Basic Information
In the UK it is difficult to acquire Turner Design Gouache. The more popular and easy to find choice is Turner Acryl Gouache (acrylic gouache). In order to avoid expensive shipping and import fees I had to buy my Turner Design Gouache from Artmiranda, an online Spanish store. It was priced at £5.38 for a 25ml tube. I checked the Jacksons Art store (in America) and most of them were available for $8.99, but they had a sale for $6.59 each, so it’s definitely worth waiting for the sales!
The 25ml tubes are much larger than the standard 15ml tubes available in most brands.
Turner Design Gouache is made in Japan and the company states that it is made with pure gum arabic. They make no statements about fillers or if it is vegan-friendly. I sent a message to them asking, but upon writing this they have not responded (I’ll update my gouache database in the future if they do).
Swatches
When I first squeezed the paint out, some of the colors seemed a little runny (the white, yellow and turquoise). But the swatches showed that the colors are vibrant and opaque, even the yellow (which is more rare). They diluted down without any issues and mixed nicely without streaks.
My colors:
- White (PW6)
- Permanent Yellow (PY74)
- Permanent Red (PR170, PR122)
- Turquoise Blue (PG7, PY3, PB15, PW6)
- Ultramarine Deep (PB29)
- Burnt Umber (Pbr7, Pbk11, Pbk7, PR101)
- Lamp Black (Pbk7)
Performance
I immediately noticed the paint flowed smoothly over large distances such as the sky. Without much effort, I was able to spread the paint rather thickly and get some nice opaque fills. I could transition to a dry brush texture easily as well, allowing me to layer lots of subtle color changes.
I did notice the white was slightly ‘stickier’ than the rest, so I had to add a bit of water to get it to glide, especially for the final waves, but you can see it was still opaque and it didn’t cause issues.
Conclusion
I am impressed with the opacity and vibrancy of this gouache. Overall I enjoyed using this gouache to paint a landscape. But for a similar price, I’d rather use one of my favorites- either Winsor & Newton Designer gouache or Shinhan Professional Designer Gouache since I like their consistency better. But Turner Design Gouache is a good option especially if you can buy it affordably.
Where to buy
I can only buy them at Artemiranda.
