I am so glad that you did this review. Cheap Joes is in Boone, NC just north of us and they have an outlet store in Asheville that no artist should miss visiting when you are in town. I had never used his paints before last year. I was kind of trained on Windsor Newton colors and that is mostly what I used. But since I have been buying a few tubes here and there, I have become a super fan. I could not believe the Ultramarine Blue. It reminds me of the blue in the Renaissance paintings. The colors are very saturated and as you say, very "re-wetable". It makes them a joy to use. As I value your opinion and experience, I was happy to have my impressions confirmed by you. I also agree that these wonderful paints should be more widely known and used.
Super informative. Although I've shopped at Cheap Joes lots, more often for brushes or misc. items, infrequently for AJ watercolor. Their watercolor paper is super and now with your review might give a few of the single pigment, transparent colors a try. Many thanks.
I started out with American Journey paints. Cheap Joes had a very nice starter set that they used to have a very good price on before Christmas. Joe Miller used to do UTube videos on a regular basis but now they have Julie do them. Nothing against Julie I just learned a lot from Joe. Then I started trying other paints and have a little bit of everything. Thanks for showing them today.
Essie Tangle thanks Essie. I've seen their demos but for me personally, it's not as helpful as an overview. I also want to hear from the community in addition to the people they're paying, you know? Regardless I did enjoy them!
Thank you for breaking down what colors these are. I don’t like when companies don’t use the standard names. I’m always hesitant to buy since I don’t want to get duplicates.
That Raw umber looks very similar to my DS German Greenish Raw Umber (PBr7?). A clunky name, but a useful colour, at least in landscapes and botanicals. If Hangovers had a colour, it'd be that one!
Oh, I wish I had seen this yesterday! I looked and looked at these paints and scoured youtube for reviews... nothing. So last night I bought another brand!!!! Oh, well, there's next time for a few tubes. Thanks for an, as usual, excellent review. :-) Edit: I did come acros one single post at wet canvas which said to stay away from them. Ugh, I really can't see why.
Pat Kin oh no! The timing :( hopefully this video can make its round so that it come up in searches soon :) I hope you have with your new paints though!
Really looking forward to the Maimeri Blu review. I can find almost no informative reviews of those. I love the two colours I have from them (Faience blue and Barok red) and have been debating trying more. Thanks for this and all the other vids!
K Lio I've been trying to find OH's barok red WC for ages. Don't suppose you'd care to share your source? I found it once online but they'd mislabeled the oil paint version. Talk about a horrible swatch card! My sable brush was never the same again! (My oil painter friend was happy to re-purpose it though!).
Roslyngal I probably got it from Dick Blick or Jerry's Artarama (US), and I think Jackson's (UK) has it too--those are the three places I've ordered from recently. I once, as a kid, was given a tube of oil paint mixed in with a gift of acrylics, so I understand your pain :)
thanks for the awesome review denise! i am so like you with orange yet my palettes are full of lovely rusty orange colors. when you did that second orange mix i wanted to curl up in the color and dream! lol the mixes you did sold me on getting at least a few of these paints to add to what i have so i will be going over this video many times thinking about what to order. again thanks! :D
Hi Denise! The Raw Umber is indeed that color. Weird huh. I like the Halloween Orange/Cerulean mix. It makes a really nice pewter gray, one of my favorite neutral mixes. Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoy the paints. Another cool fact, AJ comes in 37ml tubes and the prices are quite reasonable.
Ooo cool! I'll try out that mix. Perhaps there's use for that orange yet 😂 I know I should be kinder to the bright oranges and bright greens. I'll try harder haha. And you're absolutely right, I forgot about the larger tube size. That's very helpful indeed. Thanks again so much for this set. Im really impressed with them and will use them in some more demos :)
I believe the colors are professionals and do not fade. They are the same as DaVinci I believe. As far as the glossy thing, it has to do more with paper. For example. On my arches 140 lbs or strathmoore 500 series 140 lbs there is no gloss but on my cheaper strathmoore 300 series 140 lbs there is a gloss. Glad you reviewed because I looked for a review back when I bought these but there wasn't really much out there. I bought perm rose ultramarine blue, and joes yellow and was very satisfied by the price, pigment and range I could get with those 3 colors.
Very thorough review and a welcome addition to the scarce independent product info available on AJ watercolors. I considered buying them when I first started buying wc paint but was put off by the high prices. I assumed that they would be inexpensive since they are a house brand. So I was disappointed when they were priced equal to or more than some pro brands. I just don't understand the logic behind that.
