Paint List Holiday Guide - 2023

Roll Out That Eggnog, and Let's Talk Paint

Or if Cocoa is more your speed that's cool too.

Snow has been falling in the Rocky Mountains, and it’s that festive time of year. Here at the Paint List we love nothing more than looking through the holiday offerings, and we thought we’d share the spirit! So we're taking a quick break from the studio to chat about the most luxurious oil paint sets and the sweet buy-get deals. Here are the highlights:

-Some buy-get free paint deals (in Red and Green, actually) while supplies last -A look at some of the world’s snazziest glamour paint sets and where to find them this year -Our recommendations for the painter who has everything

Holiday Dreams - Oil Paint

Let's Vet the Sets

All right let's talk about those dreamy paint sets. We love to look at the very best sets each year. We have not yet bought these sets yet ourselves, however we've painted with these brands enough to get to know them. So we'll be talking about pigments and linking every paint to its paint page on the Paint List so you can assess what these sets are really bringing to you.

While we love these dreamy sets, as we have painted more and more, we believe the best set is the one you make yourself with the colors you choose, which is why we made the ability to add Favorites on Paint List. Don't tell anyone, but for ourselves, we like just buy a pochade/ vintage paint box off of ebay and make custom sets for ourselves with hand-picked colors.

Still, it’s fun to vet the sets. Someone at these companies sat down and took the time to fit everything together beautifully in a paint box, and it's nice to see.

Also before we get started, bear in mind that manufacturers always say that the colors listed in these sets are subject to change. Sometimes retailers will say that there is an 'assortment.' So it might be different than what a person actually gets-- though hopefully not too different.

Extravagant Sets from Major Paint Companies

Holiday dream sets. Photo Credits: Holiday background photo is by Kateryna Hliznitsova via Unsplash, Sets from Jerry's Artarama and Blick

Rembrandt Artists' Oil Colour Excellent Wood Box Set

First up is the Rembrandt. This is what they call the Rembrandt Excellent Wood Box Set

Rembrandt paint tends to be light and airy in feel, very smooth and creamy but not dense, if that makes sense. Easily brushable. In texture, some colors remind us of Winsor and Newton and some are almost as light and spreadable as M Graham. With Rembrandt watch out for lightfastness in the yellows as well as an orange that seems to get used a fair amount, PO43 Perinone orange, which has a LF as low as 5 out of 8 in some tests. Rembrandt does have a huge range of pigments though and we love them for that.

This thing is loaded! At first we were thrown off when reading the contents as we saw 19 colors in 15ml (small) tubes, but don't worry. There are 18 more colors in 40ml tubes, and it doesn't stop there. There are a bunch of large tubes of white nestled to the right (60ml), plus an extra 150 ml tube of white.

The small tubes include the following list of colors. Bear in mind these Paint List pages link to larger sizes of these colors. As with all the Paint List links for these sets, it's our best guess at matching the listing in the set to the paints on Paint List, so be sure to double check with the retailer if there is a color you really want.

These small 15ml tubes are very petite, and a painter would be likely to use these up quite quickly.

So watch the sizes in the set! There are 15 ml tubes and then a set of larger tubes.

With the caveats according to the listing- they always say that the actual colors may very a bit- let's take a look at what this set actually contains.

What we like: Interestingly this set actually seems a bit more tailored to the needs of a painter, for example the inclusion of larger tubes of bespoke white paints as well as the extra large tube of Titanium. We liked that Permanent Blue Violet contains PV16 Manganese Violet, as that is a useful and somewhat rare color.

What we don't like: Perhaps the inclusion of retouch varnish and lots of mediums-- it depends what's in them, and for a beginning to intermediate painter those could be a bit confusing. The emphasis on mediums means the space in the custom box is spoken for and divided to fit those bottles. It looks cool, but we'd rather see more paint. Also a couple of these blends contain PO43, which doesn't exactly have the strongest lightfastness, not horrible but not the highest. There is a bit of zinc hiding out in some blends such as the King's Blue and the Cobalt Blue Ultramarine, which might best be lableled a hue even though Ultramarine is in the title.

