Mont Marte is an affordable art brand in Australia, and it’s often been my first stop for cheap supplies when I want to try out a new medium. I’ve never been particularly impressed with their watercolour offerings, but when I saw a set touted as ‘premium’ and ‘for artists', I had to give them a try!
The Mont Marte Premium Watercolour Half Pan set comes in 18, 24 or 36 shades, with an included palette and waterbrush. I’m not a fan of waterbrushes in general, so I won’t be reviewing that. The palette is quite sizable with two extra fold out mixing areas, and a small ceramic dish (presumable for preparing large washes). I bought the 24 colour set, which seems to retain in Australia for a little under $40 in a wide range of art, craft and variety stores.
The biggest misgiving I have about this set is the complete lack of included paint information. I’m talking NONE, not even colour names. The pains come unwrapped in their pans which is great for less waste and a quick set up, but nothing about this set read ‘premium’ to me.
I swatched them out, and pretty quickly realised that the colours were laid out in a way that made no sense to me. Once I had a good idea of the shades I was working with, I removed them all from the palette and re-ordered them in a manner that didn’t drive me bonkers.
I then set to testing them in my standard paint test, a multicolour heart on my usual paper (Art Spectrum 60% cotton 300GSM). And I was actually pleasantly surprised! These are by far the best Mont Marte paints i’ve ever used, and I feel like you get a lot for your money.
The paints benefit from a good wet down with a water sprayer before use, but then you can build up some surprising intensity with the colour. I appreciated the included pinks and purples, though I did feel the violet shade separated and I wouldn’t trust it much. There were also some very pretty turquoise shades, and I could mix a decent Payne’s grey which was a pleasant surprise. I’m not sure these would hold up well to heavy colour mixing, as I suspect they’re already a pretty heavy pigment mix.
Pros:
Cheap
Easily available from stores in Australia
Large number of colours included
Good palette
A beginner set that will allow you to achieve some watercolour techniques
Not too chalky
Cons:
Literally no paint info
Violet seems a bit dodgy
Definitely not ‘premium’ or ‘for artists’
I actually quite like these as a set for beginner artists that want to get the feel of watercolour before saving up for a more expensive set. You won’t feel too bad about making mistakes with a set like this, and I really appreciate having a set that you’re likely to be able to get your hands on more easily in a shop or with domestic shipping. They’re far from premium, but they’re worth your $40 for a starter set.