I definitely agree on the price! I too thought they'd be much less expensive, and cannot afford to spend money on an unknown brand of paint when there are others better represented.
Exactly. The business model makes no sense. For example, AJ is the only brand to offer Goethite other than Daniel Smith. Jane Blundell sings it's praises and recommends it as part of her Ultimate Mixing Palette. This would be a perfect opportunity for AJ to siphon off some DS customers with lower prices on the color. Instead, their Goethite is nearly double the price at $20.49 for a 15 ml tube!!! Why would anyone in their right mind get the AJ version?! The most expensive paint in the 15 ml range? Potter's Pink Natural at $32.29, some sort of DS Primatek type pigment. I had no idea they started making wc paints out of gold bars, did you!? Lol
I agree and they're the same as DaVinci who makes them. DaVinci makes a lot of rebranded paint... as in Blick's line. So, in the end, Blick, Amer Journ and DaVinci are all the same paint and the prices are also comparable. Well, actually I think you buy straight from DaVinci, which I used to do their oils, its a bit less even plus DaVinci charges no shipping over $49.00 while the big three (Jerry's, Blick's and Joe's) orders have to be for a lot more to get free shipping usually plus if there's a retail store in your state, Blick's charges tax eventhough they ship from out-of-State.. seems a crim to me. Sorry for the rant... I just placed orders at two different places, due to backorder situation at both, last night and am still feeling the sting... ouch!
Pat Kin Supplies are probably because Mother's Day is coming up on Sunday. Moms always live homemade gifts the most. Remember the ashtray you made her in elementary school? It was supposed to be a coffee mug but the handle broke in the kiln. Lol. She proudly displays it in the family room so she can tell people who stop by a detailed and embarrassing tale of it's origin, including the part about the handle. Lol My guess? Supplies will be back to normal in June.
Great video Denise! 😁 I have been hesitant about these paints too because of the lack of a whole lot of information. I have read multiple times that people believe they are made by da vinci & I have heard good things, but I wish there was more out there.
Valarie Connell /DrawingWithFire ah yes! Oh boy. I have so many reviews I've been researching that I forgot to mention that about DaVinci too, my apologies... however I also haven't heard a ton about them either! They're on my wishlist too do future reviews but I have plenty to keep me busy in the meantime :)
Oh no apologies necessary! 😁 I only brought up da vinci because that's all I've really seen about American journey. I do wish the store brands such as blick, Soho (jerry's), and cheap Joe's would give more info. They make claims, but you can't verify outside of their websites...it gets a bit frustrating and makes me shy away from them. Why is it such a problem to say who manufactures for them?!? It might actually help sales if they have a brand name company making them. Uuuugggghhhh the secrets...lol 🤣
Valarie Connell /DrawingWithFire I completely agree. I'd go as far to say I don't even care who makes them if they'd just have (respected) TH-camrs review them to get information out there! I too am wary of trusting information when the only source is the company itself making claims.
Valarie Connell /DrawingWithFire I got a starter set of their Utrecht brand wc paints and wasn't very impressed. I also have a few DaVinci paints and they are quite nice. I am a big fan of AJ because they are pretty reasonable (at least here in the US) and a couple of the painters I follow use them.
Denise, You give such wonderful information in every video you produce! I was hoping this is where you found a use for the neutral tint in your Wildlife palette! I had never considered this brand as I have more than enough on my plate as it is but I only have 1 half pan of the neutral tint sent to me until they release the tube version of your color in your Wildlife palette! I am hoping to send a good sample of your Wildlife palette to a friend and I will most likely substitute a paynes grey because I do not want to send her me only half pan! Wonderful as ever, take care and have a lovely day!
I was totally thinking the same thing! Why isn't there more artists using American Journey? Many of the professional watercolorists use American Journey but I hardly see them used by new artists. I noticed this while researching the pouring technique and found so many amazing professionals using primarily American Journey. I'm definitely grateful for all of the top choices we have here in the States.
Love your comparisons and your swatchings . Am always interested in all of the properties you discuss. Have you tried Soho. They are on sale again at je=dies. The last thing I need is probably another watercolor ..but they are on sale..oh, HOA I hate to pass up a sale.
Devry Petersen the tubes should always have the names and pigment information. Companies also usually have color charts. You can search for them in google :)
Well I mean from the cutesy names. Is there a list of color names that goes with pigment information. So like if you buy a pallet that has strange names you can look up the pigment numbers easier and figure out a comparable color to restock on later? I know I can google them, I just wondered if there was a website with a list of pigment numbers with their names anywhere that was reliable :) Thanks for the response though!!
