Our very first watercolors

This article does not advertise anything, I wrote it to express my love for the brand, which for most of us opened the world of painting, and later raised real artists.

Starting

In the 70-90s in Russia there was not much choice of goods and products. Later, in everyday terms the situation was corrected, but even in the early 2000s there were still not many materials for artists. At that time, watercolors were sold in a blue cardboard box with a white stripe and the inscription “Ленинград”. This is a symbolic thing for everyone who started their path in painting at that time — 24 colors in cuvettes packed in shiny foil like sweets, each one has the name and features written on it, the color itself is marked.

I remember how my grandfather gave me such a set. He was always confident in my artistic abilities and considered it necessary to develop them. Later, he also gave “Чёрная речка” sets in tubes so that the main colors could be topped up. With this watercolor I went to my first, second, third art school. And I went to an art university with a more professional set: 36 cuvettes in a wide plastic box, inside a palette pad and an empty deepening for brushes between two rows of cuvettes. I used this set for a very long time, and I still have it. The middle row (deepening) has long been overgrown with additional colors because the brushes are now different and it is inconvenient to keep them there. Such nostalgia!

That time these were the only paints that could be bought. They were produced by the Leningrad Factory of Artistic Paints, abbreviated “ЗК”. Today the market of watercolors is really huge but such sets are still sold and are popular. They are inexpensive but inside the high-quality professional watercolor. It is produced by the same factory, now rebrended to Nevskaya Palitra, but the sacramental letters “ЗК” on the logo have remained.

Present

In 2021, Nevskaya Palitra celebrated its 87th birthday. And since I have been working with them for a long time, I was invited to an official party dedicated to this event. On that day, the guests (mostly artists and bloggers) were lucky enough to visit the factory itself and its production facilities. We looked at the production cycle from start to finish with our own eyes, visited the laboratory, the workshops where paints are mixed on an industrial scale. In fact, the factory produces paintwork materials of several brands, and not all of them are artistic. I didn’t even know about some: for example, building exterior paints and primers, but here I’m still talking about watercolor.

The laboratory has become one of the most interesting points of the tour. There, the factory's specialists are constantly researching and compiling new shades. Nevskaya Palitra has been regularly releasing new sets of colors for several years in a row: some are thematic, some are simply unique, some come to replace the old ones. Of course, there are also basic colors included in all standard sets. These ones factory produces without changes for a long time.

The laboratory is working on improving the formulas of already produced colors, testing the behavior of new pigments and binders. But some colors “Nevskaya Palitra” has had to withdraw from production, despite the fact that many artists loved them. These include, for example, the famous shade of Thioindigo. The most common reason is changes in the supplier market, as a result of which the pigment required for production is no longer supplied.

“Nevskaya Palitra” manages to maneuver so that the artists are satisfied, and the prices for the paints themselves do not jump. As for such unique and extinct shades, especially ardent fans hunt them on Avito. Sometimes there is a chance to outbid them, but knowledgeable people put up quite a high price for them, as for a rarity.

Rich palette of Nevskaya Palitra

A distinctive feature of the Nevskaya Palitra watercolor is, in fact, its truly rich palette of colors. And this feature is not accidental. These paints have now changed, become more complicated with nouances in work. Although they are recommended for beginners, they are not so simple.

The fact is that in the work this watercolor does not tolerate complex, overloaded mixes. A mix of two colors is still fine, but more than three is almost a guaranteed failure. The final color mix will be more and more withered, dirty and cloudy on paper. Therefore, it is better to take Nevskaya Palitra paints clean. In any case, the cleaner the better. And the abundance of color tones is just on hand! You can no longer do those complex mixes that end up with dirt, but take the final shade from the cuvette right away. Confusion is kept to a minimum! The price for a cuvette or tube just allows you to buy many shades without going broke. (Try doing the same thing with Daniel Smith, ha!

“Nevskaya Palitra” specifically collaborates with various artists, experts in their genres. They help to choose the colors in the sets in the best way.

Nevskaya Palitra also produces many thematic sets for genres from architecture to botany. For each set, the most popular colors in the genre are selected. Even more: “Nevskaya Palitra” collabs with artists, experts in their genres. They help to choose the colors in the sets in the best way. Therefore, buying such a set, you kind of take a start from professionals.

The Nevskaya Palitra has both transparent, whitening, and decorative shades, so they will suit any artist, no matter what genre or style. And since this is a quality product at a reasonable price, which is also always available in our art stores, it is often chosen not only by students, but also by professionals. Most likely it will be recommended to you by teachers when entering universities and colleges for art specialties. You can read about watercolors from Nevskaya Palitra in comparison with watercolors from other manufacturers in this article.

Watercolor nostalgia

While sorting out the desktop, I found my old set there, the one in the photo at the beginning. And I immediately remembered how I started to draw, how miserable were the first works in watercolor. And then the carefree studentship, and the growth of skill, and those wonderful moments that you spend in the store, choosing which color tube to buy next. The find inspired me to share it with my followers on Instagram. I've asked how they themselves started and offered to share a photo of their first set of watercolors. So, 90% of the drawing people among my subscribers also started drawing from the Nevskaya Palitra! Live response:

I myself reviewed my archives and found some of the works that I painted with these paints: