Well, this year, snow hasn't exactly been falling in the Rocky Mountains as yet (say what?), but here in Boulder, things are getting festive anyway. Over at Paint List, we've set up our rainbow Christmas Tree, lit with bright magentas, candy reds, sparkling oranges, golden marigolds, luminous lemon yellows, glittering limes, twinkling true greens, blue-green teals, shining cerulean blues, dazzling indigos, and vivid violet Christmas lights.

But first, join Jonathan and I for a moment on a spirited drive. In the purple dusk of evening, towering spirals of lights hung on every tree within reach of a shopping center twinkle away in LED glory. In the more pastoral landscape of the surrounding towns, backdropped by the slate blue mountains, the rolling grey hills are dotted with the warm, incandescent glow of houses hung with vintage Christmas lights.

As a Coloradoan who comes from deep within those mountains, these festive scene of the hills and farms, as well as the lonely mountain roads with houses decked out with holiday lights, speak to my depths almost as much as the look of the pines at nightfall or the intermittent gusts of icy mountain air against a hundred-year-old cabin on the side of the woods. Since my earliest youth in those towering hills, I always wanted one thing for Christmas: artist's paints. I love the look of the holidays so much, but when it comes to gifts, none of the holiday stores actually have much to offer us. Very few places in our whole state carry fabulous high end art supplies.

High quality art supplies are rarities. They are treasures. A single tube of paint holds so much meaning and can unlock worlds. Earlier this year, Jonathan asked me about one of my favorite paint brands, and I shared with him vignettes from throughout my artist career and how the visceral feel and look of specific tubes of paints by that brand held so many memories. I don't know about you, but my own wish list is a list of paint tubes which are highly specific.

Which brings us to the first stop on our Holiday gift guide tour.

Before we get into all the lovely paints and sets on offer this year, we'd be remiss if we didn't start out with our all time favorite Christmas gift, the art supply Gift Card. When it comes to buying paints, it's tricky for anyone but an artist to get all the names and sizes and item numbers right. In some sub-cultures of America and probably elsewhere people may take a dislike to gift cards in general, but personally when it comes to art supplies we love them. What is more fun than browsing the art store?

Here's a few of our go-tos:

Here's a link to the Blick Gift Cards. If you have enough lead-time to have it mailed, you can order a physical Blick card. The card can then be lovingly wrapped and surrounded by stocking stuffers.

Here are a few more options: -Jackson's offers Gift Vouchers. They have a lot of variety in the supplies they stock with emphasis on more European brands.

-We love local art stores, and chances are pretty good your beloved artist might, too. If you know which one your artist shops at, that's the safest bet, but if you need a hand here's a map. We recommend doing some fishing to see which local art store your artist likes best since certain stores have different points of emphasis in what they carry.

Now on to the Holiday Gift highlights:

-Our current obsession- swan sharpeners for a stocking stuffer

-A look at some of the world’s snazziest glamour paint sets and where to find them this year (we haven't tried these illustrious glam sets personally, just dreaming of them)

--Some buy-get free paint deals (spoiler they have zinc white)

Fun miniature paint sampler sets for plein air or a fun way to try a new paint brand!

--Our recommendations for the painter who has everything

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.

The last time we looked, this treasure trove was oh-so-sold-out everywhere that we could find, as it was a limited edition of 100. However at the time of this writing, it appears to be in stock at Parker's in Australia.

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.

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 includes 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.

We've been eyeing these Michael Harding Sets as they've been released, and we were hoping Breacon Beacons was coming out in time for Christmas, but so far no announcements (at least at the time of writing this article). So the real question becomes, which Michael Harding set is the best for a person's holiday wish list-- unless you've bought them already!

All right, so let's take a look.

Tunbridge Wells

This collection was launched in June 2024. Here's a video of Michael Harding talking through the paints here.

