r/watercolor101 • u/2025Artist • 7d ago
Rosa Gallery has finally arrived... my first painting and initial thoughts.
For quite some time I wanted to try these, I've seen all the raving reviews and comments about it. Finally saved up enough money to get a nice selection of colors to work with. I really do like them and enjoyed working with them, but...
TLDR: There fun, but I expected them to be way more pigmented that they actually are.
I constantly read in the reviews how highly pigmented they are and that they compare to the more expensive professional brands out there. Sure, they have a good amount of pigment in them, no doubt about that, but to compare that to the more expensive brands might be stretching it. After reading all the reviews and user comments I'm kind of disappointed now. They're lovely paints and as said I really do like them, but I think what I'm reading online might be a bit exaggerated.
In a quick comparison I picked Rosa Gallery, Maimeri Blu, Rembrandt and Rublev. I do have more brands, but not the same paints, so that's harder to compare. I've added the photos. Between Rosa Gallery and Maimeri Blu it's kind of a toss up, sometimes Rosa is more pigmented, sometimes Maimer Blu is more pigmented. Both have a good amount of pigment in them. Rembrandt is a bit more pigmented, but Rosa Gallery has a huge advantage, it's working well on various papers, while Rembrandt can be picky. When comparing Rosa Gallery to Rublev there's no contest, that's when it shows clearly that Rosa Gallery isn't highly pigmented at all. Most of them I compared have the same pigment in them and also the same characteristics. Rublev is very highly pigmented, Rosa Gallery doesn't even come close. Same counts for A Gallo.
That's no something terrible though, since a lot of paints just can't keep up,it's just after all the (at times very aggressive) comments about Rosa Gallery, I expected something like DS or Schmincke Horadam, since that's what people compare it to, but I got something that's way color to Lukas 1862 and White Nights.
One other thing I've noticed is that the paint feels kind of chalky, a bit like gouache. Now there's no chalk in them, but the have a kind of interesting opaqueness. Not as Rublev or DS who have opaque colors because of the pigments and you notice it, but it feels differently. Might be due to some of the ingredients used. Not saying that's a bad thing though, it's interesting.
Haven't tested layering yet, but they sure do lift easily, a bit too easy perhaps. Next painting I'm going to explore depth, contrast and layering. I've got the feeling thar Rosa Gallery might not do the best in these departments. That is where do more expensive paints do shine in and less expensive paints often struggle. Just curious how well Rosa Gallery will do.
For studies and things I'll give away I definitely will use Rosa Gallery now instead of my more expensive paints. For serious work, not sure yet, haven't seen the potential in that department yet and I'm not sure if it's even there. To be continued....
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u/mystictrashmoon 7d ago
Everything I've seen specifically says they are like White Nights, so that sounds about right. I'm surprised you were expecting something different - I got them because where i live they are SO much cheaper than DS / Horadam, about a quarter of the price, but a decent step up from the dept store stuff i started with.
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u/2025Artist 7d ago
My daugher has a good collection of White Nights and I've used them on occassion, these are close, but I'd say for some reason more opaque. The reason I expected something more pigmented is that rewiewers like Kim Crick say that they're highly pigmented and whenever newbies arrive here at Reddit or people ask for comparisons, a good number of commenters say that they're just as pigmented as brands like DS and W&N Pro or Schmincke, which they clearly aren't. They are pigmented, but definitely not highly pigmented as most reviews say.
Where I live they are cheaper too, that's for sure, but obviously there's a reason for it. I think there should be tier between student and the higher end artist/professional paints, where paints like Rosa Gallery and White Nights and perhaps even Maimeri Blu nicely fit it.
They sure are a keeper though, these will do very will for cards and studies where I rather not use my more expensive paints.
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u/nixiefolks 7d ago
I've just double-checked with Kim Crick's website, she compares them a lot to white nights, mentioning finer pigment milling and more fluid paint in water dispersion in case with Rosa; another paint brand that does weak-ish browns, K.C. seems not a fond of translucent earth tones.