Photo Credits: Holiday background photo by Morgane Le Breton via Unsplash, Rembrandt Boxed Set from Blick

The little tubes in Rembrandt 'Excellent' Wood Boxed Set

The buy links for Paint List paints are for standard sizes of the tubes, not the tiny tubes included in this set.

The standard 40 ml tubes in the Rembrandt 'Excellent' set

More goodies in the Rembrandt Excellent Set

The accessories and mediums in the set

They also include three 60 ml (2 oz) tubes of

Mixed White -- possibly referring to their Mixing White, Zinc White, and one 150 ml tube of Titanium White.

Other accessories contained in the set:

"25 charcoal sticks, 3 palette knives, 2 deluxe single palette cups, a double palette cup, a bamboo roll up brush mat, 6 hog bristle brushes (flat sizes 8, 12, 16 and filbert sizes 6, 10, 14), red sable brushes (flat sizes 6, 10), and synthetic fiber brushes (round sizes 4, 8)."

According to the Rembrandt site, the mediums included are as follows: 2 bottles of picture varnish (glossy and matt), a bottle of retouching varnish, a bottle of glazing medium, a bottle of painting medium and a bottle of odourless white spirit.

The Smaller Rembrandt Set

Something that looked a bit interesting to us was the smaller Rembrandt Set, which came with some useful colors (though look out for lightfast yellows).

A smaller Rembrandt set that actually might be useful for a limited palette.

If you don't mind the absence of Cadmiums, and vet the reds, yellows, and greens for lightfastness, then the Rembrandt Professional Wood Box Set might fit the bill if you're looking for a nice perfectly-arranged Rembrandt boxed set.

Ok, next up...

Holiday background photo by Morgane Le Breton via Unsplash, Rembrandt Professional Wood Boxed set from Blick

Old Holland Masters Oil Color Limited Edition Wood Box Set

Ok if we were really dreaming, we'd go for the set of every Old Holland paint in the current(ish) Old Holland Range (it contains 168 colors). There's the Old Holland 15106 Limited Edition Wooden Oil Colour Box with one of every color.

However that treasure trove is oh-so-sold-out everywhere that we could find, as it was a limited edition of 100.

In general, Old Holland paints have a stiff consistency. We'd compare it to the sculptable viscosity of creamy peanut butter (though obviously, despite the comparison please never ever eat paint), and some Old Holland colors are even stiffer than that.

Something we like about Old Holland is that they make extremely highly pigmented cadmium colors.

Issues to watch out for with Old Holland are the inclusion of zinc into their color blends (if you are a zinc-conscious painter), as well as some potential issues with lightfastness for certain colors. There are a couple of colors where Old Holland rates the colors as having good lightfastness, and yet the pigment composition might not give one to have such a high confidence without individual testing.

On a different note, another thing Old Holland does well is very close attention to emulating historical hues-- we actually prefer their historical approximations to those of other brands because they have a good track record of getting it as close as possible. Their color blends for colors like Rose Madder are incredible.

The huge Old Holland Treasure Box. Photo Credits: Dazzling Background by Luke Besley via Unsplash, Old Holland Treasure Chest via [Parkers Sydney Fine Art Supplies](https://parkersartsupplies.com/products/deluxe-old-holland-classic-oil-colour-set).

Old Holland really gets high marks in general it when it comes to making things just look appealing, and we love the painted swatches on their labels. Since the grand treasure chest is sold out everywhere, we resolved ourselves to focus this review on the Old Holland box that has made the rounds ever year.

Let's take a look at the old standby. This looks like the Old Holland 15103 or 15101 set, which is very confusing, as Old Holland has the picture labeled 15103, and the Old Holland link title says 15101. Oh my. The hurdles we holiday shoppers have to go through. So maybe confirm with the retailer to be sure if you're buying this one.

The Jerry's site was a bit sparse on information. They said it contained:

"34 x 40 ml tubes

Cold pressed linseed oil binder Comes with Italian Mabef Deluxe Wooden Sketch Box Rectangular wood palette Two covered palette cups 3 palette knives 3 vine charcoal 4 oz turpentine 4 oz oil painting medium Size No.8 round, No.8 bright and No.10 filbert brushes"

So beyond that we're on our own as far as a pigments list.