Ok, thank you. So hard as a beginner to decide where to spend the initial dollars. Just go all in with DS or MG--or mix and match brands, which is a lot of work (and shipping dollars) Thank you for your videos!
DS and MG are my favorites :) I do like American Journey, but they're not much cheaper. You should be able to find them online and shipping isn't too bad :)
H Michael I feel like I've seen a lot of brands end up crossing cobalt and cerulean. The names are definitely not easy to go off of (case in point bumble bee yellow) but the color itself (the cerulean here) is my favorite version of whatever you want to call that color :)
pb36 (Cobalt Chromite Blue Green Spinel Co(Al,Cr)2O4) is commonly known as cobalt turquoise or turquoise blue or cerulean blue (hue) only reason why pb36 is used as a substitute is because its a far cheaper pigment than pb35 www.webexhibits.org/pigments/indiv/overview/ceruleanblue.html en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerulean www.artiscreation.com/blue.html#PB36 cerulean blue pb35 had been named in 1999 as colour of the century i think its a matter of personal preference or choice for most artists as i kno some that use pb35 and some pb36. in oil paint i prefer pb35 but in watercolor pb36
I am so glad that you did this review. Cheap Joes is in Boone, NC just north of us and they have an outlet store in Asheville that no artist should miss visiting when you are in town. I had never used his paints before last year. I was kind of trained on Windsor Newton colors and that is mostly what I used. But since I have been buying a few tubes here and there, I have become a super fan. I could not believe the Ultramarine Blue. It reminds me of the blue in the Renaissance paintings. The colors are very saturated and as you say, very "re-wetable". It makes them a joy to use. As I value your opinion and experience, I was happy to have my impressions confirmed by you. I also agree that these wonderful paints should be more widely known and used.
Thanks so much Neill!
I LOVE American Journey's Ultramarine blue. Side by side it's more vibrant than my tube of Daniel Smith. Cheaper too, by a bit.
Super informative. Although I've shopped at Cheap Joes lots, more often for brushes or misc. items, infrequently for AJ watercolor. Their watercolor paper is super and now with your review might give a few of the single pigment, transparent colors a try. Many thanks.
s.z. H I'm glad it was helpful!
Yessss, Denise lovin' the orange!! (Orange is my favorite color! Makes me so happy!)
Hahaha I knew you'd like it!!
Thank you for the review, Denise. I have been eyeing them for a while so I had to come over a watch!
Jo Anne Owens in glad it's helpful!
Your mixes are beautiful! I love the colors Victor sent you, excellent selection :)
Thanks Eve!
I started out with American Journey paints. Cheap Joes had a very nice starter set that they used to have a very good price on before Christmas. Joe Miller used to do UTube videos on a regular basis but now they have Julie do them. Nothing against Julie I just learned a lot from Joe. Then I started trying other paints and have a little bit of everything. Thanks for showing them today.
Essie Tangle thanks Essie. I've seen their demos but for me personally, it's not as helpful as an overview. I also want to hear from the community in addition to the people they're paying, you know? Regardless I did enjoy them!
Thank you for breaking down what colors these are. I don’t like when companies don’t use the standard names. I’m always hesitant to buy since I don’t want to get duplicates.
That Raw umber looks very similar to my DS German Greenish Raw Umber (PBr7?). A clunky name, but a useful colour, at least in landscapes and botanicals. If Hangovers had a colour, it'd be that one!
Roslyngal 😂😂😂
Oh, I wish I had seen this yesterday! I looked and looked at these paints and scoured youtube for reviews... nothing. So last night I bought another brand!!!! Oh, well, there's next time for a few tubes. Thanks for an, as usual, excellent review. :-) Edit: I did come acros one single post at wet canvas which said to stay away from them. Ugh, I really can't see why.
Pat Kin oh no! The timing :( hopefully this video can make its round so that it come up in searches soon :) I hope you have with your new paints though!
Really looking forward to the Maimeri Blu review. I can find almost no informative reviews of those. I love the two colours I have from them (Faience blue and Barok red) and have been debating trying more.
Thanks for this and all the other vids!
K Lio thanks so much! I look forward to trying them out more as well.
In Liquid Color Actually I misremembered--Barok Red is from Old Holland. So I've only tried one Maimeri Blu paint :D
K Lio I've been trying to find OH's barok red WC for ages. Don't suppose you'd care to share your source? I found it once online but they'd mislabeled the oil paint version. Talk about a horrible swatch card! My sable brush was never the same again! (My oil painter friend was happy to re-purpose it though!).