What we like We love seeing a Neutral Grey (N7 is great) and Munsell value 7 is a handy reference. Turner's Yellow, which was named for a historical pigment but with a modern twist, is nice to see. Turner's Yellow has an interesting pigment that is fairly unusual, PY216. Among the orange pigments PO62 is one of the better ones. Most of the other colors are blends, but with some interesting pigments. We liked seeing PY150 (a lightfast yellow) in the moss green, and were intrigued by the blend for Rose Dore. We're always up for convenience lavenders and, Cadmium Greens are often helpful compound colors.

What we don't like Well there is so much to love there aren't many drawbacks. Overall the pigments look very good, so only the PR209 in the Moss Green may be less lightfast than one would expect (PR209 is wonderfully pretty but depending on the pigment supplier, it only gets a 6/8 on the BWS sometimes). Overall, this is a very interesting set. There are a lot of convenience blends, but we tend to like the pigment choices they're making.

Neutral Grey N7 (PW6, PBr6, PBk6), Phthalocyanine Blue Red Shade (PB15:1), Turners Yellow (PY216), Moss Green (PY150, PB29, PR209), Vivid Blue (PW6, PB15:3, PG7), Wisteria (PW6, PR122, PB29), Lavender (PW6, PB29, PV15), Brilliant Orange (PO62), Rose Doré (PY151, PV19), Cadmium Green (PY35, PG18).

Available here on Blick here or from Jackson's here.

Whitechapel Launched in Summer 2025. Video of Michael Harding himself here. Mr. Harding uses his fingers to explore the paint, but please do use gloves. Much is unknown about pigment toxicity, but Monona Rossol wrote of one of the pigments here, PO34, that it metabolizes into a carcinogen.

What we like

Permanent Brown, PBr25 is an interesting pigment, and we really want to try PY175. Though PY175 is considered very lightfast, it may fall to a 7 out of 8 in tints. The Madder Brown looks like a super interesting blend, while Rose Blush also looks like it would be useful based on its ingredients.

What we don't like

We were a bit bummed to see PR112, a Napthol Red that isn't quite as lightfast as we'd like to see, hanging out in Belladonna. Similarly we're not that wild about PY74 in the midst of the Hooker's Green and the Olive green, which is not lightfast enough for us and can fall to a 6 out of 8 on the BWS depending on the source. However what really caught our attention in regard to lightfastness was the PO34, which is the pigment in Orange Sunset. PO34 in general has some very questionable lightfastness ratings. Artiscreation cites as low as a 5/8 on the BWS. PY83, which is one of the ingredients of the Warm Yellow could be the lightfast version or the non-lightfast version, which are unfortunately not well delineated by the ASTM at this time. In general, this set is a bit heavier on convenience blends, but the colors in the box make a lovely progression.

Paints in the Whitechapel set: Herculane Red (PR101), Permanent Brown (PBr25), Olive Green (PR101 PY74 PB15:3), Hookers Green (PG36 PR101 PY74), Belladonna (PV23 PR112 PB29), Orange Sunset (PO34), Citron (PY175), Warm Yellow (PW6 PY83), Rose Blush (PW6 PY42 PV19), Madder Brown (PR202 PR101).

Buy at Jackson's

Brecon Beacons Coming soon. When it arrives, it might be available here. Right now there's nothing there but a list, which seems interesting. Colors to include Forest Green, Cosmic Blue, Imperial Purple, Corinthian Purple, Amber, Hansa Yellow Medium, Perrindo Maroon, Pyrrole Crimson, Bismuth Vanadate, Cobalt Blue Deep

A Different Boxed Set that Includes Higher End Pigments

All these new colors are wonderful. If you're new to Michael Harding though, it might help to have a few of the basics covered. This Michael Harding set is aimed for Plein Air Painters, but most artists who paint realistically would benefit from the cadmiums and cobalts. This is a really nice collection. Jackson's link here.

Single Pigment Colors

When used properly a convenience blend is a great thing, and it's fine so long as one knows what one is getting. We're honestly a bit more interested in the single-pigment colors. Remember the paintbox we recommended building? After one has covered the basics, adding single pigment colors (or blends for that matter) can be a lot of fun.

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 vary 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.

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.