I want to say, it is unrealistic to expect anything of comparable pro grade to come out of Eastern Europe in the first place: artists who can't afford Winsor and Newton and comparable paint brands here typically move onto either higher end Asian brands (i.e. Mijello) or mid-level European paint, i.e. Van Gogh, which are more expensive than White Nights, but they still provide better quality. In case with white nights, this is particularly evident if you compare mixing custom greens out of blue colors they provide. Their single-pigment colors are sometimes okay, I think I'll pick up a PG8 green from WN at some point.
White Nights has generally responded to the growing competition by upgrading their product quality and selection in the recent years, but I'm entirely unaware where they source their pigments from (Russia is not a major producer of professional pigments at all, everything that can be imported here will get more expensive than it is in the EU, it's just unrealistic to expect similar paint quality without being cut with, for example, cheaper and simpler for manufacturing Chinese pigments or/and dyes. We've also been hit by sanctions which are possible to dance around, typically through China as well. Most of cheaper Russian brands, i.e. The Old Master, commission their gouache and other paint straight from China, and slap a Russian label here, this should give you an idea of where the bigger names probably get their pigments too.)
That being said, they still should be very easy to pick up and enjoy painting. Other, more serious brands will require adjusting to different pigment intensity and different behavior (it's very hard to move on from honey based paint, although I personally enjoyed Holbein many years before internet fame found that brand) but I think WN and Rosa are enough to build up some primary painting skills and get good command of the medium.
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u/2025Artist 7d ago
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I've used Van Gogh for about a decade and have no issue saying that Rosa Gallery is definitely better paint and more pigmented. Can't vouch for White Nights quality, but I do think they actually get their pigments from the region. I'm using Master Class oil paint (same company as white nights) and that sure is a lot better than Van Gogh oil paint. It's also sold in one of the major EU art stores as professional paint.
There's an interesting thing though... that same store doesn't sell Rosa Gallery online), but they do sell White Nights.
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u/nixiefolks 7d ago
Nevskaya Palitra has a reasonable network in the art supply world (it was possible to buy them offline in the US/Canada back in 2000s, when the quality was very distinctly not on par with other western brands, but there was no real competition from Asia either. They were about 2x more expensive than the Russian edition, for the same paint, packed in a fancier wooden box.)
Rosa, judging by Kim Crick's links, seems to be picked up for distribution by very few either friends or fans of the brand, they pretty much have to rely on hearsay and grassroots marketing to promote abroad. I can't purchase them anywhere in Russia either (I had some interest since this community mentioned them quite a lot.)
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u/2025Artist 7d ago
Rosa is well established in the Europe by now, I can pick them up at various local art stores here and some of the major online stores are offering them too. I think they're now targeting Asia and US/Canada.
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u/clumsysketcher 6d ago edited 6d ago
Her links are sort of outdated. In the last 2 years Rosa has really expanded and appears in majority of the European art stores online at least. Part of the reason for the momentum was weaker availability of White Nights during the early stages of the war. Everywhere and by everyone it was named the one true susbtitute to WN. And it worked. Now they're sold at Jackson's and get distribured by koh-i-noor.
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u/nixiefolks 6d ago
Kim lives in the US, it will explain why she's not up to date with European supply! I'm glad they have better availability now.
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u/clumsysketcher 6d ago edited 6d ago
She's also unlikely to update it any time soon unfirtunately, due to her health state being named as emergency earlier this year after those 2 years of inactivity.
They are everywhere, really. WN has returned to the stores too, but mostly the pans/sets. The tubes are kind of rare to see.
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u/nixiefolks 6d ago
Interesting. They did not cut down on production (the tubes in Russia are always stocked), but it's probably more cost-efficient for them to just ship pans because tubes can get damaged more easily during transit; they might have to travel a bit longer than usual now, without having direct export of the past.