If the Old Holland link is the right one for box 15103, and if the Jerry's Listing is indeed for the 15103, the pigments for that box are listed below (no guarantees that this guess is the right one).

What we like: Ok so this set is incredibly gorgeous, and we could just stare at pictures of it. In fact we have often wondered when other sets look more elaborate why this one by Old Holland is so incredibly good looking. Getting down to brass tacks, this thing is full of paint, and on a holiday sale it might not actually be too bad of a deal. There are a few colors we love: Carribean Blue is a super fun PB16 that's hard to find. If the Cobalt Blue is included, that is an expensive tube of genuine Cobalt that is absolutely gorgeous. Their Yellow Ochre is a nice one and so is Raw Sienna Light. Transparent Oxide-Red Lake is one of our favorites and has an extra redolent note in glazes. We also adore their Caput Mortuum Violet which makes mysterious tints.

What we don't like: Ok, we could go either way on the Mabef box. That's one nice box. But unless you love boxes and (understandably) want to keep these paints in their treasure chest so you can look at them all day, the box is a high end accessory. A few colors here are ones we'd probably pass on due to lightfastness concerns. Also, unless it is truly PB33, The Manganese Blue Deep should probably be labeled as a hue. Also there are none of the cadmiums for which Old Holland has been made so justly famous.

If you love the Mabef box though, this set could be a deal.

We are more inclined to get a vintage box, and build our own set with our favorites Old Holland colors. We're just hoping it would look this good in the end.

A set of about 34 oil paints in a natural wood box with gold clasps.

A holiday set from Old Holland. Photo Credits: Hoiday background photo by Annie Spratt via Unsplash, Old Holland Wood Box Set from Jerry's Artarama.

Paints Likely to be in the Old Holland Box

If it's the one on the Old Holland Site

More Details on the Old Holland Box

Mediums, brushes, and more

Though these may not be the right colors for the listing (by all means inquire with the retailer if you buy this set), the page does list 34 x 40 ml tubes, so that's a good start.

The set also includes: "2 Bottles Of Medium, 3 Brushes, 2 Palet Cups, Charcoal and 3 Palet Knives"

It doesn't say which mediums are included here, and the pictures are a bit small to tell. However, we could find two mediums on Blick, so there is a chance it could be these two:

Old Holland Quick-Drying Medium "This medium thins oil paints and enhances their flow. It also produces quicker drying times, reduces gloss, and allows brushstrokes to remain visible. Made from a mixture of linseed oil, turpentine oil, and white spirit, Quick Drying Painting Medium contains no resin or dryers."

Old Holland Oil Painting Medium "Old Holland Oil Painting Medium thins oil paints, increases fluidity, and enhances flow. Made from a mixture of linseed oil, turpentine oil, and white spirit, it contains no resin or dryers. It reduces gloss and ensures that brushstrokes remain visible, but does not affect the drying time."

As far as mediums go, we recommend just using oil, so you can also check out

Old Holland Stand Oil, Old Holland Windmill Cold Pressed Linseed Oil, Old Holland Bleached Linseed Oil, or Old Holland Refined Poppy Oil.

Charvin Extra-Fine Oil Color Deluxe Wood Chest Oil Painting Set

Now for something pretty regal.

Ok, this one has only ever been a Jerry's Artarama offering, and wow it just... I mean, are those pearls? The Charvin Set with the Pearls

In general Charvin is somwhat similar to Rembrandt in being a very light oil paint. Some things we like about Charvin is their convenience blues and blue greys. That is unique to the brand, and while we wouldn't recommend a huge number of convenience colors to those beginning to learn color mixing, there are times when one wishes for "shortcut colors" to achieve a mix. For some reason hardly any brands have a wide selection of convenience blues, and Charvin does this. They also have more chromatic greys than most as well as a wide range of pastel blends.

Some things to watch out for with Charvin is that they do contain poppyseed oil which is an issue for some. They also do not always list the pigments on the label which is confusing, and they were not able to provide us information about some of their colors, so that was not the best. However they do make very spreadable paint in a wide variety of colors and color blends.

