Basic Information
M. Graham Gouache ranges from $7.83-19.97 per tube, placing it on the middle-to-upper end of the price spectrum, especially if you want the more vibrant lightfast colors. The 15 ml tubes are standard size compared to other brands on the market.
I chose to buy the Primary Set (5 Colors). The set includes:
- Titanium White (PW6)
- Azo Yellow (PY151)
- Naphthol Red (PR112)
- Cobalt Blue (PB28)
- Ivory Black (PBk9)
M. Graham Gouache contains pure pigment in a gum arabic and honey binder. They use blackberry honey, which acts as a natural humectant. They say this keeps the paint semi-moist and allows the paint to be easily reconstituted. However, when I let the paint dry out after my paint session, it dried the same as most of my other gouaches. It was no better or worse. Perhaps the honey is more helpful in watercolor when you let the paint dry between each session.
Swatches
Performance
The paint felt extremely fluid coming out of the tube. It made me a bit nervous that it would be more transparent, but I immediately noticed how creamy the paint was when I started mixing. Like truly creamy. Not sticky. Unlike some gouaches, this one doesn’t seem to dry out so fast on the brush. This allows a bit of extra time to mix, place color, and adjust things on the paper.
Usually the yellows are slightly more transparent than other colors (phthalos and quinacridones being the next most transparent) but I felt this yellow held up to mixing and even a bit of water without going super transparent.
I was able to get the paint to glide across the paper without too much effort. This allowed me to easily create smooth gradients when desired. Layering was also easy, and because of the high opacity I was able to layer light over dark without issues.
Conclusion: I don’t think I can say enough good things about this gouache. It exceeded my expectations and it was a joy to paint with. I wish it wasn’t so expensive to buy in the UK, but I’m going to keep my eye out for sales in the future because this gouache has moved up the list of my favourites.
Thanks for this. I use their watercolors and they do dry nicely without crumbling. I’m playing with gouache to see how it might work for illustration, but also small landscapes for sale in my galleries. (I also work in oil and pastels.) I’m attracted to the M. Graham because they use the same pigments across their products so the colors will match and the light fastness will be reliable.
The thing I’ve noticed about MGraham gouache is how easily it rinses out of the brush! And how little “residue” is left at the bottom of the jar. I’m a little crazy when it comes to rinsing so I have multiple jars and tend to rinse colors separately. I had replaced my Shin Han Prussian blue with MGraham because it is easier to get separate tubes of MGraham in Kansas … I can get the sets of Shin Han on Amazon, but have to order the separate tubes from Jacksons and so have to pay international shipping. Anyway, I had lots of gouache residue at the bottom of all the other jars but the blue jar was as clear as watercolor… so much so that I double checked the tube to make sure I’d ordered gouache and not watercolor!! Same thing happened with the Payne’s gray.
Thanks for all the lovely information!!
Deb
I really appreciated this post because M Graham gouache is available locally here in Corvallis, Oregon whereas I have to either order or travel to buy other brands. I also found the note that they use blackberry honey very amusing because we are inundated with an invasive blackberry species in western Oregon! Since M Graham is just up the road in Hubbard, I’m guessing that the bees that make that honey are visiting our non-native species which at least means that it’s going to a good use! Thanks again for a great post!