FINEST QUALITY OIL PAINT

Michael Harding Oil Colours are regarded among the finest oil paints available to artists today. The colours are completely free of fillers and utilise top-quality pigments.

First manufactured in 1982, Michael Harding Artists’ Oil Colours are popular with some of the world’s finest artists, including David Hockney, Chris Ofili, and the late Howard Hodgkin.

My paints are made by hand, using techniques which date back to the days of the Old Masters. There is a very simple reason for this painstaking process. As an artist and painter I wanted to create colours that were true and vibrant, and paint which was beautiful and durable.

The greater the pigment content of a paint the greater the resistance it has to fading. Nearly all manufacturers use various fillers to extend the volume of the oil paint. It may increase profits but it compromises on quality. I totally refuse to do this. Why make something exceptional and then dilute it?

I will not claim that my paints will turn you into a great painter, but I can promise they will have a profound effect on your work. Your colours will be stronger and richer, and you will find the texture of the paint incomparable. You will love working with them.

Try them. You will be amazed

-Michael Harding

 *Exclusive to The French Art Shop Auckland

View the full range of colours here.

Established in 1865 and the favourite paint of Salvador Dali. Blockx Paints are highly pigmented, pure, rich colours all with an exceptional degree of lightfastness.

The BLOCKX extra-fine oil paint line consists of 105 vibrant shades, all with an exceptional degree of lightfastness (rated 7/8 on the international BWS scale).
BLOCKX extra-fine oils are, for the most part, made from pure mono-pigment, without the addition of fillers and additives.
Through a unique traditional manufacturing method of grinding on porphyry stone, mixed with traditional binders, BLOCKX oils with smooth textures are highly concentrated in color.

Founded in 1865 in Belgium by Jacques Blockx I, today the brand BLOCKX is recognised by artists from around the world for the quality of its oil-based colours. At the time, the founder’s Belgian artist friends were despairing at the scarcity of the beautiful traditional colours made in artists’ studios, which had been replaced by industrial methods. Jacques Blockx I, a chemist passionate about colours and pigments, therefore decided to make some for them, at a small laboratory located on his property.
«The goal I have strived to achieve is finding a formula that will give the oil-based colours the required qualities of resistance, brilliance and beauty.» J.B

To find their colour chart follow – https://blockx.be/en/extra-fine-oils/

Sennelier was the supplier to Paul Cézanne in Aix-en-Provence.

Cezanne used 18 Sennelier fine oil colours, and they are still available today as part of the current extra-fine oil range.

Since it was founded in 1887, some of the greatest names in the history of art have placed their trust in the unique quality of Sennelier colours. This extraordinary group of clients includes Paul Gauguin, Alfred Sisley, and even Vincent Van Gogh, who would ask his brother Théo to go to Sennelier to buy his colours for him. The impressionist and precursor to modern art Paul Cézanne was another.

Dense, yet buttery, Sennelier oils are highly pigmented and firmer. The reformulated homogeneous consistency is better suited to the diversity of modern techniques and pictorial sensitivities. The slightly heavier body retains its unique creaminess, while offering greater versatility.
Sennelier’s carefully selected pigments are ground longer, to provide the finest, most vivid colouration possible. Sennelier strives to provide the purest, most concentrated stable pigments. With improved lightfastness, the colour intensity will endure for generations.
Safflower oil, a binder with balanced drying power, provides the creamy texture that dries with an attractive satin finish in a uniform manner over the entire range. Unlike linseed oil, safflower oil is non-yellowing.
Also available in 200ml tubes.

Paul Cézanne used the following 18 oil paints:

116 – white
208 – Raw Sienna
211 – Burnt Sienna
213 – Green earth
252 – Yellow ochre
259 – Red ochre
307 – Cobalt blue
314 – French ultramarine blue
318 – Prussian blue
511 – Bright yellow
567 – Naples yellow
674 – Vermilion
688 – Crimson lake
689 – Madder lake deep
690 – Rose madder lake
757 – Peach black
847 – Viridian
837 – Emerald green

View the full range of 144 colours here.

From its earliest days, Paris has been Sennelier’s source of inspiration and that is what makes it such a Parisian brand.

Dries twice as fast : Whilst retaining the key characteristics of oil painting, Rive Gauche fine oils dry twice as fast as classic oils. The outcome of this is a shortened drying time that does not restrict an artist’s possibilities of working with fresh paint.

Oils that yellow two times less : Safflower oil is used to make the 60 colours. It is characterised by its low level of yellowing (50% less than linseed oil) and its excellent compatibility with pigments.

High-performance cadmium substitutes : Rive Gauche fine oils use new pigments, which are high-performance cadmium substitutes that offer opaqueness and luminosity properties that are almost equivalent to real cadmium-based oils.

A rich, balanced palette of colours : 60 colours in 40ml tubes – 56 colours in 200ml tubes 52 opaque colours | 6 semi-opaque colours | 2 transparent colours | 4 iridescent colours.

With Rive Gauche, Sennelier has placed the colours of Paris into tubes so that artists from all over the world can experience the pleasure of using them.

For their full colour chart click here

Cobra Artist Quality Watermixable 40ml Oils

The range consists of 70 transparent, semi-transparent, semi-opaque and opaque colours. They all have the highest degree of lightfastness (+++) and will remain unchanged for at least 100 years under museum conditions.

During the grinding process, the paint is ground on the triple roller mill until it reaches an artists’ quality fineness.

The range includes 32 mono-pigmented colours, including ten colours based on exclusive pigments – such as cadmiums, cobalt and chromium oxides – as well as a beautifully transparent oxide red or yellow.

For a full colour chart, click here

Van Gogh Oil Paint, 60ml & 200ml

Dutch-crafted Van Gogh is a buttery oil that features excellent tinting strength, a high level of pigmentation for intense colours, and a uniform degree of gloss and thickness amongst colours.

Easy to mix and use.

These oils are great for beginners, students in advanced studies, and working artists.

For a full colour chart, click here

The Oil Stick is a composition of oil paint. A proportion of the oil is substituted with a neutral mineral wax, resulting in the stick appearance.

These colours are of perfect quality: pure pigments are ground into vegetable oils (siccatives), selected for their low degree of yellowing with time. The choice and high concentration of pigments enables excellent light resistance to be achieved. These colours are applied discreetly to conventional oil painting supports (oil-proof or universal) and demand quality background preparation.

Supports: canvas, canvas boards, laminated panels, paper.
Solid oil paint should be applied in a relatively thin film (no more than 1mm). Layers can be overlapped, in the same manner as paste oil paint, and can, if necessary, be thinned with petroleum or turpentine. Before use, the surface film should be removed. This latter will re-form after a few days of non-use. Paint applied dries within 2 to 5 days depending on layer thickness and atmospheric conditions. A clear medium is available allowing transparency and glazing effects
to be achieved.

Solid artists’ quality colours are available in opaque or transparent shades, depending on the shades of the pigments used. The product may be stored for extended periods of time and requires no special attention, apart from avoiding heat sources that may damage it.

Once dry, the paint may be varnished like conventional oil paint, after a minimum drying period of 6 months, using an oil paint finishing varnish.

View the full colour range here.

Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour has been specifically developed to appear and work just like conventional oil colour.   

The key difference between Artisan and conventional oils is its ability to thin and clean up with water.  Hazardous solvents are not necessary for Artisan and artists can enjoy a safer painting environment, making it ideal for artists who share a work space, schools or painting at home. 

View the full range of colours here.