What we like: Ok, we love just the vibe of glory this set gives off. The box also looks like it has pull-out drawers, which is cool. So far this is the only set that incldues Cadmiums, and it might be worth being sure they appear to be genuine Cadmiums and not hues (though they may be genuine as they are in small 20ml tubes--we linked the paints to the genuine Charvin Cadmiums, but we aren't 100% certain this is right). The Cobalt Blue Light genuine is nice to see. And of course the large Titanium White. Some of the blends are nice-- greens that include cadmiums and blues.

What we don't like: From what it looks like, Charvin actually doesn't sell genuine Cobalt Violet, so it should be labeled as a hue. Charvin paints also contain poppyseed oil, which we are on the fence about. And we want to know, does it really have fake pearls.

All right, let's set aside the enchanting trappings in this box which make for such lovely photos and take a look at the paint:

20ml tubes: (please keep in mind that these Paint List links are connected with listings for larger tubes). For context these 20 ml tubes in the set are quite small, and a painter is likely to go through these in a hurry.

This is a paint set with a variety of paint tubes, brushes, palette knifes, a sponge, and even a pile of pearls.

Charvin Three-Drawer Wood Chest. Photo credits: Holiday background photo by Alsu Vershinina, paint box by Jerry's Artarama

Small tubes in the Charvin Set

These are only 20ml, and we have linked the full-sized paints. 20ml is pretty small. Also we're not sure if the Cadmium Red Light is the same as the Cadmium Scarlet listed on the listing.

Large tubes in the Charvin Set

These are 60ml (so larger than a normal paint tube at 40 ml)

Extras in the Charvin Set

Plus a tube of 150ml Titanium White

Besides this there is also:

Citrus Brush Cleaner 2oz Lavender Brush Cleaner 2oz Linseed Oil 2oz Oil Of Spike Lavender 2oz Fat Medium 2oz Lean Medium 2oz Retouch Varnish 2oz Damar Varnish 2oz

Which basically looks like a Chelsea sampler, though it does not seem to be described that way.

Specialized Sets: Spotlight on Earth Tones

What kind of earth tones painter are you?

Ok, so earth tones are one of those areas that some people love and other people work around, as higher chroma colors can usually be mixed down to reach earth-tone chroma notes. However earth tones have their own mixing dynamics and sometimes they have interesting textures.

If you're a no-earth-tones person, you'll have to skip ahead to the gifts for the painter who has everything.
If you're a take-em-or-leave-em earth tones person, why not try a new yellow ochre?
If you love texture in earth tones, try the Williamsburg sets.
If you hate texture in your oil paints and like smooth colors only -- try Vasari's Raw Sienna instead.

Ok, if you're ready to try some new earth tones, first, we have to brief you. Know the risks of sinking in, and how to avoid it, and realize that when you're branching out you're likely to meet some wild gritty earths! We'll be talking gritty earths as well as some exceptionally smooth ones later in the article. For now, we're focusing on the textured ones from Williamsburg.

This year we bought some fun earth tone sets that took texture to the max. We were glad we did, but then we love the full range of earth textures.

Williamsburg's French Earths Set and Williamsburg's Italian Earths Set from Blick.

Two boxes of earth tones with about 10 tubes each. One box is Italian Earths and the other box contains French Earths.

Two boxed sets. French and Italian earths- taking texture to the max. Photo credit: Holiday Background by Morgane Le Breton, paint from Blick

Gritty Earth Sets - Renaissance Colors

Maybe the actual secret of the Old Masters

Ok so we're betting most of the colors the Renaissance painters used aren't exactly around anymore-- though if you're really into history you could check out the dry pigments from Zecchi. We're not going to get that intense though. Williamsburg has done an exquisite job of hunting down specialty earth colors-- though be prepared, here you will be veering off the normal boxed-run-of-the-mill earths and veering into new territory with textured earth tones.

What we do think is likely is that Renaissance masters knew how to use the variety of earth tones that they had and that includes knowing how particle sizes affect the feel of the paint and its handling properties. These are fun earth tones that we'd recommend.