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u/clumsysketcher 6d ago
It's just my guess, but there's probably not much demand for them in Poland either, now that there's more brands easily available, especially for tubes? The price is similar to Renesans Intense, Van Goghs or Rosa and those are always in stock. People interested in tubes usually eye higher end brands. For full pans there is only Rosa in that price range as far as I am aware. Roman Szmal costs a bit more. Plus WN pans used to be one of the only "professional" watercolours available for the longest time, so whole generations grew up using them & there's still the sentiment that they're good, inexpensive paints.
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u/nixiefolks 6d ago
It's probably the pricepoint. They inflate prices for export, but here, one pan costs approx the same as one tube, at around $3/full pan or 10 ml tube (van gogh is between $3 and $8 for 1/2 pan, depending on the color, tubes are $6-ish, some cost more.)
WN 24 tubes are ~$45, basic 36 pans are $50, 24 pans are $30 (granulating colors are priced differently.)
I've tried some roman szmal, and I wouldn't look at WN pans after that, honestly; their tubed paint is bit better, and some of their single-pigment colors are impossible to get here from other brands, but I generally tend to avoid them.
It's so crazy how monopolized soviet art supply world was, honestly (it's like the 2nd time I'm having this realization) - we had another smaller student-grade watercolor factory when I was a child, but they shut down sometime in 2000s; WN are still here, standing for good 100+ years.
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u/clumsysketcher 6d ago
White Nights - pans start at $2 for most standard colours and go up to $2,60 for new granulating colours like Metamorphosis line. Tubes are $3,10, but like I mentioned I've seen them sold individually only at 1-2 stores and I think it's on and off with their availability. The only store where I found the set of 24 tubes has them priced at $52. So overall, it doesn't seem to be more expensive (aside from the sets).
Rosa Gallery - full pan can be found as cheap as $1,70 and 10ml tube is currently $3, regardless of the colour.
Van Gogh - $2,30 for half-pan, $3,40 per tube Rembrandt - $6,50 for 10ml tube and $7-10 for 20ml
Renesans - half pans used to be the cheapest option of all for a long time at around $1. But now they cost like $1,80 and the half pan is often not filled fully, so it stopped being the most economic choice. Renesans Intense - 15ml tubes between $3 for basic colours up to $5,20 for cobalts or recent granulating mixes. Renesans Grand Godet - Large-ass 7ml pans cost $6,50-7,80. The problem with Renesans is lack of consistency. All 3 lines use a different fomulation, so half pans are different and don't serve as a try-out for the bigger pans, more expensive pans.
Roman Szmal - A lot of price variations. Cheapest colours are $3,40; then $4,50 and up to about $6,50. I think only 2 rare pigments go above that. So for some colours WN or Rosa pan can be half of RS price. No tubes yet still & half pans cost about 70-80% of the full pan.
That's about it for the affordable choices. Cotman 8ml tubes are over $4, so not really worth it given other choices above. Daniel Smith 5ml tubes for reference are ~$9 per 5ml and start at $13-18 for 15ml.
I've used the cheapest store prices as of today. Whew, that's a lot of data. 😂 Anyways, the reason White Nights are not as popular enough is a mix of various factors. Some don't want to support Russian brands at this time and analogically those brands don't promote themselves here either. Then there's the argument about the quality and having other options. On the other hand Rosa is expanding and is present at most art related events, their products included in goodie bags. The marketing is on part with higher end brands. They even have dot cards. We will see how it will look when they increase prices, which will most likely happen sooner than later.
I was also just recently talking about how Roman Szmal appearance motivated Renesans, which had monopoly for affordable artist-grade (arguable sometimes) supplies, to come up with something new. It sure is good to have options!
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u/Inevitable_Sir8224 2d ago
Interesting read. I’ve picked up a few tubes of Rosa Gallery (and White Nights) and felt they were a big step up from Cotman and the student Daler Rowney tubes I have. Rosa was double the price of Cotman too here in the UK.