What could be better than a trial-size palette upgrade? Or trying a whole new brand of paint to see if you like it? It all started with our recent article on Cerulean Blue-- because it is almost impossible to find a high quality trial size of PB35 in a set. A small size of cerulean blue can be found open stock for almost the cost of a whole Williamsburg trial set which contains a mini cerulean. We believe fine quality paints should be made available at accessible price points so that painters can find out if they like something. Viva la spirit of exploration and all that.

We were about to write a glowing article about one set in particular which contained several cadmiums and a genuine cerulean, only to find out it was being discontinued!

Williamsburg Ok so we actually kinda hate limited time offers, but this is an actual one. We also are sad to note a bit of heartbreak in something as festive as our Holiday Gift guide because we just found out-- right before writing this year's guide-- that Williamsburg is changing direction with their sets, and will no longer be offering the tiny 11ml paint tubes that allowed artists to sample their colors.

We believe that painters need and appreciate having small quantities of paint to try out before committing to buy a standard-sized tube of some of the more expensive colors.

It is extremely difficult to find high quality cadmiums, ceruleans, and cobalts in any prepackaged paint set, which is quite unfortunate as those are precisely the ones painters need to try. Williamsburg (owned by Golden) was one of the only companies which offered this, and we were about to write a whole article for new painters recommending it. Now we found out that this set isn't going to be offered anymore. This wonderful set is in while supplies last mode.

So without further ado, Our Favorite Williamsburg Mini Set. This is called their Traditional Set and includes, "11 ml tubes of Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Red Medium, Permanent Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue (Genuine), Raw Sienna, and French Raw Umber, plus a 37 ml tube of Titanium White." If Blick is out, you can also try Jerrys.

Bear in mind 11ml is small-- like adorably tiny, but there's no better way to see if you really like them other than to try them. For those unfamiliar, Williamsburg has a pretty thick consistency with high tinting strength.

We recently wrote an article praising high quality ceruleans, and this mini set actually contains a small sized tube of their genuine cerulean, which is a great one. It's a wonderful way to get introduced to their paint.

If you live in the UK we noticed that as of the writing of this article, there is a super extra tiny sample set for Williamsburg that is still available that contains 2 cadmiums and their cerulean blue! Now that is a stocking filler if we ever saw one! Jacksons UK sample set.

Another excellent Williamsburg mini set which is on a last-chance basis is their Modern Colors. While the pigments contained in the Modern Colors aren't as rare (in terms of what one usually expects to find in a set) as the ones in the Traditional set, the Modern set also has an excellent selection of pigments. It's also a wonderful collection of trial sizes that is not going to be available much longer.

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.

These sets are unfortunately not going to be around for long. Lots of changes have been coming to Williamsburg, and we're sorry to see these go.

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! That is exactly what we love about these, as they are not the run-of-the-mill earth tones that are out there. These earth tone take texture to the max. We were glad we tried them, but then we love the full range of earths.

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.

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've enjoyed 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 Williamsburg Italian Earths, which contain some gorgeous ochres, are still available at Jerrys contain some of our favorite specialty Yellow Ochre colors, Italian Lemon Ochre, and Italian Yellow Ochre as as some smashing red earths with high chroma like Italian Pompeii Red, and Italian Pozzuoli Earth.

We were heartbroken to see that it looks like these sets are going away. You can still try the Williamsburg's French Earths Set but it looks like the Williamsburg's Italian Earths Set is already gone--at Blick but you might still find it at Jerrys.

Another fun set to try which we have bought ourselves is 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.

Our Holiday Wish to You: “May your painting be Merry and Bright, and may you get a free tube of Titanium White!” *

But this year the deals unfortunately have zinc.

Over at Blick, there's a Winsor and Newton Underpainting White (Fast Drying) on offer with purchase rules, of course. The bummer is that it also seems to have PW4 in it.

One of the true oils with a deal is M. Graham's tube of Titanium White, but that also contains Zinc White (PW4) in the formulation, so that tempers the mood a bit.

All right, this is where we talk shop. No 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.

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.

Old Holland: Old Holland Handpainted Color Chart

Michael Harding: Michael Harding Handpainted Color Chart