We'd recommend Williamsburg's French Earths and Williamsburg's Italian Earths.

Some of our favorite colors in the Williamsburg French Earths are the French Terre Verte, French Brown Ochre, andFrench Light Sienna, for some browner/greener siennas and ochres. Note: unfortunately their French Noir Indien was discontinued, so the boxed set (at least when we bought it) had the French Rouge Indien instead.

The Italian Earths contain some of our favorite specialty Yellow Ochre colors, Italian Lemon Ochre, and Italian Yellow Ochreas as some smashing red earths with high chroma like Italian Pompeii Red, and Italian Pozzuoli Earth.

Williamsburg French Earths

We loved the green French Terre Verte. French Brown Ochre and French Light Sienna are interesting colors when it comes to earth tones.

Williamsburg Italian Earths

These are chromatic, specialty earths. We loved the Italian Lemon Ochre and the reds, which include Pompeii and Pozzouli

Rublev Earths to Explore

Earth tones galore

We can't talk about earth tones without modulating over to Rublev / Natural Pigments:

Some single earth colors we love are Natural Pigment's Pozzuoli Earth

and the extremely chromatic (for an earth) red-orange Venetian Red. We can't get enough of it.

A great standard yellow ochre is Rublev's Blue Ridge Yellow Ocher

And a fun specialty ochre with a gritty texture is Lemon Ocher.

Rublev Earths we Particularly Enjoy

Many of these have a large-ish particle size (i.e. gritty)

Smooth Earth Tones & Earth Mixes

The Renaissance Touch of Colors

There are some smooth earth tones out there, and we can personally vouch for the exceptionally smooth and buttery Raw Sienna. If you love smooth paints this might be worth checking out.

Another fun set to try which we bought this year was the Vasari Renaissance Touch of Color set. This set fascinated us as a convenience blend set that pairs an earth tone with a white (though they do not specify which white pigment or pigments). We were surprised by the variation in value of the actual paints-- online they all look pretty light. One thing that is hard with Vasari is that they do not disclose pigments so we can't say for sure which white pigments were used.

Vasari Earth-Plus-White Convenience blends

These are fun mixes that help a painter to see the earth tones on their palette as tints. We hope these only contain Titanium White but until Vasari tells us more we aren't sure (ask them about Zinc if you want to know). Nonetheless these feathery earth-based pastels may be an interesting addition to some palettes

For the Painter Who Has Everything

Color swatch books with real paint swatches

All right, this is where we talk shop. No tap dancing around with free paint or gorgeous boxed sets. Here's where we get to the painter's secret weapon - an accessory we always have on our wish list (or at least one we like to use). And we would love to see more brands produce these charts with real swatches of paint.

Photo credit: Holiday Background by Morgane Le Breton, Old Holland and Michael Harding Color Charts from Blick, and the Rublev Color Chart from Natural Pigments.

Handpainted color charts.

These are phenomenal tools for vetting one's future paint purchases. We only wish more companies made them. Online colors are all over the place. While it is not quite as good as having all the paints, it really helps.

In fact, Rublev just re-stocked their charts, so now is a good time if you've been wanting one.

Old Holland: Old Holland Handpainted Color Chart

Michael Harding: Michael Harding Handpainted Color Chart

Rublev: Rublev Handpainted Color Chart

Three sets of color charts with handpainted swatches.

For the painter who has everything, there are few better ways to discover new paints. Photo credit: Holiday Background by Morgane Le Breton, Old Holland and Michael Harding Color Charts from Blick, and the Rublev Color Chart from Natural Pigments.

Happy Holidays

Wishing you happy painting this holiday season!

What's on your wish list this year? We'd love to hear.

Update: the 2023 Buy-Get Deals have now expired

Our Holiday Wish to You: “May your painting be Merry and Bright, and may you get a free tube of Titanium White!” * *Though it seems the only company offering that so far this year is M Graham in Acrylic and Watercolor, so if you’re an oil painter, you might have to go for Sennelier’s Baryte Green. Photo credit: Holiday background by Kateryna Hliznitsova,