Utrecht Oil Paint Review

Being an artist isn’t cheap.  As if the years of unpaid training perfecting your craft weren’t enough, the price of decent paints, canvas, brushes, and other materials or tools of the trade is enough to make you faint.  Budget minded painters often find few choices at the local Michaels or Hobby Lobby stores, and most cities I’ve lived in, even larger urban areas like Dallas, TX, simply don’t have much in the way of art supplies.  Over the years when money and time has been tight I’ve often snagged a quick replacement tube of Winton (the student grade paint from Windsor & Newton) simply because it was the only larger size tube available at the local craft stores.  Winton did ok in a pinch, but the feel and tinting strength of most of the colors leaves a bit to be desired (I say most of the colors because there are a few Winton colors I find pretty nice like Titanium White for example.) Often the cheaper the paint, the more paint you have to use to achieve the color mix you need.  This can be very frustrating for a painter, especially young painters just learning their way around mixing colors and handling paint.   Unfortunately top grade paints from Grumbacher, Windsor & Newton, Old Holland, or others have pretty high markups in stores.  My solution is simple, order paint online from Utrecht art supplies.

Utrecht has been milling its oil paint in the USA for 60 years using the purest oil paint supplies, raw pigments and oil.  They have high pigment concentration and don’t use any filler materials.  This gives their paint brilliant color, a nice buttery consistency that feels great under the brush, and excellent light fastness and permanence. They offer more than forty single pigment colors including brilliant cadmiums and cobalts as well as some great lead carbonate whites like Flake or Flemish.  I find them comparable to the big time professional oil paint brands in everything except price.  In fact, their pricing is roughly comparable to the Winton student grade paint at the local stores for similar sized tubes.  I just had five 150ml tubes of professional grade oil paints including more expensive colors like Flake White and Cadmium Red Medium delivered to my door for less than $120, that’s a value that’s hard to beat. 

In case you’re wondering, I have no affiliation with Utrecht (or any other company for that matter.)  No one is paying me to mention their paint, although if someone from Utrecht reads this and wants to sponsor me I’d be happy to sign an endorsement deal! Ha!  Anyway, if you’re looking for some good quality paint but don’t want to break the bank, I highly recommend giving Utrecht oil paint a try.  You can find them at http://www.utrechtart.com.