the color swatches out with all the details needed so that you can easily find them in your color bin when beginning a new project.

I encourage you to pick colors you are not used to working with, perhaps even closing your eyes to select the colors 😲, and challenge yourself to stretch your artistic color vocabulary using this technique.

Trading Card 9 Per Side (Holds 18 Per Sheet) Clear Plastic Notebook Insert Pages.

Here is the supplies list for storing the cute notebook swatches shown. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Colorful Binder Notebook with Painted Color Swatches and Clear Trade Card Sleeve Insert Sheets.

Watercolor Swatching Tips Video

As promised at the beginning of this article, below is the Live Swatching video I recorded during one of my Free Sunday Art Lessons. Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments below this article. Enjoy! 😍

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