Roslyngal I probably got it from Dick Blick or Jerry's Artarama (US), and I think Jackson's (UK) has it too--those are the three places I've ordered from recently. I once, as a kid, was given a tube of oil paint mixed in with a gift of acrylics, so I understand your pain :)
thanks for the awesome review denise! i am so like you with orange yet my palettes are full of lovely rusty orange colors. when you did that second orange mix i wanted to curl up in the color and dream! lol the mixes you did sold me on getting at least a few of these paints to add to what i have so i will be going over this video many times thinking about what to order. again thanks! :D
Crystaline Dreams thanks for coming by! I'm glad the review was helpful and nice to meet another orange lover 😍
i prefer the word rust or anything except orange, unless we are talking fruit it just makes me cringe! lol :D have a wonderful day!
Hi Denise! The Raw Umber is indeed that color. Weird huh. I like the Halloween Orange/Cerulean mix. It makes a really nice pewter gray, one of my favorite neutral mixes. Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoy the paints. Another cool fact, AJ comes in 37ml tubes and the prices are quite reasonable.
Ooo cool! I'll try out that mix. Perhaps there's use for that orange yet 😂 I know I should be kinder to the bright oranges and bright greens. I'll try harder haha. And you're absolutely right, I forgot about the larger tube size. That's very helpful indeed.
Thanks again so much for this set. Im really impressed with them and will use them in some more demos :)
In Liquid Color BTW I used Canton Montcalm paper for the swatches.
Is that autocorrect for Canson Montval? :D
In Liquid Color LOL. Yup. Gotta love autocorrect
I believe the colors are professionals and do not fade. They are the same as DaVinci I believe. As far as the glossy thing, it has to do more with paper. For example. On my arches 140 lbs or strathmoore 500 series 140 lbs there is no gloss but on my cheaper strathmoore 300 series 140 lbs there is a gloss. Glad you reviewed because I looked for a review back when I bought these but there wasn't really much out there. I bought perm rose ultramarine blue, and joes yellow and was very satisfied by the price, pigment and range I could get with those 3 colors.
When you were adding the orangey red to mix a black, I was expecting you to say "Orange...is the new black."
Very thorough review and a welcome addition to the scarce independent product info available on AJ watercolors. I considered buying them when I first started buying wc paint but was put off by the high prices. I assumed that they would be inexpensive since they are a house brand. So I was disappointed when they were priced equal to or more than some pro brands. I just don't understand the logic behind that.
I definitely agree on the price! I too thought they'd be much less expensive, and cannot afford to spend money on an unknown brand of paint when there are others better represented.
Exactly. The business model makes no sense. For example, AJ is the only brand to offer Goethite other than Daniel Smith. Jane Blundell sings it's praises and recommends it as part of her Ultimate Mixing Palette. This would be a perfect opportunity for AJ to siphon off some DS customers with lower prices on the color. Instead, their Goethite is nearly double the price at $20.49 for a 15 ml tube!!! Why would anyone in their right mind get the AJ version?! The most expensive paint in the 15 ml range? Potter's Pink Natural at $32.29, some sort of DS Primatek type pigment. I had no idea they started making wc paints out of gold bars, did you!? Lol
Hahahaha!
I agree and they're the same as DaVinci who makes them. DaVinci makes a lot of rebranded paint... as in Blick's line. So, in the end, Blick, Amer Journ and DaVinci are all the same paint and the prices are also comparable. Well, actually I think you buy straight from DaVinci, which I used to do their oils, its a bit less even plus DaVinci charges no shipping over $49.00 while the big three (Jerry's, Blick's and Joe's) orders have to be for a lot more to get free shipping usually plus if there's a retail store in your state, Blick's charges tax eventhough they ship from out-of-State.. seems a crim to me. Sorry for the rant... I just placed orders at two different places, due to backorder situation at both, last night and am still feeling the sting... ouch!
Pat Kin Supplies are probably because Mother's Day is coming up on Sunday. Moms always live homemade gifts the most. Remember the ashtray you made her in elementary school? It was supposed to be a coffee mug but the handle broke in the kiln. Lol. She proudly displays it in the family room so she can tell people who stop by a detailed and embarrassing tale of it's origin, including the part about the handle. Lol My guess? Supplies will be back to normal in June.
Great video Denise! 😁 I have been hesitant about these paints too because of the lack of a whole lot of information. I have read multiple times that people believe they are made by da vinci & I have heard good things, but I wish there was more out there.
