The Amazing Handprint Website!

Handprint provides the most complete and indepth information of any art website I have found. It is, as Bruce MacEvoy himself proclaims, the “most comprehensive resource for watercolor painters on the Internet”.

I first came across the Handprint website years ago and must have been back over 100 times. I have read the pages, copied information for my own use, used it as a reference guide, handbook, well, almost my “bible” as I learn about paints.

MacEvoy says, “You'll find here information on all aspects of watercolor painting: papers, brushes, paints, "color theory," painting techniques, art instructional books and more”. He also reviews all the major watercolor brands, watercolour papers and brushes.

He continues, “I've created these materials for painters who are weary of art marketing hype, inaccurate art theory and the numbing workshop mentality that invites you to learn somebody else's "winning" painting style in ten easy minutes”. Good on you, Bruce!

I really enjoy the challenge of mastering colour and Bruce MacEvoy has been a major part of this journey. Bruce is hard on any (or actually, many) artists who don’t bother to learn the craft, study pigments, etc. but spout what others before them have said. His mantra is: find out for yourself, test the paint, look and see which pigments are fugitive, don’t just accept the blurb from the marketers.

MacEvoy doesn’t talk about “paints”; he describes pigment & paint attributes (color appearance, pigment concentration, particle size, lightfastness, tinting strength, refractive index and specific gravity!) He explains how to carry out basic paint tests yourself—but if you won’t, or don’t, he provides a massive amount of information that every artist can use.

Bruce recommends that everyone should:

Select only the best watercolor pigments—and he explains why.

Choose the best brands of single pigment paint (ditto above).

Test the paint pigmentation and handling attributes. He has lots of practical information on how to test paints by making paint swatches.

Test paint permanency. Avoid fugitive colors like Alizarin Crimson. For each fugitive colour he suggests alternatives that are permanent.

Avoid (or at least find your way around) meaningless proprietary/marketing names. Bruce has no time for ridiculous names like, “Royal Purple Lake”, "Schevenegen" and "Old Holland"—which actually mean nothing—when pigments are much better and more accurately identified by their pigment numbers i.e. PV42 (which is called “quinacridone pink” by Daniel Smith).

Develop your own limited—but extremely well selected—palette. (This will mean you don’t have to buy inessential pigments that are easily reproduced with a mixture of single pigment paints).

He doesn’t suffer fools gladly and shows his ire towards artists—many “experts” who have written many books—who make statements and instruct others based solely on unfounded beliefs and plain laziness to explore, test and evaluate the paints they are using.

Finally (if there is a “finally” with this website!) there are many incredibly useful colour charts.

Go to the to the Guide to Watercolour Pigments section to see all that you will ever want or need to know about the full range of colours: magentas, reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, violets and the earth colours.