Maimeri Brera Acrylic Paint Review

Maimeri Flowers, Acrylic on Hardboard, 8”x10”, Sold. 

(painted with Maimeri Brera Acrylics)

Maimeri Brera Acrylic Paint Review

by Bethany Vanderputten BDes MFA

I have worked with the acrylic paint medium for many years solely with the Golden brand and more recently switching to the new Winsor & Newton Artists’ Acrylics for their more buttery consistency and lack of tonal shift. It was exciting to be able to try out another brand as various ones have different strengths. 

The Maimeri Brera brand of acrylic paints looked quite vibrant out of the tube but more watery on my palette than Golden. The Cadmium Red Medium’s label made it look more like a Red Oxide but on the palette the tone appeared more like a Naphthol Red. The yellow appeared strong and vibrant closer almost like an Azo. When I picked up the paint on my paintbrushes the paint felt thicker than Golden but not buttery.

Laying down the paint I was impressed by its coverage but as it dried it lost vibrancy and sheen appearing chalkier like a tempera painting. As I painted with it I became more discouraged. I tend to use layers of glazes to obtain luminescence in my paintings and even though the Ultramarine Blue was semi-transparent it still dried to a flat surface and didn’t create this quality. Perhaps the other pigments in this brand would offer more translucence to obtain this effect. Also I found the blue didn’t have a high tinting strength as I had to use quite a lot of it in order to obtain my darkest darks.

Lastly I noticed a visible tonal shift from wet to dry. The paint both dried darker and more opaquely than when I first laid it down. This would discourage me from using it in the future as I seek other brands that are combating this effect. As I blended in an attempt to get some smoother surfaces I found this worked out okay when working wet into wet, but as I came back in once it was dry I noticed that I had to repaint sections. Because of the tonal shift it was difficult to create a smooth surface without these jumps in tone.

Detail from Maimeri Flowers 

(showing attempts at glazing for luminescence)

For this test I used both synthetic and natural chungking bristle brushes for a varied feel. I also made use of a palette knife mixing the pigments with the Coarse Pumice Gel by Golden to obtain texture. For my whites I used Liquitex’s Titanium White. My surface was Ampersand Hardbord sanded and prepped with three layers of Golden gesso.

©2010 Bethany Vanderputten, Originally published with Acrylic Paint Review (www.acrylicpaintreview.com)

Pantone Images Artist Acrylics

©2011 Bethany Vanderputten, Acrylic on Hardboard, 8"x10", Sold.

Pantone Images Artist Acrylics 

by Bethany Vanderputten BDes MFA

First Impressions

I was really attracted to the trendy Images Artist Acrylics Inspired by Pantone. I thought their 2 oz. containers would look great in my art studio but also my designer side wondered if they matched the Pantone color system (in addition to wondering about their quality as a professional artist paint). So I purchased the Primary Color Set to give them a try. 

Upon opening the containers the promised heavy body of the paint was evident right away. Each container had an inner seal which was a little difficult to remove as the paint had congealed to the under side of the seal. When removing the paint from the containers I first tried a wet paintbrush, and it didn’t work very well compared to a palette knife, also revealing the thickness of the paint. All of the colors showed very good and consistent coverage on a gesso-primed board. Chili Pepper, Jelly Bean, Deep Ultramarine, and Empire Yellow appeared fairly translucent while the Bright White and Caviar both were quite opaque.

Painting 

After trying out the paint on a sample board I decided to do a study to further discover the qualities of this brand. I first painted a thin layer watering down the paint to produce a nice green/yellow glaze. This worked well and the color was bright and consistent. As I went on the to the initial drawing and color blocking I discovered that glazing the paint thinly was enjoyable. When painting more thickly it took time to mix the dense paints until I added some water to help it along. It was harder to blend the thick paints softly, while they were great for painting expressively and boldly.

As time went by that the paint began to dry on my palette. As I mixed on top of the semi-dry paint, pieces of the dried bits would mingle in. Other brands I have tried stay dry on the palette and I am able to mix on top without fear of this happening. Another observation was that the paint had a faint odor (no more than other brands) but it reminded me of the smell of house paint.

I found it easier to paint in short stages than all at once and I ended up resorting to painting really thickly to finish the study. I did observe a noticeable color shift from wet to dry, the paints getting darker as they dried. The paintings dried within 10 minutes, if still a little tacky to the touch, and had an all-over glossy sheen.

Conclusions

Overall I thought that the Images Artist Acrylics Inspired by Pantone are a great paint for the beginner, or for the artist who enjoys thick impasto techniques but I would recommend using mediums and retardants for a greater range of techniques. I also thought that these had a very plastic feel to them and I would personally only use them more for solid color poster paints and crafts than for fine art techniques.

With some online research I realized that the paints are based on the Pantone FASHION + HOME Color Guide. This makes me think that they are meant to match your interior designer’s home décor color choice rather than a graphic designer’s color choice. If you’re interested you can find out more about the Pantone color systems at www.pantone.com.

Colors – Primary Set

• Bright White – Inspired by Pantone 11-0601
• Empire Yellow – Inspired by Pantone 14-0756
• Chili Pepper Red – Inspired by Pantone 19-1557
• Jelly Bean Green – Inspired by Pantone 17-6030
• Deep Ultramarine Blue – Inspired by Pantone 19-3950
• Caviar Black – Inspired by Pantone 19-4006

Supplies

• two panels of pre-gessoed ampersand hardboard (6”x6” and 8”x10”)
• water and no mediums, retarders, etc.
• three flat art brushes #10, #6 and #2
• 9x12 disposable palette
• palette knife

©2011 Bethany Vanderputten, Originally published with Acrylic Paint Review (www.acrylicpaintreview.com)