Valarie Connell /DrawingWithFire ah yes! Oh boy. I have so many reviews I've been researching that I forgot to mention that about DaVinci too, my apologies... however I also haven't heard a ton about them either! They're on my wishlist too do future reviews but I have plenty to keep me busy in the meantime :)
Oh no apologies necessary! 😁 I only brought up da vinci because that's all I've really seen about American journey. I do wish the store brands such as blick, Soho (jerry's), and cheap Joe's would give more info. They make claims, but you can't verify outside of their websites...it gets a bit frustrating and makes me shy away from them. Why is it such a problem to say who manufactures for them?!? It might actually help sales if they have a brand name company making them. Uuuugggghhhh the secrets...lol 🤣
Valarie Connell /DrawingWithFire I completely agree. I'd go as far to say I don't even care who makes them if they'd just have (respected) TH-camrs review them to get information out there! I too am wary of trusting information when the only source is the company itself making claims.
In Liquid Color so true!
Valarie Connell /DrawingWithFire I got a starter set of their Utrecht brand wc paints and wasn't very impressed. I also have a few DaVinci paints and they are quite nice. I am a big fan of AJ because they are pretty reasonable (at least here in the US) and a couple of the painters I follow use them.
Denise, You give such wonderful information in every video you produce! I was hoping this is where you found a use for the neutral tint in your Wildlife palette! I had never considered this brand as I have more than enough on my plate as it is but I only have 1 half pan of the neutral tint sent to me until they release the tube version of your color in your Wildlife palette! I am hoping to send a good sample of your Wildlife palette to a friend and I will most likely substitute a paynes grey because I do not want to send her me only half pan! Wonderful as ever, take care and have a lovely day!
I was totally thinking the same thing! Why isn't there more artists using American Journey? Many of the professional watercolorists use American Journey but I hardly see them used by new artists. I noticed this while researching the pouring technique and found so many amazing professionals using primarily American Journey. I'm definitely grateful for all of the top choices we have here in the States.
I love your binder! I would pay for a swatch set like this ❤
Thank you Amber!! Hmm something to consider 😜
In Liquid Color I will be following your channel for future updates. :) Your videos have been extremely helpful for me as a beginning watercolorist.
My understanding is that these are made by Davinci..
They are. :)
Love your comparisons and your swatchings . Am always interested in all of the properties you discuss. Have you tried Soho. They are on sale again at je=dies. The last thing I need is probably another watercolor ..but they are on sale..oh, HOA I hate to pass up a sale.
American Journey paint is made by the DaVinci Paint Company. Same paint.
So how do you figure out what the actual color names are? is there a website with pigment names somewhere?
Devry Petersen the tubes should always have the names and pigment information. Companies also usually have color charts. You can search for them in google :)
Well I mean from the cutesy names. Is there a list of color names that goes with pigment information. So like if you buy a pallet that has strange names you can look up the pigment numbers easier and figure out a comparable color to restock on later? I know I can google them, I just wondered if there was a website with a list of pigment numbers with their names anywhere that was reliable :) Thanks for the response though!!
Thank you so much! I enjoy your videos, thanks for the help :)
Curious. Are you still using this brand? Thanks.
Rori Rants occasionally :)
Ok, thank you. So hard as a beginner to decide where to spend the initial dollars. Just go all in with DS or MG--or mix and match brands, which is a lot of work (and shipping dollars) Thank you for your videos!
DS and MG are my favorites :) I do like American Journey, but they're not much cheaper. You should be able to find them online and shipping isn't too bad :)
Thank you :)
Cerulean Blue is PB35 and not PB36 which is Cobalt Chromite. Very dodge names by American Journey... Schmincke, Sennelier and Daler Rowney use PB35
H Michael I feel like I've seen a lot of brands end up crossing cobalt and cerulean. The names are definitely not easy to go off of (case in point bumble bee yellow) but the color itself (the cerulean here) is my favorite version of whatever you want to call that color :)
pb36 (Cobalt Chromite Blue Green Spinel Co(Al,Cr)2O4) is commonly known as cobalt turquoise or turquoise blue or cerulean blue (hue)
only reason why pb36 is used as a substitute is because its a far cheaper pigment than pb35
www.webexhibits.org/pigments/indiv/overview/ceruleanblue.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerulean
www.artiscreation.com/blue.html#PB36
cerulean blue pb35 had been named in 1999 as colour of the century
i think its a matter of personal preference or choice for most artists as i kno some that use pb35 and some pb36. in oil paint i prefer pb35 but in watercolor pb36