The paint I keep going back to even though I've tried others

I've been painting seriously again for about six years now, and I still keep ending up with the same brand of paint I started with. I've tried the fancy ones at workshops, bought a couple tubes of stuff that cost $12 each, and I always go back to the $4 tubes from Michaels.

Maybe it's just what I learned on and I'm used to the consistency. Or maybe I'm telling myself it doesn't matter to justify being cheap, ha. But honestly I got a tube of something nice at a workshop last spring and it dried out weird and I was annoyed. So I'm back to my usual.

Anyone else stuck on a brand they probably should have outgrown by now?

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5 comments

Ramesh Jha·4w

I understand this feeling ji. For me it is the same with my colours, I have been making my own since my mother taught me, grinding the stone and mixing with gum and water. Sometimes people send me nice tube colours from outside, and I try them, they are smooth yes. But they do not feel the same in the hand. The smell is different, the way it dries is different. So I go back to my little bowls of natural colour.

If you have been using that paint for six years and it works for you, then it is your paint. The work comes from the hand, not from the price on the tube. 🙂

Dani Okafor·4w

Okay wait, that's actually so cool. You grind your own pigments?? I've mixed my own gouache before from dry pigment and binder but that's already a lot of fuss, grinding from actual stone is a whole other level of commitment and patience.

I think there's something real about what you said though, about how it feels in the hand. That's the thing nobody talks about when they're comparing brands and price points. The muscle memory of it. Like I've tried fancier paper and I can tell it's objectively better but it still doesn't feel like what I learned on, you know?

Do you find certain stones give you colors you can't get from tube paint at all, or is it more about the process itself?

Karen WesselOP·3w

Oh I totally agree about the filler thing, I know it's true logically. But honestly I've had just as many duds with expensive paint as cheap stuff, maybe I'm just lucky or not picky enough to notice 😅 What brand do you usually use? I keep meaning to try Golden but never pull the trigger.

Karen WesselOP·4w

That's really beautiful, honestly. Grinding your own pigments from stone, that's a whole different level of connection to what you're making. I can see why tube paint would feel off after that, no matter how good it is.

You're right though, "the work comes from the hand, not from the price on the tube." I might have to stitch that on a pillow 😅

Camille Laurent·4w

I get the loyalty, but I'd push back a little. The difference between student-grade and artist-grade isn't price for price's sake, it's pigment load, mill quality, binder. Cheap paint has more filler, less pigment. You fight it to get opacity, you lose saturation, your colors get muddy faster. I've seen people struggle for years with paint that's working against them without realising it.

That said, I don't think you need the $12 tubes either. There's a middle ground. A brand like Blockx or even the mid-range of Rembrandt won't break you but will behave differently. The way they sit, the way they mix, it changes what's possible.

But if you know your cheap paint well and you make it do what you want, then fine. Plenty of good painters have worked with average materials. Just don't convince yourself it doesn't matter at all, because it does.