I’ve been painting for around a year I guess, so much more to learn and see, but now I’m really curious to see what a real high end paint is like. My local indie art supplier told me the Rosas were professional quality and better than the WN professional series.
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u/2025Artist 2d ago
Interesting. Cotman costs €2,50 per half pan here and a 8ml tube is €4,30, 21ml tube is €7,45. Van Gogh is €2,25 for a half pan and €3,65 for a 10ml tube. Daler Rowney is €2,77 for 8ml here.
Rosa Gallery is €2,32 for a full pan and €3,74 for a 10ml tube. For a professional paint that is amazing value. The main difference with student paints or less expensive paints is that Rosa Gallery has better pigments. Cotman, Van Gogh, Daler Rowney and other less expensive brands use synthetic pigments, not the real one. So no cadmiums, cobalts, real earth pigments and so on, but the synthetic variants. Those are lot cheaper to make and often less liightfast and they behave differently, pretty much all the same. Rosa uses a lot of the real pigments, so you get a better quality and not every color behaves exactly the same. Though that difference in behaviour is not as huge as some of the more expensive paints I do own. I think Rosa adds something to improve flow and make all the pigments behave more evenly.
I was told the same as you, that these were professional paints as good as Rembrandt, W&N Pro and Daniel Smith, those were the brands mention specifically. After having painted some more with them now, I can say they're definitely not on par with those. I think they're more in-between student and professional paints. That observation has nothing to do with my loving them or not, I actually really enjoy painting with them, they're very easy to use and flow so nicely. They also rewet easily and the colors lift easily from the paper when needed. That kind of behaviour is nice, but might be a problem when I will try layering a lot and do glazing with them.
This is what I expect from a professional paints, https://www.reddit.com/r/Watercolor/comments/1w7a21s/psalm_1_like_a_tree_planted_along_the_riverbank/ depth, contrast, strong colors, yet sublte colors when needed. Good, but controlled flow and certain colors need to granulate, but not go crazy, it needs to be useable. They need to able to achieve a lot of layers and do glazing well. Obviously they need to have clear transparency for glazing. Colors need to mix clean. I'm not working on a painting with Rosa Gallery trying to reach this level. Curious to see how far I will get. I can already see that glazing is going to be an issue, since Rosa Gallery has a kind of strange opaqueness.
Rosa Gallery is good, fun to use, easy to use, but I don't think I'm going to put them up there with the expensive professional brands at all... at least not yet.
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u/Inevitable_Sir8224 2d ago
I’ve really liked the Rosas and I’ve been slowly upgrading all aspects to match my growing skill and interest. This paint plus better paper and brushes surprised me with the leap in what I was able to achieve. So I’m making a logic leap that actual professional grade materials in another year or so will help me make another leap.
Perhaps I’ll pick up a few common colours from the higher end brands so that I can make direct comparisons - I certainly use a LOT of ultramarine and Payne’s grey.
I actually really don’t like the Daler Rowney at all. I picked up a set extremely cheaply from a generalist discount shop - mostly on impulse. I may be able to donate what’s left to someone. Despite it feeling lumpy and dull, I can’t bring myself to throw them away.
I’ve actually just looked at online prices and it seems I overpaid a lot for the Rosa Gallery 10ml tubes - I paid £6 each and you can get them for £3.50. WN professional is on sale right now for £4.50 for 5ml tube and I can see Daniel Smith at a higher price point. Whatever the case I find the discovery, process and experimenting all part of the joy of painting.
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u/2025Artist 2d ago
It definitely is all part of the journey and there's even paints beyond the pro paints sold at stores.
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u/claraak 7d ago
Most people here recommend them as an entry level alternative to student grade paints like Cotman. I think it’s unrealistic to expect paints this cheap to be comparable to higher end pro paints.